President Donald Trump has suggested changing the Pentagon’s Department of Defense back to its original name, the Department of War.
During a White House meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Trump mentioned the potential change as a way to honor America’s military heritage.
“You know, we got the Department of Defense, but I — between us, I think we’re going to change the name,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“Everybody likes that. We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”
Trump argued that the original name conveyed more strength and suggested the U.S. military was more successful under that title.
“That’s a little thing, has nothing to do with your country,” Trump told Lee, “but it’s something that I think you’re going to be hearing about or seeing about over the next couple of weeks.”
The Department of War was established in 1789 and oversaw the U.S. military for over 150 years. After World War II, it was restructured and officially renamed the Department of Defense in 1949.
