President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Friday restoring the “Department of War” moniker as a “secondary title” for the Department of Defense. Trump has recently argued that the Department of War “sounds stronger” and is “much more appropriate” for the Cabinet-level agency.
“[When] we won World War I, World War II, it was called the Department of War,” Trump stated last month. “And to me, that’s really what it is.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth celebrated the news on Thursday evening in an all-caps, three-word post shared to his personal X account. “DEPARTMENT OF WAR,” wrote Hegseth, the 29th Secretary of Defense.
It is unclear whether Trump can change the agency’s title without approval from Congress.
The Department of War existed for 158 years between the years of 1789 and 1947. The department was split into the Department of Air Force and the Department of Army under the National Security Act of 1947. The armed services’ departments were reconsolidated under the Department of Defense in 1949.
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