Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was widely mocked after the Department of Defense—or shall we say the self-proclaimed "Department of War"—debuted its new plaque by publishing a video showing Hegseth tightening the screws on the new plaque with the words "Department of War" at the Defense Department's River Entrance.
The Pentagon’s rapid response account shared the clip on X along with the following caption:
"Welcome to the War Department."
You can see the video below.
Despite what Hegseth and his associates might claim, news outlets previously reported that the "Department of War" rebrand is merely a "secondary title" for the Department of Defense and not a legal name change.
The department is only being given alternate labels, which is a symbolic rebrand more than anything substantive. The official name will remain the same unless Congress passes a law to change it.
Performative, huh?
Hegseth was mocked in response.
Inside the Pentagon, the rebrand has sparked frustration and bewilderment, with many officials criticizing it as an expensive cosmetic shift that would potentially cost billions and that does little to address urgent issues like confronting the growing strength of authoritarian powers.
The White House even said in an official release that President Donald Trump's order "authorizes the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Defense and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as 'Secretary of War,' 'Department of War,' and 'Deputy Secretary of War' in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch."
Hegseth has said the name change is important because the country has lost its "warrior ethos" and that the country's founders "wanted an empowered military—the handcuffs were taken off—to fight to win, and then bring those troops home."
He went further, claiming the founders "didn't want endless foreign entanglements" and "didn't want endless contingencies and deployments."
