TEHRAN — In a move that has sparked fierce criticism, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War. The decision revives a title last used in the 1940s, before President Harry Truman restructured the military into the modern Pentagon system following World War II.

The War Department was first established in 1789 and existed until 1947, when it was split into the Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force, eventually consolidated under the newly created Department of Defense. The renaming at the time was intended to symbolize a shift away from conquest and toward a doctrine of defense in the postwar world.

U.S. war history

Yet the irony, critics say, is that under the “defensive” name, the U.S. has waged some of its most destructive wars — from Korea and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon’s record since 1947 has included covert operations, invasions, and regime-change wars that have destabilized entire regions while costing millions of lives.

Trump’s order — which allows the Pentagon to use “Department of War” as a secondary title while seeking congressional approval for permanence — has been described by his allies as an honest recognition of America’s military posture. “The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities,” the executive order states. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, now styled “Secretary of War,” declared during the signing: “We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality.”

Political and financial backlash

But some officials have sharply criticized the rebranding as costly and dangerous. According to US media, the change could cost billions of dollars, requiring alterations to seals, uniforms, websites, facilities, contracts, and correspondence across more than 700,000 facilities worldwide.

“This is purely for domestic political audiences,” a former defense official told Politico. “It will have absolutely zero impact on Chinese or Russian calculations. Worse, it will be used by our enemies to portray the United States as warmongering and a threat to international stability.”

Democrats in Congress also blasted the decision. Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey called it “childish,” saying, “Americans want to prevent wars, not tout them.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire warned that the move distracts from urgent priorities, arguing: “For the president and the secretary of Defense to spend time and energy [on a] distraction from what we need to do — to focus on the readiness of our troops who are serving — [is] nothing more than an effort to distract from other issues that are going on in the country.” 

Even Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell criticized the effort. “If we call it the Dept. of War, we'd better equip the military to actually prevent and win wars. Can't preserve American primacy if we're unwilling to spend substantially more on our military than Carter or Biden. Peace through strength requires investment, not just rebranding,” he wrote on X.

Symbolism over strategy

For Trump, however, the symbolism is the point. He has repeatedly linked the change to America’s history of military victories, particularly in the two world wars, and railed against what he calls “woke ideology” within the Pentagon. “We won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke, and we changed the name to DOD. So, we’re going Department of War,” Trump said at the signing ceremony.

Observers argue that the rebranding does more than revive a historical name — it strips away the veneer of America’s self-styled image as a reluctant global policeman. For decades, U.S. interventions in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were justified as acts of “defense” against communism, terrorism, or rogue states.

Yet those wars were offensive in nature, marked by invasions and occupations. By returning to the War Department title, Trump has inadvertently exposed what critics see as the true nature of U.S. foreign policy: not defense, but dominance.

This bold rebranding exposes the full extent of American militarism and global dominance. Washington is no longer even pretending to act defensively — it is openly showcasing its role as a war-driving superpower.

Trump’s move, coming amid escalating tensions with China and Russia, underscores the U.S.’s ambition to assert its hegemony worldwide. Whether Congress enacts the permanent change or not, the symbolic shift to the “Department of War” lays bare the true colors of the United States: projecting power, enforcing dominance, and signaling to the world that the planet’s so-called most powerful military exists not to defend, but to dictate.