By Rebecca Kheel | Military.com
President Donald Trump’s desire to have a “Department of War” could be fulfilled under an amendment filed this week by a Republican congressman.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., has filed an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would formally change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
The amendment still faces many hurdles before it would become law, including a decision by the House Rules Committee on which amendments will even get votes on the House floor. But its filing indicates GOP support in Congress for the idea.
“Restoring the Department of War name to our military will not only honor the heroism of the service members who came before us but also remind each new generation of their sacred responsibility to defend freedom,” Steube, an Army veteran, said in an emailed statement to Military.com on Wednesday.
The Department of War was the name for the Cabinet agency that oversaw the Army for much of the country’s history. Established shortly after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, the department first included the Army, Navy and Marine Corps before the Department of the Navy was created as a separate Cabinet agency in 1798.
In 1947, Congress passed a sweeping reorganization of the country’s national security apparatus that included replacing the War Department with the Department of the Army, creating the Air Force and establishing a new umbrella agency to oversee each military department. Two years later, Congress amended the law and named the nascent agency the Department of Defense.
The reorganization was championed by then-President Harry Truman as a way to make the services more cohesive after World War II.
“One of the lessons which have most clearly come from the costly and dangerous experience of this war is that there must be unified direction of land, sea and air forces at home as well as in all other parts of the world where our armed forces are serving,” Truman said in a 1945 message to Congress.
“It is true, we were able to win in spite of these handicaps. But it is now time to take stock, to discard obsolete organizational forms and to provide for the future the soundest, the most effective and the most economical kind of structure for our armed forces of which this most powerful nation is capable.”
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have floated the idea of restoring the Department of War name repeatedly since Trump took office in January. But this week, the pair gave their clearest indications yet they plan to move forward with the idea.
“Defense? I don’t want to be defense only. We want defense, but we want offense too, if that’s OK,” Trump said in the Oval Office during an executive order signing ceremony. “As Department of War, we won everything. We won everything, and I think we’re going to have to go back to that.”
Hegseth, who was standing behind Trump, replied that reviving the Department of War name is “common sense” and that plans to do so are “coming soon.”
Renaming the Department of Defense would follow a pattern of the Trump administration restoring discarded names of military assets. Contravening a congressional mandate, the administration changed the names of nine Army bases back to the original monikers that honor Confederate military leaders.
Because the Department of Defense name is enshrined in law, a name change likely requires another act of Congress.
Trump, though, has appeared unconcerned that Congress could be an impediment.
“We’re just going to do it,” Trump said later Monday during an event to mark the fourth anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan. “I’m sure Congress would go along if we need that. I don’t think we will need that.”
Steube’s proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, suggests at least some Republicans are ready to go along with the idea.
The amendment would specifically replace any references to the Department of Defense in federal law and regulation with the Department of War. It would also rename the secretary of defense to the secretary of war.
Hundreds of amendments are usually proposed for the NDAA, with typically just a fraction granted votes. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet the week of Sept. 8 to decide which amendments to advance to the House floor, with the full chamber expected to debate and vote on the NDAA and amendments later that week.
First published on Military.com
.@POTUS “Pete, you started off by saying the Department of Defense. Somehow it didn’t sound good to me…
It used to be called the Department of War…” pic.twitter.com/4FeTsrfYwY
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) August 25, 2025
HOLY SHT 🚨 Pete Hegseth said hopefully by next meeting “my card will read department of War” 🔥
“George Washington started the Department of War because he wanted us to WIN our wars”
Pete Hegseth is a Rockstar 👏 pic.twitter.com/3JKs6nqNkU
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) August 26, 2025
President Trump is right. It’s time to restore the name Department of War to our military. I will be submitting legislation and an NDAA amendment doing just that. pic.twitter.com/IT4ffkXzNA
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) August 29, 2025
. @SecDef It’s not just about words. It’s about the warrior ethos. It is about what the department is supposed to do.
George Washington started the DEPARTMENT OF WAR because he wanted us to win our wars. The Founders did not want endless foreign entanglements.” pic.twitter.com/GX5UP55kJD
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) August 26, 2025
“Department of War” is the honest name. Should be changed back imo.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2025
Secretary Hegseth’s full statement at President Trump’s seventh cabinet meeting: pic.twitter.com/wPCiMhja9o
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) August 26, 2025
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