The Pentagon has formally asked Congress to scrap the Department of Defence name and replace it with the Department of War, submitting a legislative proposal that the Congressional Budget Office projects could cost up to £92.5 million ($125 million) and require roughly 7,600 edits to existing federal law.
The Department of Defence's Office of General Counsel sent the proposal to Capitol Hill on 13 April 2026, seeking to codify into statute the 'Department of War' secondary title that President Donald Trump introduced by executive order in September 2025. The Pentagon's own cost estimate sits considerably lower, at approximately £38.5 million ($52 million) in spending to date, with a final accounting expected once fiscal year 2026 closes.
The gap between those two numbers, and the 7,600-line legislative workload that the name change would impose on Congress, has put the proposal on a collision course with Democratic opposition before the ink is dry.
A Name Revived From the Founding Era
The Department of War is not a new invention. President George Washington and the First Congress established it in 1789, and it governed American military affairs for over 150 years. The postwar reorganisation that followed World War II folded it into the National Military Establishment in 1947, and Congress formally redesignated the institution as the Department of Defence in 1949. That name has remained on the books for 77 years.
Trump moved to revive the earlier nomenclature through an executive order signed in September 2025, which instructed the Pentagon to begin using the title 'Department of War' in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts and non-statutory documents.
Trump described the name as a 'much more appropriate' reflection of global conditions today. The order stopped short of a permanent renaming; under the Constitution, only an act of Congress can change the name of an executive department.
The department has since updated its website, social media accounts, and internal signage. In November 2025, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth personally installed a Department of War plaque at the Pentagon's River Entrance. Hegseth's own office door plaque already reads 'Secretary of War.'
The $52 Million Pentagon Estimate vs. the CBO's $125 Million Ceiling
The DoD's FY 2027 legislative proposals document argues the rebrand carries 'no significant impact' on the fiscal year 2027 budget, reasoning that the bulk of implementation costs were absorbed during fiscal year 2026. The department estimates the change has cost approximately £33 million ($44.6 million) for Defence Agencies and field activities alone, with further amounts spread across the military services, bringing the total to roughly £38.5 million ($52 million).
Pentagon wants Congress to officially codify its renaming from 'DEPT of DEFENSE' to 'DEPT OF WAR'
— RT (@RT_com) April 29, 2026
It will presumably cost taxpayers approx $52 million, and make around 7,600 changes to the federal law pic.twitter.com/eLLWRtI9Ij
The Congressional Budget Office reached a different conclusion in an 11-page analysis published in January 2026. The office projected a minimum cost of a few million dollars for a minimal implementation, rising to £92.5 million ($125 million) if the rebrand were adopted 'broadly and rapidly' throughout the department.
A full statutory renaming, the CBO added, 'could cost hundreds of millions of dollars' depending on the decisions made by Congress and the Pentagon. The office acknowledged its estimate was 'uncertain' because the Defence Department had 'not provided information about how it plans to implement the order.'
Pentagon asks Congress to codify ‘Department of War’ name as costs exceed $50 million https://t.co/HatRCJSQpU
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 28, 2026
The DoD's proposal justifies the name change in substantive terms, not merely cosmetic ones. 'The revision to the designation of the Department serves as a fundamental reminder of the importance and reverence of our core mission, to fight and win wars,' the document reads. 'It serves as a strategic objective in which to measure and prioritise all activities.'
Congressional Divisions and the 7,600-Change Legal Burden
The proposal has Republican allies on Capitol Hill. After Trump's September 2025 executive order, Representative Greg Steube of Florida and Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida introduced legislation in their respective chambers to permanently redesignate the DoD as the Department of War and rename the role of Secretary of Defence to Secretary of War. That legislation has not yet advanced to a floor vote in either chamber.
Democrats have been less receptive. A group of Senate Democrats in September 2025 wrote to the Pentagon demanding a formal cost assessment, arguing that the symbolic renaming was 'both wasteful and hypocritical' given the administration's stated emphasis on fiscal restraint. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, one of the lawmakers who requested the CBO analysis, called the rebrand 'performative government at its worst.' 'Instead of prioritising bringing down the cost of groceries or health care, Trump and his cronies are focused on vanity projects like renaming the Department of Defence,' Merkley said.
Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington was equally direct. 'The American people can't afford groceries, gas, or rent, and the Pentagon has ALREADY wasted $50 million on renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War. Now they want more money,' she wrote on X following the proposal's release.
The practical legislative task involved is formidable regardless of one's position on the merits. The DoD estimates the name change would require approximately 7,600 conforming amendments to existing federal statutes, touching every corner of US law in which the phrase 'Department of Defence' or 'Secretary of Defence' currently appears. Lawmakers beginning work on the fiscal year 2027 National Defence Authorisation Act now face a decision on whether to include the proposal in that vehicle or set it aside altogether.
What began as a plaque on a door in November 2025 has arrived at Congress as a bill that would alter 7,600 lines of federal law, and someone has to decide whether the price of that symbolism is worth paying.
