Trump signed EO 14347 directing Pentagon to adopt 'Department of War' name; DoD website rebranded to war.gov

On September 5, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14347, directing the Department of Defense to use the secondary title "Department of War" in all non-statutory communications, public correspondence, and ceremonial contexts. The DoD website was rebranded to war.gov immediately after signing. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth characterized the 1947 renaming of the department to "Defense" as "woke" and called the change back to "War" a signal of American strength. Total implementation costs — covering new signage, letterhead, and communications infrastructure across the entire defense establishment — were estimated at approximately $2 billion.

The Department of Defense was established by the National Security Act of 1947, which codified "Department of Defense" as the department's statutory name under 10 U.S.C. § 111. Renaming a cabinet-level department requires an act of Congress; executive orders cannot override statutory designations. The EO acknowledged this limit, explicitly restricting the "Department of War" name to non-statutory contexts. Nonetheless, the simultaneous and comprehensive rebranding of official web infrastructure, public correspondence, and ceremonial materials created a de facto institutional rename that the executive carried out without any legislative authorization.

The administration's own allies in the Senate — Senators Rick Scott and Mike Lee — introduced legislation to formally rename the department, implicitly confirming that a statute, not an executive order, is the required instrument. Trump characterized the original 1947 renaming as a product of post-World War II politics he wished to reverse. The executive order bypassed the same legislative process that would have been required then or now.