President Donald Trump will signal an govt order on Sept. 5 renaming the Division of Protection to its earlier title, the Division of Battle, senior administration officers confirmed on Sept. 4.
After Fox Information first reported on the announcement, Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth substantiated the title change on X, writing, “DEPARTMENT OF WAR.”
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt additionally confirmed the announcement on X.
“Trump to rename Pentagon, restoring historic ‘Division of Battle’ in newest army transfer,” she wrote on Sept. 4.
The president had proposed returning to the Division of Protection’s authentic title whereas signing govt orders within the Oval Workplace on Aug. 25.
“Pete, you began off by saying ’the Division of Protection.’ And by some means it didn’t sound good to me,” Trump mentioned, chatting with Hegseth.
“Protection. What are we, protection? Why are we protection? It was once referred to as the Division of Battle, and it had a stronger sound. And, as you recognize, we received World Battle I, we received World Battle II, we received every thing. Now we now have a Division of Protection. We’re defenders. I don’t know.”
Trump had additionally floated the title change whereas speaking with reporters on the NATO Summit on June 25.
“You understand, it was once referred to as Secretary of Battle,” Trump mentioned. “Perhaps for a few weeks we’ll name it that as a result of we really feel like warriors.”
On the identical occasion, the president launched Hegseth as “secretary of battle,” and urged that the change to the present “secretary of protection” was as a result of “we turned politically appropriate.”
“Perhaps we’ll have to consider altering it. However we really feel that approach,” Trump mentioned.
Hegseth had additionally referred to as for altering again to the “Division of Battle” title previous to being named Trump’s Secretary of Protection.
“Positive, our army defends us. And in an ideal world it exists to discourage threats and protect peace,” he wrote in his 2024 memoir, “The Battle on Warriors—Behind the Betrayal of the Males Who Maintain Us Free.”
“However finally its job is to conduct battle. We both win or lose wars. And we now have warriors, not ‘defenders.’ Bringing again the Battle Division might remind just a few folks in Washington, D.C., what the army is meant to do, and do nicely.”
When it was first established in 1789, the U.S. Division of the Military was known as the Division of Battle. The company additionally had some accountability over the wartime Navy till the federal authorities created the Division of the Navy in 1798.
After merging the company with the Navy Division, Congress handed the National Security Act of 1947, which created the place of Secretary of Protection and established the Nationwide Safety Council, the Joint Chiefs of Workers, and the U.S. Air Power.
Within the early twentieth century, the emergence of plane within the U.S. army led to the Military Air Service, Military Air Corps, and the Military Air Forces earlier than the Air Power turned its personal distinct service department in 1947.
The 1947 Nationwide Safety Act took the three distinct service department departments—the Division of the Military, the Division of the Navy, and the Division of the Air Power—and coordinated them by means of what was briefly often called the Nationwide Army Institution, underneath the management of the secretary of protection.
The Nationwide Army Institution was renamed the “Division of Protection” on Aug. 10, 1949, and absorbed the three army departments.
The Nationwide Safety Act of 1947 explicitly calls for the company to be known as the Division of Protection.
Jackson Richman contributed to this report.
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