President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War. “The War Department is going to fight decisively, not endless conflicts. We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.”The text of the order calls “Secretary of War” a “secondary” title for Hegseth. Defense Department historyThe Department of War and the Department of the Navy were Cabinet departments from the nation’s founding until 1947, when Congress combined them, along with the Department of the Air Force, into a new National Military Establishment. Congress changed that name to the Defense Department two years later.