The Donald Trump administration is considering renaming the Department of Defense to its former title, the Department of War, according to a White House official.Speaking to Fox News on Saturday, deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said the potential rebrand is part of a broader effort to “restore traditional US military values.”“As President Trump said, our military should be focused on offense, not just defense,” Kelly stated. “That’s why he has prioritized warfighters at the Pentagon instead of DEI and woke ideology. Stay tuned!” Kelly said.The name change would typically require Congressional approval, though the White House is reportedly exploring alternative routes to implement the change unilaterally.Earlier, the Republican Party’s Florida representative, Greg Steube, introduced an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would formally rename the department. While no concrete path has been outlined by the administration, Trump has repeatedly emphasized the importance of projecting military strength.At a Nato summit in June, Trump referred to defense secretary Pete Hegseth as “secretary of war” and publicly floated the idea of returning to the department’s original name.“The Department of Defense. It didn’t sound good to me. It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound,” Trump said at a White House event earlier this week. “Defense? I don’t want to be defense only—we want offense too.”He continued: “We won World War I and World War II. It was called the Department of War. That’s really what it is. I’m talking to the people. Everybody likes that. We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War. Then we changed it to the Department of Defense.”The Department of War was the original name of the executive branch body responsible for US military affairs until the National Security Act of 1947 restructured the military command and created the National Military Establishment.A subsequent 1949 amendment renamed it the Department of Defense, consolidating the Army, Navy, and newly established Air Force under a single civilian-led structure headquartered at the Pentagon.Then-US president Harry Truman championed the shift to strengthen centralized authority – especially over the Navy – under the Pentagon. The Navy had maintained significant independence through World War II.
