US President Donald Trump is directing that the Department of Defense be known as the Department of War, the BBC reports.
He will sign an executive order on Friday for the defense department to use the new name as a secondary title and for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be known as Secretary of War.
The Pentagon – which oversees the US armed services – is the successor to the War Department, which was first established as a cabinet-level agency in 1789 and existed until 1947.
The responsibility of creating executive departments rests with the US Congress, meaning that an amendment would be required to legally change the department’s name.
