The Department of Defense submitted a formal legislative proposal to Congress this month asking lawmakers to change its statutory name to the “Department of War,” a move that would require amending roughly 7,600 provisions of federal law.
The proposal is framed as the legislative follow-through to steps already taken. Trump signed an executive order last September authorizing the secondary name for use in non-statutory communications. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued guidance in October telling the department to start updating its signage, letterhead, and materials. A presidential order can’t override federal statute, though. Changing the official name in law requires an act of Congress.
The department says the rename would have “no significant impact” on the fiscal 2027 budget. That estimate doesn’t square with the Congressional Budget Office, which put the full cost of completing the change at over $116 million in January. About $50 million has already been spent on the transition since Hegseth’s October directive.
The justification offered by the department is blunt: the name stands for “a fundamental reminder of the importance and reverence of our core mission, to fight and win wars” and acts as “a strategic objective in which to measure and focus on all activities.”
The name has history. “Department of War” goes back to 1789, when Congress created it by statute. It lasted 158 years before being dissolved as part of a broader postwar military reorganization under the National Security Act of 1947. The name that replaced it, “National Military Establishment,” was abandoned because its initials spelled out NME, which sounded like “enemy.”
“Department of Defense” has been the formal designation since 1949.
The 7,600-plus statutory changes would touch everything from the secretary’s title to departmental acronyms spread across federal law. No congressional timeline for taking up the legislation has been announced.
