U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order restoring the Department of Defense to its historic name, the “Department of War,” a title that was dropped in 1949.
The announcement came Friday during a ceremony in the Oval Office, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was introduced as “Secretary of War,” alongside Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg, now “Deputy Secretary of War.”
“It’s a very important change, because it’s an attitude,” Trump said as he signed the order. “It’s really about winning.”
The Pentagon moved quickly to implement the change, updating signage at its Arlington, Virginia headquarters.
Hegseth, a longtime advocate of the rebrand, welcomed the decision. “We’re going to go on the offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality,” he declared.
The shift marks a symbolic return to tradition. For over 150 years, the War Department oversaw the Army and Navy before Congress reorganized the military in 1949, creating the Department of Defense to emphasize preventing conflict in the nuclear age.
Trump, however, argued that the old name better reflected American strength. Earlier this week, during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, he hinted at the change: “We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”
See
