Trump floats renaming DOD to ‘stronger’ Department of War

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 25: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens to President Donald Trump talk to journalists after signing executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on August 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Furthering his federal takeover of the capital city’s law enforcement, Trump signed orders ending cashless bail in the District of Columbia, mandating prosecution for people who desecrate the American flag -- including by burning it -- and other orders. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(Background) U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens to President Donald Trump talk to journalists after signing executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on August 25, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) / (R-Bottom) U.S. Department of Defense emblem

OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
12:58 PM – Monday, August 25, 2025

President Donald Trump has expressed an interest in renaming the Department of Defense (DoD) to its original designation, the “Department of War.”

The Department of War moniker was in effect from 1789 until 1947, when it was reorganized and renamed the Department of Defense (DoD) under the National Security Act of 1947.

On Monday, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump remarked that the Department of Defense’s current name “doesn’t sound good,” as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood behind him.

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“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,” the 47th president stated. “Now we [just] have a Department of Defense.”

The U.S. War Department was established in 1789 to oversee all military affairs until a separate Navy Department was created by Congress in 1798 — and then the National Security Act of 1947 designated departments for the Army, Navy and Air Force. It was not directly renamed per se, but abolished after the National Security Act and replaced by the National Military Establishment (NME). The NME was officially created as a broader organizational reformation of the U.S. military structure.

Meanwhile, Trump suggested to those standing behind him, including Hegseth, that if they were to “take a little vote” in favor, he would restore the department’s original name.

The president also later revisited the topic during a meeting with the South Korean president in the Oval Office, noting, “We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War.”

Trump’s proposal to revert to the Department of War aligns with his administration’s broader approach to rebranding and renaming federal entities, as seen in his January 2025 executive order directing the renaming of former President Barack Obama’s Denali back to Mount McKinley and the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

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