Trump wants to rename the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of War

President Donald Trump announced that a name change would likely be “made over the next week or” for the Defense Ministry.

The president told the White House that the defense secretary Pete Hegseth “had been incredible with the, as I call it, the Ministry of War”.

“You know that we call it the Ministry of Defense, but between us, I think we are going to change the name. You want to know the truth? I think we are going to have information about it, maybe soon,” added Trump.

“But I think that because, you know, Ministry of Defense, we won the First World War, the Second World War. It was called the Ministry of War. And for me, that’s really what it is. Defense is one of them. But I have the feeling that we are going to change,” said Trump. “I speak to people. Everyone likes it. We had an incredible story of victory when it was the Ministry of War. Then we changed it in the Ministry of Defense.

Trump then said: “This is something I think you will hear about or see in the coming weeks” and “probably this change will be made in next week.”

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President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the Defense Ministry may soon be a change of name. (AP / Alex Brandon)

When he was asked for the name change at another White House event on Monday, Trump told a journalist “we are just going to do it”.

“I am sure that Congress will go if we need it. I don’t think we even need it. But, if we need it, I am sure that Congress will go,” said Trump. You know, it was the name when we won the First World War. We won the Second World War. We have won everything. And, just for me, seems to be a little more appropriate. The other is that the defense is too defensive. And we want to be defensive, but we also want to be offensive, if we have to be. So it just seemed like a better name. “”

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President Donald Trump holds an executive decree under surety without cash as vice-president JD Vance, on the left, and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth, in the Oval Blanche office, on Monday, August 25, 2025 in Washington. Trump suggested on Monday that the Defense Ministry could get a new name. (AP / Evan Vucci)

The Ministry of Defense declared on its website that the Ministry of War was created by the Congress in August 1789 “at the level of the cabinet to supervise the exploitation and maintenance of the army, the navy and the marine body”.

Following the conclusion of the Second World War, in July 1947, President Harry Truman Signed the National Security Act Which, according to the site, merged “the departments of the Navy and the War and the brand new air force in a single organization called the national military establishment led by a secretary of civil defense who also supervises the chiefs of the Child Staff”.

Two years later in August 1949, the National Security Act was modified, reversing the national military establishment as the Ministry of Defense.

The logo of the Ministry of Defense was seen before a press conference in the Pentagon in October 2023. (Cell Gunes / Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“The change has canceled the statutes at the office of the secretaries of the army, the Navy and the Air Force and made them all subordinate to the Secretary of Defense, whose authority and the responsibilities have increased,” said the website of the Ministry of Defense.