Trump Signs Executive Order Rebranding Defense Department As Department Of War

President Donald Trump signed an executive bid Friday rebranding nan Department of Defense arsenic nan Department of War, a much bellicose replacement preferred by Trump and 1 that's akin to its 18th period name.

"I deliberation it sends a connection of victory. I deliberation it sends really a connection of strength. We're very strong. We're overmuch stronger than anyone would really understand," Trump told reporters successful nan Oval Office aft signing nan order.

Trump had signaled during his 2nd word an liking successful changing nan sanction to nan original type from 1789, criticizing nan Defense Department sanction arsenic not afloat reflective of its privilege — winning wars. He told reporters Friday that he finalized nan determination aft "talking astir it for months" and asserted nan original sanction was only changed because nan authorities astatine nan clip went "woke."

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive bid arsenic nan Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth looks connected successful nan Oval Office of nan White House, connected Friday.Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images

"We won nan first World War. We won nan Second World War. We won everything earlier that and successful between. And past we decided to spell woke and we changed nan sanction to Department of Defense," Trump said. "So we're going Department of War."

Democratic President Harry Truman oversaw nan first sanction alteration — from nan Department of War to nan National Military Establishment — by signing nan National Security Act of 1947, which organized each subject services into a azygous entity led by a caput of defense.

Congress further amended nan sanction successful 1949, landing connected Department of Defense amid concerns that nan abbreviation of nan National Military Establishment (NME) sounded excessively akin to “enemy.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has for months pushed for reverting to nan original name, arguing it would thief cement a "warrior ethos" successful nan military. He reiterated that sentiment during his remarks astatine Friday's Oval Office signing ceremony.

"We're going to raise up warriors, not conscionable defenders," Hegseth said. "So this War Department, Mr. President, conscionable for illustration America, is back."

Trump's bid does not formally rename nan Department of Defense, a move that would require legislature approval. Instead, it makes nan Department of War nan secondary title and authorizes Hegseth to usage titles for illustration caput of warfare and Department of War successful charismatic correspondence and nationalist communications.

To further cement nan rebrand, Trump's bid requires each executive departments and agencies to “recognize and accommodate these secondary titles successful soul and outer communications.”

Hegseth wasted nary clip incorporating nan secondary title into nan department's communications. As Trump signed nan executive bid astatine nan White House, nan Department of Defense updated its website URL and social media handles to bespeak nan caller name.

He besides removed respective references to nan Department of Defense astatine nan Pentagon, including connected signage straight successful beforehand of his office. Placards surrounding Hegseth’s activity abstraction now publication “The Office of nan Secretary of War.”