President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth indicated that they will soon change the name of the Defense Department back to the “Department of War.”
Trump backed the name change on Monday, while Hegseth said from the Oval Office that it is “coming soon.”
“It used to be called the Department of War,” the president said. “It had a stronger sound. … Now we have a Department of Defense, we’re defenders. If you people want to, standing behind me, if you take a little vote, if you want change it back to what it was when we used to win wars all the time, that’s OK with me. … We want defense, but we want offense too, if that’s OK.”
Following the president’s comment, Hegseth said, “That’s coming soon, sir.”
In 1789, Congress established the War Department to oversee the military under President George Washington. The department kept its name through World War I and World War II and was not changed until the National Security Act of 1949, which included renaming it the Department of Defense.
Later on Monday, when Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung answered reporters’ questions in the Oval Office, the U.S. leader said the name change could be enacted “over the next week or so.”
“Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War,” Trump added. “We call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name. You want to know the truth? I think we’re going to have some information on that maybe soon. I have a feeling we’re going to be changing.”
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Both Trump and Hegseth have previously hinted at this possible name change in recent months.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said in a post to X Monday that he was drafting legislation to “restore” the Defense Department’s name to the Department of War, saying it is the only name that “captures the full range of America’s military capabilities.”
