The executive order also grants Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the title “secretary-of-war.”

The order states that Hegseth would propose legislative and executive action to make the change permanent.

The new name will require the Department of Defense to completely rebrand its web presence as well as at the Pentagon. According to the White House, the public affairs briefing will be renamed “Pentagon War Annex”.

Trump and Hegseth both supported the name change before. Last month, the president stated that “the old name just sounded better.”

He added, “I think that we will have to go back and revisit this.” Hegseth informed him that the change in name was “coming soon.”

Hegseth wanted to change the name of the department in order to reflect its “warrior-ethos”, citing an old department name which “won” World War I & II. “We are reestablishing the warrior ethos at the department. We are looking for warriors who know how to kill the enemy. We don’t need endless contingencies or to play defense. Words, names and titles are important to us. We’re working on this with the White House, and the President. “Stand by,” he said.

In 1947, the name was changed to National Military Establishment in order to consolidate military forces. The Navy, War and Air Force Departments were merged under this temporary name. The Department of Defense was given the name two years later.

A military historian told the New York Times that the purpose of changing the name from “War Department” into the Department of Defense is to highlight the United States’ willingness to avoid war.

Richard H. Kohn said that the decision “was not based on political correctness.” Richard H. Kohn is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was meant to convey to America’s enemies and the rest of world that America is not interested in making war, but rather defending the United States. And if this requires war, then there are four major military services.