Trump Moving Forward With Defense Dept. Name Change
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to restore the Pentagon’s original name, the Department of War, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Although Congress would likely need to sign off on the change, momentum is building. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) has already introduced an amendment to the annual defense policy bill to rename the department, signaling support among Republicans in the House.
A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed the rationale behind the move:
“Department of War” better reflects the military’s offensive capabilities.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly emphasized President Trump’s vision:
“As President Trump said, our military should be focused on offense – not just defense – which is why he has prioritized warfighters at the Pentagon instead of DEI and woke ideology. Stay tuned!”
President Donald J. Trump recently explained his reasoning in public remarks, recalling the nation’s military victories under the War Department:
“It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. We want defense, but we want offense too … As Department of War we won everything, we won everything and I think we’re going to have to go back to that.”
From Washington’s Cabinet to Truman’s “Defense” Bureaucracy
The War Department traces back to the founding era. President George Washington’s Cabinet included just four departments: State (Thomas Jefferson), Treasury (Alexander Hamilton), the Attorney General’s office (Edmund Randolph), and War, led by General Henry Knox.
That structure endured until 1947, when President Harry Truman reorganized the military under the National Security Act, creating the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the U.S. Air Force. Two years later, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.
Critics on the right argue that since then, the Pentagon has become more focused on bureaucracy and global policing than on actually winning wars—something Trump appears intent on correcting.
Fallout at the Defense Intelligence Agency
The debate over military focus comes as President Trump’s team shakes up intelligence leadership following a damaging leak. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), was dismissed last week after a preliminary bomb-damage assessment on U.S. strikes against Iran was leaked to the media.
Kruse, who had led the DIA since February 2024, “will no longer serve as DIA director,” a senior defense official confirmed to the New York Post. Deputy Director Christine Bordine is now listed as acting director.
According to the New York Times, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Kruse over a “loss of confidence,” a decision reportedly tied to the leak of the agency’s “low confidence” assessment. That assessment claimed U.S. strikes on Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear facilities had only delayed Tehran’s nuclear program by “one to two months.”
Three days after the June 21 strikes—carried out with B-2 stealth bombers and cruise missiles—CNN obtained the DIA’s classified memo, fueling speculation that Iran’s nuclear program remained largely intact.
The leak enraged President Trump, who blasted the report on Truth Social:
“AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.”
He added in all caps:
“THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”
Trump’s envoy for Middle East affairs, Steve Witkoff, dismissed the doubters on Fox News:
“Completely preposterous” to claim the U.S. failed in its objectives, he said, insisting the strikes achieved what was intended.
The firings and the push to restore the Pentagon’s historic name reflect the administration’s broader strategy: strip away decades of failed establishment thinking, re-center the military on winning wars, and hold bureaucrats accountable for leaks and failure.