President Donald Trump is shown signing an executive order to change the name of the Department of Defense to the "Department of War" with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Oval Office of the White House on September 5, 2025. [Reuters/Brian Snyder]

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, the 5th, in the Oval Office of the White House, changing the name of the Department of Defense (DOD) to the Department of War (DOW).

Since formally changing the name of a government department requires legislative action by Congress, President Trump has initially taken steps to allow the Department of Defense to use "War Department" as a secondary name.

President Trump stated in August, "Everyone loved that we had an incredible history of victories during the War Department era."

The Department of Defense was called the "War Department" from 1789 to 1947. It was renamed to its current title when President Harry Truman separated the War Department into the Army and Air Force and merged them with the then-independent Navy.

This action is interpreted as a clear demonstration of President Trump's resolve to proclaim his "peace through strength" policy both domestically and internationally.

President Trump also expressed his desire to rename the Department of Defense to the War Department during his bilateral meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on the 25th of last month.

At the time, he indicated his plan to change the name of the Department of Defense to the War Department, saying, "I don't just want to defend. I want to attack." He added, "When we won World War I and World War II, it was called the War Department. Everyone loves that we had an incredible history of victories during the War Department era."

By NNP Correspondent Sung Ku Hong / Special Dispatch info@newsandpost.com