Donald Trump has stirred up concerns over the possibility of war with his suggestion of a name change, stating, “we want to be offensive, too, if we have to be.”
Global tensions are currently heightened, particularly due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This is despite discussions of a major peace agreement earlier this month involving President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It appears that several nations, the US included, are discreetly preparing for a potential ‘World War 3’. Trump has openly addressed this matter with the media.
During a session with reporters on Monday (August 25) at the Oval Office, Trump brought up the idea of renaming the Department of Defense.
He suggested reverting almost eighty years back to rename it as the Department of War, arguing that the current name is “too defensive.”
He used the Department of War name a few times, including during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
A reporter questioned, “On the Department of War, how do you plan to do that? It requires an act of Congress to rename the Defense Department…”
Trump responded, “We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that… Defense is too defensive. We want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too if we have to be.”
This followed his commendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, remarking that he had been “incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War.”
Trump further commented, “You know, we call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name. You want to know the truth. I think we’re going to have some information on that may be soon.”
He emphasized the US’s “unbelievable history of victory” under the earlier name, prior to its change in 1947.
Initially, Trump mentioned that the change would occur “over the next week or so,” but later deferred the decision to Hegseth: “If everyone likes it, we’ll make that change.”
In June, he mentioned the name change occurred because “we became politically correct.”
The name was altered to Defense following World War II, after the Department of War managed the Army, and the Navy was incorporated into a single Cabinet-level agency.
These two agencies had functioned independently for over a hundred years.
President Harry Truman was the one who called for the unification of the different branches of service under the Department of National Defense name in 1947.
He asserted that it would “cut costs and at the same time enhance our national security.”
The transition proceeded in 1947 with a single Secretary of Defense, and the name was officially changed to the Department of Defense by Congress two years later.
One commenter reacted to the news: “I just thinking outloud, but I don’t like it. One portrays that we’re in wars, the other portrays that we will defend ourselves!”
“Sounds like the world’s worst rebrand, but at least it’s honest,” remarked another.
“It was renamed that by CONGRESS. So if he wants to change it he can head back over there,” insisted one critic.
Only time will reveal whether the name change will be implemented.