President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s considering renaming the Department of Defense back to its original title: the Department of War.
Speaking during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at the White House, Trump praised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and floated the idea publicly.
“Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War,” Trump said. “We call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name.”
The original War Department, created under President George Washington in 1789, existed until 1947, when President Harry Truman restructured it. Two years later, “Defense” officially became part of the name.
Trump said the old title had more strength and better represented America’s historic victories.
“It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound,” Trump explained. “We won World War I, we won World War II — we won everything. Now, we have a Department of Defense with defenders.”
“I don’t want to be defense-only,” he continued. “We want defense, but we want offense too, if that’s okay. As Department of War, we won everything. I think we’re going to have to go back to that.”
When pressed by a reporter on whether such a name change would require an act of Congress, Trump said he didn’t think so — but added that even if it did, he believed Congress would approve it.
I’m drafting a bill to restore the Department of War to its original name—the only name that captures the full range of America’s military capabilitiespic.twitter.com/n1NjoEwBFZ https://t.co/4DeDDQfp3o
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) August 25, 2025
Senator Mike Lee of Utah later said he would introduce legislation to formally codify the change.
This isn’t the first time Trump has raised the idea. In June, following the successful U.S. airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities, he told reporters, “Maybe for a couple of weeks we’ll call it that — because we feel like warriors.”
Despite his interest in the name change, Trump has frequently framed his presidency as one of peace. The White House has often referred to him as the “peacemaker-in-chief” for his role in de-escalating global conflicts and avoiding new wars since taking office in January.
The post Trump Floats Renaming Pentagon Back To ‘Department Of War’: ‘We Won Everything’ appeared first on Real News Now.
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