By AFP
September 5, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly touted the push to restore a 'warrior ethos' in the Pentagon - Copyright POOL/AFP Ludovic MARIN
President Donald Trump is changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, the White House announced Thursday, insisting the rebrand will project a more powerful image.
While the department’s official name is set in law, Trump in an executive order is authorizing use of the new label as a “secondary title” by his administration, a White House document said.
Defense officials are permitted to use to use “secondary titles such as ‘Secretary of War,’…in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch,” according to the document.
It was not immediately clear when Trump planned to sign the order, but his public schedule for Friday said he would be signing executive orders in the afternoon as well as making an announcement in the Oval Office.
The president, a marketing-savvy real estate developer, has repeatedly said in recent weeks that he was mulling such a change.
Late last month, the 79-year-old Republican claimed the Defense Department’s title was too “defensive.”
The Department of War “was the name when we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything,” he told reporters on August 25.
According to the White House document, the name change “conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve.”
Established in the early days of US independence, the Department of War historically oversaw American land forces.
A government reorganization after World War II brought it along with the US Navy and Air Force under the unified National Military Establishment, which in 1949 was retitled to the Department of Defense.
“Restoring the name ‘Department of War’ will sharpen the focus of this Department on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests,” the White House document said.
The move is the latest overhaul at the Pentagon since Trump took office in January and appointed former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the sprawling department.
Hegseth, a combat veteran, has repeatedly touted the push to restore a “warrior ethos” in the department, and has lambasted prior administrations for policies he and Trump have derided as “woke.”
Hegseth notably has sought to expel transgender troops from the military and change the names of bases that honored Confederate troops back to their original titles, after they were renamed under former president Joe Biden.
While Trump’s order could potentially be rescinded by a future president, it “instructs the Secretary of War to recommend actions, to include legislative and executive actions, required to permanently rename” the department, the White House document said.
'Marketing gimmick': Military expert slams Trump's 'faux alpha male' stunt
A member of the national guard looks on while standing guard during the No Kings protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS_Daniel Cole
MSNBC national security analyst John Brennan called President Donald Trump’s recent maneuvers to parade troops through US cities and the renaming of the Department of Defense to the “Department of War” as the flexing of personal imaginary strength.
“This sort of faux alpha male strongman image and marketing that Donald Trump is involved in really just sends a wrong signal — speaking to the ‘Department of War’ particularly — with things that have been going on recently we don't want to send a signal to our friends and allies around the globe that we are committed to a very aggressive posture, and we're going to be engaging in [inane] war.”
Brennen added that the image the U.S. has traditionally presented was one of strength with restraint.
“We should do everything possible to make sure we keep this country strong and safe and secure and also work closely with our allies and partners around the world,” Brennen said, adding that he resented Trump’s “marketing gimmick” tearing down the nation’s hard-won image.
“Donald Trump has been involved in for so many years these branding efforts to try to show that he is a strong man. It really, hopefully is not going to do anything at all to the ethos, the real ethos of the Department of Defense, which is, again, to serve their country valiantly, nobly and also fully consistent with us laws.”
VoteVets Senior Adviser Max Rose reminded MSNBC that the nation “just had an atrocious jobs report while the president's spending his time giving the Secretary of Defense a new nickname.”
"So now it's the Department of War, and they have service members deployed in cities throughout the United States of America, so who exactly are we at war with?” Rose said. “But there's an underlying cultural and intellectual motivation behind this nickname change and that is this belief that we have not had a respectable military since World War II. This is so disrespectful to every living veteran who they very clearly now think are actually suckers and losers.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
A member of the national guard looks on while standing guard during the No Kings protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS_Daniel Cole
September 06, 2025
ALTERNET
MSNBC national security analyst John Brennan called President Donald Trump’s recent maneuvers to parade troops through US cities and the renaming of the Department of Defense to the “Department of War” as the flexing of personal imaginary strength.
“This sort of faux alpha male strongman image and marketing that Donald Trump is involved in really just sends a wrong signal — speaking to the ‘Department of War’ particularly — with things that have been going on recently we don't want to send a signal to our friends and allies around the globe that we are committed to a very aggressive posture, and we're going to be engaging in [inane] war.”
Brennen added that the image the U.S. has traditionally presented was one of strength with restraint.
“We should do everything possible to make sure we keep this country strong and safe and secure and also work closely with our allies and partners around the world,” Brennen said, adding that he resented Trump’s “marketing gimmick” tearing down the nation’s hard-won image.
“Donald Trump has been involved in for so many years these branding efforts to try to show that he is a strong man. It really, hopefully is not going to do anything at all to the ethos, the real ethos of the Department of Defense, which is, again, to serve their country valiantly, nobly and also fully consistent with us laws.”
VoteVets Senior Adviser Max Rose reminded MSNBC that the nation “just had an atrocious jobs report while the president's spending his time giving the Secretary of Defense a new nickname.”
"So now it's the Department of War, and they have service members deployed in cities throughout the United States of America, so who exactly are we at war with?” Rose said. “But there's an underlying cultural and intellectual motivation behind this nickname change and that is this belief that we have not had a respectable military since World War II. This is so disrespectful to every living veteran who they very clearly now think are actually suckers and losers.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
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