Trump's week in review: Defense Dept. rebranded; TPS revoking draws ire of Evangelical group

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Saturday, September 06, 2025

An aerial photo of The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, taken from an Airplane in Jan. 12, 2008. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Pentagon_January_2008.jpg | Wikimedia Commons/David B. Gleason

5. Trump rebrands the Department of Defense as the Department of War

In an Oval Office signing ceremony on Friday, Trump signed an executive order rebranding the U.S. Department of Defense as the U.S. Department of War. Trump's executive order seeks to restore the title the agency had from 1789 to 1949.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth elaborated on the history of the agency in remarks delivered in the Oval Office. "After winning a war for independence in 1789, George Washington established the War Department," Hegseth explained. "This country won every major war after that, to include World War I and World War II."

After detailing how the Department of War was renamed the Department of Defense after World War II, Hegseth insisted that "we haven't won a major war since." Hegseth identified Friday's name change as part of an effort at "restoring the warrior ethos" and "restoring intentionality to the use of force."

"The War Department is going to fight decisively, not endless conflicts," Hegseth vowed. "It's going to fight to win, not not to lose. We're going to go on offense, not just on defense."

Additional priorities of the Department of War, as listed by Hegseth, include "maximum lethality, not tepid legality" and "violent effect, not politically correct."

As he signed the executive order, Trump echoed Hegseth's analysis, lamenting that "We won the first World War, we won the second World War, we won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense."