By
Jason Breslow
A view of the Pentagon on Dec. 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. President Trump has said he would like to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War.
President Trump will sign an executive order on Friday to give the Department of Defense a new name: the Department of War.
The change would return the department to a name that it carried for much of its history, until it became the Department of Defense in the wake of World War II. The executive order was confirmed to NPR by a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter.











