Hegseth explained during a speech at the White House, where President Donald Trump signed an executive order regarding the name change: “Under your directive, Mr. President, the Department of War will fight decisively, not in endless wars. We will fight to win, not to avoid losing. We will move to offense, not just remain in defense.”
The minister added that the Department of War will resort to “maximum lethality, not lukewarm legitimacy,” and to “violent impact, not politically correct actions,” considering that this will establish a “new nation of warriors, not just defenders.”
President Trump announced yesterday, Friday, the renaming. In a statement to reporters at the White House, Trump considered that his decision sends a “message of victory and strength” to the world, adding that the United States is technologically twenty years ahead of other armies.
When asked whether the renaming would conflict with his calls for peace, Trump said: “I think we will enjoy peace because we are strong.”
It is noted that the “Department of War” was established in the early days of U.S. independence to oversee the land forces before it was dissolved as part of a government reorganization after World War II. It was merged with the Navy and Air Force under the “National Military Establishment,” which later became the Department of Defense in 1949.
