Following the end of World War II, the United States renamed the government body overseeing the nation’s military from the Department of War to the Department of Defense, a move that President Donald Trump lamented last week as a mistake.
One week later, Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee has introduced a bill to change the name back to the Department of War.
“For the first 150 years of our military’s history, Americans defeated their enemies and protected their homeland under the War Department,” Lee said in a news release Tuesday, echoing Trump’s Oval Office comments on the post-World War II shift.
Lee shared Trump’s comments on the department’s current name last week on X and wrote, “I’m drafting a bill to restore the Department of War to its original name — the only name that captures the full range of America’s military capabilities."
He took to the platform again Tuesday to add, “The entity now known as the Department of Defense is about *WAR*. It should have a name that accurately describes its proper function.”
In June, Trump called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth his “secretary of war” at a NATO summit, saying the department was renamed in an effort to be politically correct.
Hegseth posted a poll to his X account in March asking followers which name they preferred, writing, “Have my thoughts ... welcome yours.” His followers chose War to Defense 54.3% to 45.7%, respectively.
Then, last week, Trump claimed the new name weakened the military.
“I’m proud to introduce the Department of War Restoration Act to make President Trump’s return to tradition permanent in federal law,” Lee said, announcing his bill. “It should always be clear to anyone who would harm our people: Americans don’t just play defense.”
Lee does not sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees matters pertaining to the Department of Defense and the country’s larger defense policy.