President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” a White House official said Thursday, a move that would put Trump’s stamp on the government’s largest organization.
According to a White House fact sheet, the order would allow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as “Secretary of War,” “Department of War,” and “Undersecretary of War” in official correspondence and public communications.
The move would direct Hegseth to propose the legislative and executive actions necessary to make the renaming permanent.
Renaming departments is rare and requires congressional approval, but Trump’s fellow Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and the House, and their congressional leaders have shown little appetite for opposing any Trump initiative.