Trump said officials would “probably” return to the earlier name, which he and Hegseth have repeatedly lamented since World War II.
“I don’t want to be defense only. We want offense too,” Trump said at an event with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Citing “an unbelievable history of victory,” he added: “When we won World War I, World War II, it was called the Department of War.”
The War Department existed from 1789 until 1947, when President Harry Truman split the department into the Army and the newly created Air Force and joined them with the then-independent Navy, naming the new cabinet-level agency the Department of Defense. Truman aimed to give the Pentagon chief more centralized authority over the services, especially the Navy.
Trump has recently hinted at a reversion, calling Hegseth his “Secretary of War” at a NATO summit in June and suggesting political correctness drove the post-war change.
“If you look at the old building next to the White House, you can see where it used to be secretary of war,” he said.
Any switch would likely require congressional approval because the department was created by statute. The Defense Department referred questions to the White House.
Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly pointed to Trump’s remarks, saying that focus on “war fighters” has been prioritized over “DEI and woke ideology.” “Stay tuned!” she said.
(jh)
Source: Politico, The Washington Post