US President Donald Trump on Friday is expected to sign an executive order authorising the US Department of Defence to rebrand itself as the 'Department of War', the White House said. The President had suggested the change during remarks to reporter on Aug. 25.
The name 'Department of War' was abandoned during a 1947 Cabinet re-organisation.
A draft White House fact sheet on Trump's rebranding initiative implicitly acknowledges that only Congress can formally change the department's name, noting that the order would authorise the Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, to propose legislation that would make the change permanent.
The order will designate 'Department of War' as a 'secondary title', an administration official told The Guardian, as a way to get around the need for congressional approval to formally rename a federal agency.
"It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound" Trump said. "And as you know, we won World War I and we won World War 2. We won everything," he was quoted by USA Today.
In 1789, the Congress established the War Department as a cabinet-level position to oversee the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. It managed America's military affairs for more than 150 years before being reorganised in 1947.
In 1947, following World War II, Congress merged the War and Navy Departments into the National Military Establishment to better coordinate the Army, Navy, and newly formed Air Force- that was formally established later that year. In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed as the Department of Defense to emphasise national security rather than purely combat. The cabinet-level Army, Navy and Air Force secretaries were replaced by the new secretary of defense.
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