Pentagon asks Congress to codify ‘Department of War,’ estimates $52 million cost

The Pentagon is formally seeking congressional authorization to codify the “Department of War” moniker, estimating it will cost taxpayers approximately $52.5 million.

The figure is substantially lower than the Congressional Budget Office’s projection in January, which estimated the rebrand could reach as much as $125 million if it were adopted “broadly and rapidly.”

In a legislative proposal released this month, the department argued that the revised designation “serves as a fundamental reminder of the importance and reverence of our core mission, to fight and win wars. It serves as a strategic objective in which to measure and prioritize all activities.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September establishing the “Department of War” as a secondary title for the Department of Defense — a move that has remained largely ceremonial in effect. Only Congress has the authority to permanently rename executive department names, and it has not yet done so.

Trump contends that reviving the nation’s original defense nomenclature — used until two years after World War II — is a “much more appropriate” reflection of the world today.

“The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolved compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities,” the executive order states. “Restoring the name ‘Department of War’ will sharpen the focus of this Department on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests.”

The estimated costs allocate $44.6 million for the Defense Agencies and the department’s field activities; $3.5 million for the Military Departments; $3 million for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office and Washington Headquarters Services; and $400,000 for the Joint Staff, Combatant Commands and National Guard Bureau.

Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal. The Trump administration is requesting $1.5 trillion in defense spending, the largest expenditure in modern U.S. history.

The rebranding would have “no significant impact” on the administration’s 2027 budget, “as the relevant changes were already implemented in 2026,” the Pentagon said.