President Donald Trump’s attempt to force a symbolic “win” is facing outrage after he began changing signs and titles at the defense department without Congressional approval, creating a $2 billion budgetary disaster.
As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proudly turned a screwdriver to attach a “Department of War” sign at the entrance to the Pentagon on Thursday, the cost to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War is now estimated at $2 billion, according to congressional staffers.
NBC News reports that the name change, which must be approved by Congress, would require replacing thousands of signs, placards, letterheads and badges, as well as other items at U.S. military sites around the world that feature the Department of Defense name.
One of the biggest expenses is rewriting digital code for all of the department’s websites, as well as other computer software on classified and unclassified systems.
The network interviewed six people with knowledge of the potential cost, including two senior Republican congressional staffers and two senior Democratic congressional staffers, to arrive at the $2 billion estimate.
Hegseth, who previously told top military leaders the new name reflects the need to bring a new “lethality” and “warrior ethos” to the Pentagon, said he wanted to replace the old sign “because we want everybody who comes through this door to know we are deadly serious about the name change of this organization,” in a video posted to X by the DOW Rapid Response account,
“We love everything that the Department of Defense represented, but this is a new era of the Department of War that is focused on winning wars, not just perpetually defending,” he said.
During a Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, Trump said the change back to the Department of War better conveys the message that the U.S. is ready to “fight to win,” NBC News reported.
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President George Washington signed legislation to create the nation’s original War Department in 1789. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed a new law creating the Department of Defense, in an effort to more efficiently combine the operations and leadership of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, according to the Military Times.
When he signed the executive order on Sept. 6 authorizing Hegseth to adopt the title “secretary of war” and to use “Department of War” in official correspondence and communications, Trump told reporters, “We won the First World War, we won the Second World War, we won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke,” he said.
At the time, veterans and Democrats derided the proposed name change as performative.
“It’s a superficial attempt to get some attention and divert the public from our most pressing problems,” Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, a veteran and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told WJAR. “It’s like buying new drapes when the plumbing doesn’t work, it’s not addressing new issues that confront the United States.”
“What matters is the professionalism, skill, and the support for our military forces,” he said.
Later that month, 10 Democratic senators sent a letter to Congressional Budget Office director Phillip Swagel, requesting the projected cost of the name change and noting that it requires congressional approval.
“Given the Trump administration’s repeated emphasis on fiscal restraint—particularly its aggressive use of illegal impoundments and now, unconstitutional pocket rescissions—this symbolic renaming is both wasteful and hypocritical. It appears to prioritize political theater over responsible governance, while diverting resources from core national security functions,” the letter said.
Among them was Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, who posted on X Friday, “Trump can’t change the Department of Defense without Congress. Nevertheless, he and @SecWar are about to spend $2 BILLION of YOUR tax money on a pointless rebrand. This regime would rather spend billions on a vanity project than lower your health care costs.”
And Vote Vets, an advocacy group for 1.5 million “progressive veterans,” posted, “Is there nothing better to do with this money? Maybe restore the VA? Fully fund Medicaid that 1 out of 10 veterans are on? Remediate on-base housing of mold and more?”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said this week that a final cost estimate for changing the name has not been set.
“The Department of War is aggressively implementing the name change directed by President Trump, and is making the name permanent,” Parnell said in an emailed statement to NBC, blaming the “Democrat shutdown” for not yet having the final cost figure.
Trump’s executive order allows the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Defense (DOD), and its subordinate officials to use war-style titles in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch, reported military.com.
But statutes, contracts, treaties and court filings still have to refer to DOD as the nation’s central defense authority.
From a legal standpoint, until it is approved by Congress, the administration’s move to use “Department of War” operates much like a company “doing business as” (DBA) in corporate law, using a secondary name that carries no new legal authority, military.com explained.
