Written by Konstantin Toropin and Chris Megerian
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Friday to reshape the Department of Defense into the Department of War, his latest effort to project a resilience image for the U.S. military.
Without legislation, the Republican president cannot formally change his name and his administration will ask Congress for it. Meanwhile, Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use “secondary champions” so that the department can be used under its original name.
The plan was disclosed by a White House official who requested anonymity before the public announcement and was detailed in the White House fact sheet.
The Department of War was established in 1789, the same year that the United States Constitution came into effect. Two years after the end of World War II, it was renamed by law in 1947.
Pentagon head Pete Hegseth posted the War Department on social media after Fox News initially reported the executive order.
Trump and Heggs have long talked about changing the name, and Heggs even conducted a social media poll on the topic in March.
Since then, he has suggested that his title as Secretary of Defense may not be permanent in multiple public events published Thursday in Fort Benning, Georgia. He told an auditorium full of soldiers, “There may be a slightly different title tomorrow.”
“We had an incredible history of victory when everyone liked the War Department. Then, we changed it to the Defense Department,” Trump told reporters in August.
When faced with the possibility of changing the name, Trump told reporters: “We’re just going to do that.”
He added: “I’m sure Congress will keep moving forward if needed.”
The move is just the latest in a series of cultural changes Hegseth has made to the Pentagon since taking office early this year.
In the early days of his tenure, Hegseth worked hard to eliminate what he believed was the impact of “wake culture” on the military, not only getting rid of the diverse planning departments, but also scrubbing libraries and websites that were considered to be split materials.
The result was the removal and review of hundreds of books from the Military Academy, which ultimately included the title of the Holocaust and the memoirs of Maya Angelu. This has also led to thousands of websites being deleted in honor of donations from women and minorities.
“I think the president and secretary are very clear about it – it’s not right to be honest in the Department of Defense to say diversity is our strength,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters in March.
Hegseth also chaired Trump’s executive order through some processes known as “dehumanization” or “open cruelty”, presided over all trans forces.
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