President Donald Trump’s administration may seek to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War, reversing a change enacted under the National Security Act of 1947.
Trump on Monday during a press conference in the Oval Office said he would support the new name and questioned why the Pentagon abandoned the War Deparment title after World War II.
“Why are we Defense? So it used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound,” Trump said.
“If you people want to, standing behind me, if you take a little vote, if you want to change it back to what it was when we used to win wars all the time, that’s OK with me. All right?” he continued, gesturing to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other members of his administration.
“I don’t want to be defense only. We want defense, but we want offense too,” Trump added.
Hegseth said in response that the name change is “coming soon.”
The National Security Act of 1947, which was signed by President Harry Truman and amended in 1949, reorganized the Pentagon and came up with the Defense Department name, placing all military branches under the secretary and establishing the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmanship.
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