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President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday authorizing the Pentagon to once again use the historic title “Department of War” as a secondary designation for the Defense Department, two White House officials told NBC News.
The order, expected to be signed in the Oval Office, does not rename the Defense Department, but it will allow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use the secondary titles “secretary of war” and “Department of War” in official correspondence, public communications, and formal ceremonies. All federal agencies will be required to “recognize and accommodate these secondary titles” in internal and external communications, according to a White House preview.
Changing the department’s official name would require an act of Congress.
A return to history
Congress created the War Department in 1789, and for more than 150 years it managed U.S. military affairs. President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which reorganized the armed services under the newly named National Military Establishment — a title quickly abandoned after criticism that its abbreviation, “NME,” too closely resembled “enemy.”
In 1949, lawmakers amended the law again, renaming the organization the Department of Defense, the title it has carried since.
Trump has argued for months that the “Defense Department” lacks the strength and clarity of its earlier name.
“The Department of War had a stronger sound and an unbelievable history of victory,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last month, citing U.S. triumphs in both world wars. “I don’t want to be defense only. We want defense, but we want offense, too. As Department of War, we won everything.”
Hegseth embraces ‘warrior ethos’
Hegseth, whom Trump has already referred to as “secretary of war,” has been a vocal advocate of the rebranding. He argued at a Cabinet meeting last month that reviving the title would help solidify a “warrior ethos” in the department.
After returning from a visit to Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday, Hegseth teased the coming order to traveling reporters: “Thanks for traveling with the War Department,” he quipped.
The executive order will also instruct Hegseth to recommend legislative and executive actions to permanently revert the Pentagon’s name to the Department of War.
Political implications
The move is likely to spark partisan debate. Supporters say the change reclaims an American tradition rooted in strength, while critics argue it risks sending the wrong signal about U.S. military posture abroad.
Fox News first reported the executive order.
