US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Earlier in the week, Trump said he planned to make the change.
Now, the president will ink the executive order on Friday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted Fox New's X post and captioned it with three words: DEPARTMENT OF WAR."
Trump said previously said he doesn’t like the sound of the department’s name. He also pointed out that it used to be called the Department of War, adding that it had a "stronger" sound.
We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense. So, that’s a little thing,” Trump said during a news conference in the Oval Office. “It has nothing to do with your country, but it’s something that I think you’re gonna be hearing about or seeing about over the next couple of weeks. Probably that change is gonna be made over the next week or so.”
Trump can't formally change the name without legislation, which his administration would request from Congress. In the meantime, he will authorize the Pentagon to use "secondary titles" so the department can go by its original name.
The plans were disclosed by a White House official, who requested anonymity ahead of the public announcement, and detailed in a White House fact sheet.
The Department of War was created in 1789, the same year that the U.S. Constitution took effect. It was renamed by law in 1947, two years after the end of World War II.
