"Sounds Stronger": Inside Trump's Plan To Bring Back "Department Of War"

US President Donald Trump reiterated his intentions of renaming the Department of Defence as the "Department of War", which, according to him, "sounds stronger." The US leader connected the old name of his administration's defence wing to historical military victories.

"The Department of Defence...It didn't sound good to me...What are we defence? Why are we defence? It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. We won World War I, World War II," Trump said while addressing the media from the Oval Office. 

"I don't want to be defence only...we want offence too...We want to change it back to what it was, where we used to win wars all the time."

Brushing aside concerns about Congress not supporting his plans, Trump said, "We're just going to do it...I'm sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don't think we even need that." 

Trump: "The Department of Defense...It didn't sound good to me. It didn't sound good. Defense? What are we defense? Why are we defense? It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound...Defense? I don't want to be defense only. We want defense but we want… pic.twitter.com/z9v3loHLgx

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) August 25, 2025

This was not the first time the US leader had made his intention of renaming the department known. During the NATO summit in June, Trump had suggested he may restore the department's original name, referring to Pate Hegseth as his "Secretary of War".

"If you look at the old building next to the White House, you can see where it used to be the Secretary of War," Trump said on June 26.

"Then we became politically correct, and they called it Secretary of Defence. Maybe we'll have to start thinking about changing it," he added. 

History Of The Department Of War

In 1789, the First US Congress created three departments to help the president-- Department of Foreign Affairs (now the Department of State), the Department of the Treasury and the Department of War (now the Department of Defence).

Nearly a decade later, in 1789, the US Congress established a separate Department of the Navy. But in 1947, post World War II, the Truman administration merged the Army and Navy departments and a newly created Air Force department under the National Security Act of 1947 and named it the National Military Establishment.

The National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defence in 1949 to better reflect the civilian leadership of the military.