Pentagon officials grappled Friday with the Herculean task of fulfilling President Donald Trump’s executive order to remold the enormous, global agency into the Department of War,
Politico reports.
Many expressed frustration, anger and downright confusion at the effort, which could cost billions of dollars for a cosmetic change that would do little to tackle the military’s most pressing challenges — such as countering a more aggressive alliance of authoritarian nations.
The details of the order Trump signed Friday are still vague, but officials may need to change Defense Department seals on more than 700,000 facilities in 40 countries and all 50 states. This includes everything from letterhead for six military branches and dozens more agencies down to embossed napkins in chow halls, embroidered jackets for Senate-confirmed officials and the keychains and tchotchkes in the Pentagon store.
“This is purely for domestic political audiences,” said a former defense official. “Not only will this cost millions of dollars, it will have absolutely zero impact on Chinese or Russian calculations. Worse, it will be used by our enemies to portray the United States as warmongering and a threat to international stability.”
This article is based on interviews with more than half a dozen current and former defense officials, many of whom have insight into the broader sentiment in the department. The people were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
POLITICO reported Thursday that the Trump administration planned to change the Defense Department’s name to the Department of War to present a more aggressive image of its military to the world.
“We won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke, and we changed the name to DOD. So, we’re going Department of War,” Trump said at an Oval Office press conference on Friday announcing the move.
A formal name change would likely require an act of Congress, although a person familiar with the deliberations said the White House was looking for ways to avoid a congressional vote.
The White House said in a fact sheet that Trump’s executive order authorizes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to refer to himself as “Secretary of War” in all official communications and to recommend actions that will ensure that the name change sticks across the department. It also said the Department of War can serve as a secondary name, which may allow Hegseth to implement the action but help avoid changes to the law.
A Defense Department official, who asked to be referred to as a “War Department” official, said the costs of the move are expected to fluctuate as it is implemented.
