Trump signs order to rename Department of Defense the 'Department of War'

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense the "Department of War," reverting to a title it held until after World War Two when officials sought to emphasise the Pentagon's role in preventing conflict.

Trump signed the executive order at a ceremony in the Oval Office on Friday.

"We won the First World War, we won the Second World War. We won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense. So, we're going to Department of War," Trump told reporters.

It was the latest rebranding of the US military and included his decision to preside over an extraordinary military parade in downtown Washington, DC, and to restore the original names of military bases that were changed after racial justice protests in 2020.

He has also challenged conventional norms over domestic deployment of military, creating military zones along the southern US border with Mexico to aid an immigration crackdown as well as deploying troops in cities like Los Angeles and Washington.

The order would authorise Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as "Secretary of War" and "Deputy Secretary of War" in official correspondence and public communications, according to a White House fact sheet.

The move would instruct Hegseth to recommend legislative and executive actions required to make the renaming permanent.

Department name changes are rare and require congressional approval, but Trump's fellow Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and the party's congressional leaders have shown little appetite for opposing any of Trump's initiatives.

Two Republican senators, Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida, and one Republican House member, Greg Steube of Florida, introduced legislation on Friday to make the change.

The US Department of Defense was called the War Department until 1949, when Congress consolidated the Army, Navy and Air Force in the wake of World War Two.

Changing the name again will be costly and require updating signs and letterheads used not only by officials at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, but also military installations around the world.

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Source: TRT