From Department of War to Department of Defence and back… The history behind the name change in US

Is the United States planning to change the name of the Department of Defence?

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order (EO) changing the name back to the Department of War.

“It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. And as you know, we won World War I, we won World War II. We won everything. Now we have a Department of Defence with defenders,” Trump said last month. He added that he didn’t want America’s military “to be defence only” but also “offence too.”

“It’s coming, sir,” Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth responded. Trump in July also referred to Hegseth as the “Secretary of War.”

But what do we know? And why was the name changed in the first place?

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Let’s take a closer look.

What do we know?

Trump is set to sign an executive order directing the Pentagon and defence department to use “Department of War” as a secondary title.

“The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defence’, which emphasises only defensive capabilities,” the text of the executive order reads.

It instructs the Defence Secretary, the Department of Defence and other officials to use the titles as secondary names in order to “project strength and resolve.”

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The order states the move “ will sharpen the focus of this Department on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests.”

However, the name cannot officially be changed back without the approval of Congress. Which is why the executive order directs Hegseth to endorse legislation for doing so.

A brief look at the Department of War

The Department of War was created on 7 August 1789. The bill to establish the department was passed by the First Federal Congress with little fanfare or controversy. George Washington, America’s first president, signed the bill into law. He chose Henry Knox, a trusted aide during the Revolutionary War, as the first Secretary of War.

The Department of War was created as a Cabinet-level agency. Its original aim was to administer the operations and maintenance of the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Nearly a decade later, in 1798, the Department of War transferred responsibility for the Navy to the newly created Navy Department under President John Adams.

In 1879, the Department of War moved into what is today known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. By July 1941, more than 24,000 civilian and military personnel worked at the War Department across a dozen buildings in Washington, DC. That number was expected to surpass 30,000 by 1942. The resulting space crunch led the War Department, the Secretary of War and Congress to approve the construction of the Pentagon.

Why was the name changed?

The change came in the aftermath of World War II.

The United States, following the devastating conflict, realised it needed a more unified command structure. In 1947, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act into law. This combined the Navy Department, the War Department and the newly created Air Force into the National Military Establishment. The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the National Security Resources Board were also established under this Act.

The National Military Establishment was headed by the Secretary of Defence – who also led the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was later renamed the Department of Defence.

So, why is Trump making this move now?

Trump essentially wants to rebrand the defence department in order to send a message of strength to America’s adversaries. He and his allies have often accused the armed forces of “being woke” and criticised their leadership as incompetent and soft.

Trump has referred to America’s “unbelievable history of victory” in World War I and World War II under the name Department of War.

“We won World War I, World War II – it was called the Department of War, and to me, that’s really what it is. Defence is a part of that, but I have a feeling we’re gonna be changing,” Trump said.

The president was clearly pointing to America’s record since World War II, which has been mixed at best, with significant defeats in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trump says he believes lawmakers will not be hard to persuade on this issue. “I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don’t even think we need that,” Trump said. “But, if we need that, I’m sure Congress will go along.”

What do experts say?

Historians note that the original Department of War was very different from what Trump envisions.

“There was never a unified Cabinet-level Secretary of War. There was a Secretary of War, but that was the secretary of the Army,” Wayne Lee, a military history professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told Task & Purpose. “The War Department did not run the nation’s wars. It ran the nation’s Army at war.”

Experts also warn that the rebranding move could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to change the name of the defence department in memos, manuals, online platforms and official signage.

This comes even as the Trump administration has vowed to cut down on “wasteful spending.” For comparison, the Naming Commission, which was established to rename military bases that honoured Confederate leaders, estimated the cost of that process at around $62.5 million.

Many analysts say the move must also be seen in the context of the Trump administration’s broader attempts to rewrite, reclaim and reshape US history in its own image.

Hegseth previously reversed a decision made by the Biden administration to change the names of bases such as Fort Bragg and Fort Hood that honoured Confederate leaders. He also ordered an oiler ship named after Harvey Milk, the gay rights activist and Navy veteran, to be renamed.

With inputs from agencies