Trump Suggests Name Change for DoD

President Trump wants the Department of Defense to revert to using the name it had until he was 15 months old. On Monday, the president again raised the prospect of renaming the department the Department of War, NBC News reports. "Why are we 'Defense?' So it used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound."

• Trump, speaking in the Oval Office with officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth standing behind him, said, "If you people want to, standing behind me, if you take a little vote, if you want to change it back to what it was when we used to win wars all the time, that's okay with me. Alright?"

• "It just sounded bad to me," Trump said, per Newsweek. "Defense? I don't want to be defense only. We want defense but we want offense, too."
• The Department of War, created in 1789, was merged with the Navy and the Air Force in 1947 to create the National Military Establishment, per Axios. It was renamed the Department of Defense in 1949.
• Trump has discussed the possible name change before, but no official announcement has been made. He has also referred to Hegseth as the "Secretary of War" in posts on social media.