Trump to rename Pentagon’s Department of Defense back to ‘Department of War’

The United States (U.S.) government under the leadership of President Donald Trump has decided to rename a key government department, signaling a shift from a defensive to a “sometimes offensive” posture.

According to the Associated Press, the US Department of Defense (DOD) will be renamed US Department of War (DOW) through an executive order on Friday, September 5, 2025.

The rebranding will remain temporary until Congress makes it permanent.

Replying to a news report that read “White House reveals it will bring back the Department of War name for the Department of Defense,” the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth replied, “DEPARTMENT OF WAR,” apparently confirming the news report.

The United States War Department was renamed the Department of Defense in 1949, following a major reorganization of the U.S. military and now the change is being reversed.

In conversation with reporters last month, August, President Trump said, “Defense is too defensive. And we want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive too, if we have to be.”

He added that name reversal will remind everyone of the great US victories in World War I and World War II.