Department of Defense to revert to historic Department of War name

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday to alter the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, reverting to the agency’s former namesake, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Both Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have recently indicated they want to change the name of the agency. It is one of several initiatives the Trump administration has spearheaded as part of its “warrior ethos” campaign within the Pentagon. 

A White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital Thursday that Trump would roll out the name change Friday. The executive order calls for using the Department of War as a secondary title for the Department of Defense, along with phrases like “secretary of war” for Hegseth, according to a White House fact sheet. 

The order also instructs Hegseth to propose both legislative and executive actions to make the name permanently U.S. Department of War.

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The Sept. 5, 2025, order will also instruct Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to propose both legislative and executive actions to make the name change permanent.  (Getty Images)

Likewise, implementing the order will require modifications to public-facing websites and office signage at the Pentagon, including renaming the public affairs briefing room the “Pentagon War Annex,” according to a White House official. Other longer-term projects also are in the works, the official said. 

Trump signaled in recent days the change was imminent. 

“Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War,” Trump told reporters Aug. 25. “Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

Hegseth, who Trump already has referred to on occasion as the “secretary of war,” also expressed similar sentiments and said the change would reflect a broader, cultural shift within the Pentagon. 

WHITE HOUSE ADVANCES PLAN FOR DEPARTMENT OF WAR AS TRUMP LOOKS TO RESTORE HISTORICAL MILITARY TITLE

President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right, speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington Aug. 26, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

“We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department, with the Department of War,” Hegseth said in an interview Wednesday with “Fox & Friends.” “As the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.

“We’ve reestablished at the Department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks that understand how to exact lethality on the enemy,” he said. “We don’t want endless contingencies and just playing defense. We think words and names and titles matter. So, we’re working with the White House and the president on it. Stand by.” 

The U.S. employed the Department of War title for its military agency until 1949, when it was renamed the Department of Defense in accordance with a series of massive reforms included in the National Security Act of 1947. 

HEGSETH VOWS TO RESTORE WARRIOR MENTALITY AND RAISE STANDARDS IN SWEEPING MILITARY TRANSFORMATION

The executive order changing the name of the Department of War will be the 200th order Trump has signed in his second term.  (Reuters)

It’s unclear if Congress, which has the authority to establish federal executive departments, will need to step in to issue final approval on the move. However, Trump previously has voiced confidence that he doesn’t need approval from lawmakers and that they will get on board if necessary. 

“We’re just going to do it,” Trump told reporters Aug. 25. “I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don’t think we even need that.”

The executive order changing the name of the Department of Defense will be the 200th order Trump has signed in his second term. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.