President Donald Trump Wants To Rename DoD To The Department Of War

The Pentagon in the 1960s. It has been the HQ of the U.S. Department of Defense since 1949.

Bettmann Archive

President Donald Trump has been repeatedly described as someone who hates war. Before running for office, he was critical of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, and during his first administration vowed to end America’s presence in Afghanistan. The MAGA movement has also called for a more isolationist or “America First” agenda and is vocally opposed to so-called “Endless Wars.”

Yet, for all that bluster about “war,” Trump has at times seemed to be somewhat hawkish.

While speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump suggested that the Department of Defense could revert to its former name, “The Department of War” or “War Department.”

“Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War. You know, we call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name,” Trump said during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

“You want to know the truth, I think we’re going to have some information on that maybe soon,” Trump added, noting its former name, and then claiming that it fared better as the Department of War.

“Defense is a part of that. But I have a feeling we’re going to be changing. Everybody likes that. We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War,” the president explained. “I don’t want to be defense only. We want offensive too.”

History Of The War Department

The Department of War was first established by President George Washington in 1789. It was the cabinet department responsible for operations and maintenance of the United States Army, as well as for naval affairs, until a separate Navy Department was established in 1798. From its founding, the War Department was headed by the secretary of war. This civilian oversaw the responsibilities of finance and purchases, and played a much more minor role in directing military affairs than the current secretary of defense.

Retired General Henry Knox, for whom Fort Knox is named, served as the first United States Secretary of War.

The Department of War existed until 1947, when it was reorganized by President Harry Truman, and two years later was renamed the Department of Defense.

“The name of the department was changed to the Department of Defense to reflect the idea that war making is not considered moral like it was in the past and secondly that the job of the Pentagon in the post-nuclear war era was certainly not to make war,” Dr. Matthew J. Schmidt, associate professor of national security and political at the University of New Haven, explained in an email.

“It was to prevent a war because any nuclear war would be the last one, and so the idea was to defend against war to provide security to do positive things like that,” added Schmidt.

War Vs. Defense – Differing Concepts

The concept of a War Department wasn’t new to the United States. Similar ministries could be traced back to China in the 7th century and Japan in the 8th century. Yet, the U.S. did take the lead in the West, as the king or other ruler of most of Europe’s nations directly controlled military forces.

As kings and lords stopped leading troops into battle, the role of head of the military fell to a chancellor. By the late 18th century and early 19th century, several nations followed America’s lead by establishing a Department, or more often a Ministry, of War. France, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Saxony were among the nations that had such an office, which also had the issues of command and condition of the respective nation’s military forces, and paying for its upkeep.

The shift from the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Defense also followed that of the United States, and the reasons were also similar. First, in most nations, the ministry oversaw just the army, while another ministry oversaw the navy. With the introduction of air forces, all of these branches were rolled into a single ministry, or department, in the case of the United States. This is meant to help address any inter-service rivalries.

The other and more significant change was to the name. After the horrors of the First and Second World Wars, the focus was put on defense, to emphasize that it was protecting the homeland and its people instead of engaging in offensive warfare. It also promotes civilian control over the military.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whom Trump has referred to as the “secretary of war” on a least one occasion, conducted an unscientific poll on X on earlier this year, asking if Americans preferred “Department of Defense” to “Department of War,” with 54.3% approving of the old name vs. 45.7% opting for the defense moniker. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk was in favor of the former name, writing, “War is more accurate.”

“It’s just pretty astounding that we would go back to the Department of War,” Dr. Schmidt continued. “It’s antithetical to all of the ethical standards that the United States military is known for educating its students in and in the ways that it engages with its rules of engagement.”