Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took to social media Thursday and appeared to confirm that the Department of Defense will soon be renamed.
Hegseth reposted Fox News’ tweet Thursday announcing that the White House will rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War. President Donald Trump will reportedly sign an executive order Friday restoring the “Department of War” label to the Pentagon, a return to the agency’s historic name, Fox News Digital reported.
The order directs that the Department of Defense use “Department of War” as a secondary title, with Hegseth assuming the designation “Secretary of War.” A White House official told Fox News Thursday that Trump will roll out the change as part of his administration’s broader “warrior ethos” campaign aimed at reshaping the culture of the armed forces.
Hegseth said Wednesday that restoring the Pentagon’s historic name would mark a cultural shift inside the building.
DEPARTMENT OF WAR https://t.co/uyAZGiklRi
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 4, 2025
“We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department, with the Department of War,” Hegseth told “Fox & Friends.” “As the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.”
Hegseth said the administration wants to reestablish a “warrior ethos” within the ranks.
“We’re reestablishing at the Department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks that understand how to exact lethality on the enemy. We don’t want endless contingencies and just playing defense. We think words and names and titles matter. So we’re working with the White House and the president on it. Stand by,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth has been busy bolstering America’s defenses. Last week, the defense chief ordered the Army to create Joint Interagency Task Force 401, a unit that will coordinate counter-drone operations across the military. In a memo, Hegseth directed Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to lead the initiative, which replaces an Army-only program and expands the mission to draw on investments from other branches in drone defense to protect American skies and U.S. forces abroad.
Drone warfare has become a defining feature of modern conflict, its deadly effectiveness on full display in the Russia-Ukraine war. The U.S. military has scrambled to keep pace, with the Army recently testing counter-drone systems in Poland under an initiative known as “Project Flytrap.”
The Pentagon carried the Department of War name until 1949, when Congress renamed it the Department of Defense under the National Security Act of 1947.
The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot via X/@SecDef)
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