Trump hints Defense Dept could revert to War Department in a week

President Donald Trump indicated in a White House appearance that the Defense Department could be renamed back to the War Department within the next week or so, a reversal of more than seven decades of branding that supporters say would underscore a more aggressive military posture. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking from the Oval Office, described the change as coming “soon” and encouraged viewing the old name as better aligned with past military victories.

The proposed shift harks back to the long-standing history of the U.S. military’s top civilian office. The War Department was established in 1789 to oversee the nation’s armed forces and retained that name through the World Wars. After World War II, the department underwent a restructuring that culminated in the National Security Act of 1947 and its 1949 amendments, which created the National Military Establishment and, shortly thereafter, renamed it the Department of Defense to reflect a centralized, interservice command structure. The president’s aides and allies argue that reverting to the War Department would recall a period when American victories were framed under that banner and project a more offensive, as...