Donald Trump is set to sign a new executive order on Friday, September 5, renaming the Department of Defense. And some people online aren’t too happy with the news.
Trump is set to sign a new bill
Donald Trump has been signing executive orders since reprising his role as president in January.
He’s now set to sign yet another bill which will change the name of the Pentagon for the first time in decades.
The DOD will be renamed
The BBC reported that Trump’s administration plans on renaming the Department of Defense (DOD) to become known as the Department of War.
The order states, “The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities.”
It currently proposes it as a secondary title
The order reportedly called the use of the new name a secondary title, but the bill also instructs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to propose legislative and executive actions in order to make the name permanent.
Hegseth discussed the change
In an interview with Fox News, Hegseth said, “We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department, with the Department of War. As the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.”
He talked about intimidating ‘the enemy’
The Secretary of Defense went on, “We’ve reestablished at the Department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks that understand how to exact lethality on the enemy.”
“We don’t want endless contingencies and just playing defense. We think words and names and titles matter. So, we’re working with the White House and the president on it. Stand by.”
Some people online didn’t like the change
While Hegseth and others within the Trump administration seem to be on board with the change, some people weren’t too happy about it.
One user on X reacted to the news, saying, “This is so stupid and it’s going to make us a laughing stock in front of both our allies and our enemies.”
Another called it a ‘waste of money’
Another person online argued, “Renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War, because it is more intimidating to our adversaries, is stupid.”
A third also said, “Changing the name of DoD to Department of War is dumb for lots of reasons, but not least of which is it’s just a huge waste of money.”
