President Donald Trump has suggested changing the name of Defense Department back to its pre-World War II moniker as the War Department, after his claimed success in bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.
At the conclusion of a June 25 NATO meeting in the Netherlands, Trump introduced Pete Hegseth as “secretary of war.” Trump said the name of the War Department, the precursor to the Defense Department, was visible on the wall of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, where the agency was once housed.
“Then we became politically correct and they called it secretary of Defense,” Trump said. “Maybe we’ll have to think about changing it. But we feel that way.”
What does Pete Hegseth think of the proposed change?
According to a San Antonio Express-News story Pete Hegseth wrote in his 2024 memoir, “The War on Warriors” ” … Ultimately its (the Department of Defense’s) job is to conduct war. We either win or lose wars. And we have warriors, not ‘defenders.'”
In a March 2025 poll of almost 203,400 people Hegseth conducted on the X social-media platform, a majority (54.3%) favored changing the name to “Department of War.”
“Bringing back the War Department may remind a few people in Washington, D.C., what the military is supposed to do, and do well,” Hegseth wrote in his book.
Can the name be changed to the War Department?
The country had a War Department since its founding until the aftermath of World War II, when the departments of Army, Navy and Air Force were each given Cabinet status. The National Security Act of 1947 created the National Military Establishment, and it was through a 1949 amendment of that legislation that the agency was renamed the Department of Defense, consolidating the Army, Navy and Air Force organizations.
It would take another amendment, through an act of Congress, to again change the name, to that of “War Department.”
For what it’s worth, the Department of Defense notes on its webpage that its primary mission isn’t to wage war: ” … The department has grown and evolved with our nation. Our mission is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation’s security.”
Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Trump wants a renamed War Department. What Pete Hegseth thinks, what it would take
Reporting by Hartriono B. Sastrowardoyo, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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