Video: Trump restoring 'Department of War': Report

A new report claims that President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order on Friday to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

Fox News reported that an anonymous White House official told the outlet on Thursday that Trump would be implementing the name change on Friday. A White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News indicates that Trump’s executive order will direct the Pentagon to use “Department of War” as a secondary title for the Department of Defense. The order is also expected to refer to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as the “secretary of war.”

The president’s executive order is also expected to direct Hegseth to push for executive and legislative actions that would permanently change the Department of Defense to the Department of War, according to Fox News.

According to the Pentagon’s website, the department was previously called the Department of War prior to being renamed as the National Military Establishment in 1947 and as the Department of Defense in 1949. 

A White House official told Fox News that the president’s executive order will require the Pentagon to change its websites and signs and will result in the public affairs briefing room being renamed to the “Pentagon War Annex.” 

Trump and Hegseth both recently suggested changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War as part of the administration’s major changes to the Pentagon. 

According to Fox News, the president told reporters in August that the United States had an “unbelievable history of victory” when the Department of Defense was known as the Department of War.

During a Wednesday interview on Fox News, Hegseth said, “We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department, with the Department of War. As the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.”

“We’re reestablishing at the department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks that understand how to exact lethality on the enemy,” Hegseth added. “We don’t want endless contingencies and just playing defense. We think words and names and titles matter. So, we’re working with the White House and the president on it.”

Following the Fox News report regarding Trump’s anticipated executive order renaming the Department of Defense, Hegseth shared the article Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, tweeting, “DEPARTMENT OF WAR.”