Trump to sign executive order to rebrand Pentagon as ‘Department of War’, Hegseth hints at name-change

US President Donald Trump continues with his name-changing crusade as he is expected to sign an executive order on Friday that will change the name of the US Department of Defence to the Department of War. A White House official told CNN that Trump is planning to make the move by the end of this week.

The confirmation from the White House official came days after the US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth had previewed the idea. Not only this, while speaking to the reporters in the Oval Office last week, Trump said that his administration was going to “change the name.”

“We call it the Department of Defence, but between us, I think we’re gonna change the name,” the president told reporters on August 25. “We won World War 1, World War 2 – it was called the Department of War, and to me, that’s really what it is. Defence is a part of that, but I have a feeling we’re gonna be changing,” he added.

Hegseth prepares for the change

It is important to note that the news about Trump signing the order on Friday was first reported by Fox News. While speaking to reporters at Fort Benning on Thursday, Hegseth also indicated the name change would be coming on Friday.

“I would say stand by tomorrow,” Hegseth said when asked about a potential change. “It’s something that — words matter. Titles matter. Cultures matter. And George Washington founded the War Department. We’ll see.” The last time the US changed the name of the department, the US Congress had to approve.

It is important to note that the Department of War, as it was once called, was first established by President George Washington when he founded the country’s Army. However, the name was changed later in 1949 as part of a broader reorganisation of the military under then-President Harry Truman.

At that time, Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947, which merged the Department of the Navy, the newly created Department of the Air Force, and the Department of the Army, previously known as the Department of War, into one organisation called the National Military Establishment.

It was also decided that a civilian will be the Secretary of Defence and will head the department. The National Military Establishment was eventually renamed the Department of Defence in August 1949. Apart from this, the National Security Act also established the Joint Chiefs of Staff as an organisation to advise the president on military planning and strategy.

The endeavour to rename the Pentagon follows several similar steps by Hegseth to change the names of bases and ships. Earlier this year, he discarded a Biden-era decision that had removed Confederate-era names of bases like Fort Bragg and Fort Hood, reverting to those titles but officially naming them after different individuals with the same names.

In June this year, Hegseth also called for the renaming of an oiler ship named after gay rights activist and Navy veteran Harvey Milk.