President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War as a secondary title.
The department said Friday the EO authorizes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DOD and the deparment’s subordinate officials to use secondary titles, such as “Secretary of War,” “Department of War” and “Deputy Secretary of War,” in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts and non-statutory documents within the executive branch.
According to a White House fact sheet, the order requires all executive departments and agencies to recognize the secondary titles in internal and external communications and directs Hegseth to recommend executive and legislative actions to permanently rename DOD to the Department of War.
Enhancing the Department of War’s Focus on National Interests
According to the executive order, restoring the name Department of War will sharpen the department’s focus on national interests and indicate to adversaries the country’s readiness to wage war to protect its interests.
“We changed the name after World War II from the Department of War to the Department of Defense and … we haven’t won a major war since,” said Hegseth, a 2025 Wash100 awardee.
“And that’s not to disparage our warfighters … That’s to recognize that this name change is not just about renaming, it’s about restoring; words matter,” he added.
