Trump restores the United States Department of War

There is no more department of Defence in America. It has become the department of war. US President Donald Trump officially renamed the department of defence as the department of war and Pete Hegseth is now Secretary of War. Trump signed an executive order on Friday.The ceremony took place at the White House in the presence of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. This was Trump’s 200th executive order since taking office in January. Following the change, Hegseth’s title is now Secretary of War. Before the signing, Hegseth said, “This War Department, Mr. President, just like America, is BACK… We’re going to set the tone for this country.” The name “Department of War” was last used officially in the 1940s.

pic.twitter.com/P575W2eXHF

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) September 5, 2025

Trump said the change reflects his administration’s “warrior ethos” campaign and marks a shift in how the US wants to present its military power.Trump said, “We won the first World War. We won the second World War. We won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense. So, we’re going Department of War.”

Trump OFFICIALLY renames Department of Defense

Now it’s the Department of War

Pete Hegseth now Secretary of War

‘That’s a big one’ https://t.co/iIAmgpmyXW pic.twitter.com/F1U5CTlUVL

— RT (@RT_com) September 5, 2025

He also said the move will send a message to the world about America’s military strength. “I think it sends a message of victory… really a message of strength — we’re very strong. We’re much stronger than anyone would really understand,” he said. The US first used the Department of War title for its military leadership until 1949. That year, following reforms in the National Security Act of 1947, the agency was renamed the Department of Defense, reflecting a broader structure that unified the Army, Navy, and newly created Air Force under one umbrella.Trump’s move revives the historic name more than 75 years later.

Trump signed another executive order that would let the US designate nations as state sponsors of wrongful detention, using the threat of associated sanctions to deter Americans from being detained abroad or taken hostage. The designation, similar to the state sponsors of terrorism designation that the US already imposes on some nations, will allow the State Department to target countries falling under the label with penalties such as economic restrictions, curbs on visas for those involved and travel restrictions for Americans to those countries. “Like the State Sponsor of Terrorism determination, no nation should want to end up on this list,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

It's aimed at making it easier to impose penalties on nations that block or restrain Americans, and impose a major penalty on countries that don't release those US nationals. “With this EO you are signing today, you are drawing a line in the sand that US citizens will not be used a bargaining chips,” Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, told Trump as he signed the order at the White House on Friday afternoon.

The designation is designed for Rubio to be able to lift the penalties if a nation changes its practices. It wasn't immediately clear when the US might begin applying the new label and to which countries, but two senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the order being signed, cited China, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia as nations that could potentially face penalties under the new designation. The order allows the designation to also be applied to groups that control territory even if they are not recognised governments.

Global Reach, a nonprofit organisation that had advocated for the return of wrongfully detained Americans, praised the executive order.“This designation is something that will put real teeth behind the US government's efforts to bring home detained Americans and deter offending nations from engaging in hostage diplomacy.