articleFILE-President Donald Trump talks to the media as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump hinted that he could change the name of the Department of Defense to the “Department of War.”
Trump said Monday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War,” FOX News reported.
“You know 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,” Trump said.
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Trump also asserts that the Department of Defense was once called the Department of War during U.S. victories in World War I and World War II.
“But I think because, you know, Department of Defense, we won the World War One, World War Two. It was called the Department of War. And to me that’s really what it is. Defense is a part of that. But I have a feeling we’re going to be changing,” Trump continued. “I’m talking to the people. Everybody likes that. We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”
FOX News reported that during a White House event Monday, a reporter asked Trump about renaming the Department of Defense, to which the president replied, “We’re just going to do it.”
Why was the Department of War changed to the Department of Defense?
The backstory:
The Department of War was established by Congress in August 1789 to supervise the operation and maintenance of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, according to the Department of Defense website. The U.S. used the Department of War name for its military agency from 1789 to 1947.
In July 1947, after the end of World War II, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act which, the DOD website states, combined the Navy and Department of War and the Air Force into one organization called the National Military Establishment. The National Security Act was later amended in 1949, renaming the National Military Establishment as the Department of Defense.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by FOX News and the Department of Defense, which provides background on the Department of War name. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.