'Why are we on defence?' Trump wants to rename Department of Defense as 'Department of War'

US President Donald Trump - File Photo

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he wants to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” arguing that the older title was tied to America’s historic military victories and “sounded stronger.”

“The Department of Defense… It didn’t sound good, defence. Why are we on defence? So it used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office. “And as you know, we won World War I. We won World War II. We won everything. Now we have a Department of Defense. We’re defenders.”

Trump then turned to administration officials standing behind him, suggesting that their approval would be enough to proceed with the change.

“That’s coming. You let me know if you want to do it. I think Department of War, it just sounded better,” he said. “We want defence, but we want offense too, if that’s OK. So you’ll make a decision. But you know, as Department of War, we won everything.”

When asked about the need for congressional approval, Trump dismissed concerns. “We’re just going to do it… I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don’t think we even need that.”

This is not the first time Trump has floated the idea. At the NATO summit in June, he had suggested reviving the Pentagon’s original name, even referring to Pete Hegseth as his “Secretary of War.”

“If you look at the old building next to the White House, you can see where it used to be the Secretary of War,” Trump said on June 26. “Then we became politically correct, and they called it Secretary of Defence. Maybe we’ll have to start thinking about changing it.”

The Department of War was one of the first three federal agencies created by the US Congress in 1789, along with the Department of Foreign Affairs (now the State Department) and the Department of the Treasury.

In 1798, the Department of the Navy was added. After World War II, the Truman administration merged the Army and Navy departments with the newly created Air Force under the National Security Act of 1947. Two years later, in 1949, the agency was renamed the Department of Defense to reflect its broader civilian-led mandate.