Rebrands: Bringing back the War Department

Trump and Hegseth think they can make Beijing and Moscow tremble by ordering up “new stationery that says ‘War’ on it.”

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

President Trump is desperate for the world to view him as a “tough guy,” said Tom Nichols in The Atlantic. That seems to be the motivation behind his executive order rebranding the Department of Defense as the Department of War, its name from 1789 to 1947. “Defense is too defensive,” Trump explained. “We want to be offensive too.” It’s hard “to overstate the inanity of this move.” First, the order won’t change the department’s official name—that requires an act of Congress—but will allow “macho-obsessed” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use titles like “secretary of war” in official communications. Then there’s the fact that the Pentagon had solid reasons for sticking with the Department of Defense: After World War II, officials recognized that preserving the freedom of the U.S. and its allies from the Soviets would be “a matter of ongoing national defense,” in which the exercise of force was only part of the equation. But that’s far too high-minded for Trump and Hegseth, who think they can make Beijing and Moscow tremble by ordering up “new stationery that says ‘War’ on it.”

This blunt name change could have some “salutary effects,” said The Washington Post in an editorial. Euphemisms such as “defense” and “security” have encouraged mission creep, leading our military to become entangled in decades-long nation-building projects. Such costly endeavors would not be the remit of a combat-focused Department of War. And the name change “won’t necessarily have the political effects Trump desires.” His deployment of National Guards to U.S. cities might prompt more opposition if it was overseen by the War Department, reminding voters that these troops “are not police officers but soldiers.”

A War Department would be a gift to our greatest rivals, said David E. Sanger in The New York Times. China and Russia have long argued that “America’s talk about being a peace-loving, law-abiding international player” masks a country itching “to strike at any target it regards as a threat.” This aggressive name change would feed that narrative. Which is exactly what Trump wants, said Aaron Blake in CNN.com. In his second term, he’s shown a remarkable willingness to use the military—“even on U.S. soil.” He’s bombed Iran and blown up an alleged Venezuelan drug boat on legally dubious grounds. And after sending troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., he’s threatening shows of force in Chicago and other cities. The War Department may never become reality, but that won’t stop Trump from going to war “at home and abroad.”