Donald Trump has signed the order for the new name of the Pentagon. “We got peace because we are strong”

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to introduce the phrase “War Department” as a “secondary name” for the Defense Department.

The measure gives the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, the power to use phrases such as “Department of War”, “Secretary of War” and “Deputy Secretary of War” in the correspondence and official government communications, without officially changing the name of the department – a request that requires an action from the Congress, according to the USA.

However, the order guides Hegseth to recommend executive and legislative actions to permanently bear the new name.

“I won the First World War. I won World War II. I won everything that was before them and among them,” Trump said before signing the order in the Oval Office.

“I think it is a much more appropriate name, especially given the current situation in the world. We have the strongest army in the world,” added the US president. “I think we got peace because we are strong,” he said.

“It's about restoration”

According to the order, all departments and executive agencies are obliged to recognize and integrate change into internal and external communications.

“It's not just about renaming. It's about restoration,” Hegseth said. “The words matters. It is about restoration, as you have guided us, Mr. President, the restoration of the warrior ethos,” continued the head of the Pentagon.

“The Department of War will fight decisively, not in endless conflicts. It will fight to win, not to lose. We will go offensive, not only in defensive,” said Pete Hegseth.

The Trump administration did not provide a cost estimate for the expected change at the Government as a result of the order. The president said that the name change will be made “not in the most expensive way”.

The name of “War Department” has been used 150 years

The War Department was established by the US Congress in 1789, in the mandate of President George Washington, just a few months after the American Constitution ratifies, The New York Times notes.

The name remained so almost 150 years, until 1947, when the president at that time, Harry Truman, signed the law of national security, and the navy departments, war and new-created air force merged into a single organization, called the national military structure.

Two years later, the Congress approved amendments to rename the structure in the “Defense Department”.

The officials of the White House say that the return to the old name instills an “warrior ethos” to the American armed forces.