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Department of War (U.S.)

Last modified: 2025-12-13 by rick wyatt
Keywords: war | departmental | united states |
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Status of the Department of War

In September 2025 the Department of Defense was renamed the Department of War. To date we have not located new flags specific to the Department of War. Please see our section on the Department of Defense.

This is effectively a branding change only. The Department of Defense is still the Department of Defense under US law.
Dave Fowler, 27 September 2025

Dave Fowler is correct. The Executive Order did not "rename" the U.S. Defense Department to War Department as supporters, detractors, and sloppy media sources keep telling us. The Executive Order Trump signed only "allows" the use of an alternate name (basically "brand name marketing") and only the Congress has the power to rename any existing department. Even the alleged creation of the so-called "DOGE" or "Department of Government Efficiency" is not actually a Congressionally created "department", but the White House renaming an existing White House office the "United States Digital Service" (USDS) to DOGE, which the President can do (and likely won't last past the current term either).

From Wikipedia:
"On September 5, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing "Department of War" and "secretary of war" as secondary titles to the main titles of "Department of Defense" and "secretary of defense." The terms must be accommodated by federal agencies and are permitted in executive branch communications, ceremonial settings, and non-statutory documents. However, only an act of Congress can legally and formally change the department's name and secretary's title, so "Department of Defense" and "secretary of defense" remain legally official."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense

The text of the E.O. confirms that this:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restoring-the-united-states-department-of-war/
https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/donald-trump/2025

"Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Secretary of Defense is authorized the use of this additional secondary title — the Secretary of War — and may be recognized by that title in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch.

(b) The Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of Defense may be referred to as the Department of War and the Office of the Secretary of War, respectively, in the contexts described in subsection (a) of this section."

On my site, this is how i dealt with it rather than changing the name.

5 Sep 2025 Titles "Department of War" (DoW) and "Secretary of War" authorized as a secondary titles by Executive Order (EO 14347).

Ben Cahoon, 1 November 2025


 

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