Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta raised an eyebrow Friday over President Trump’s decision to revert the name of the Defense Department back to the “Department of War.”
“I don’t know why the president is doing this. You know, I guess I’ve read where he thinks that it makes our military look tougher,” Panetta, who served under the Obama administration, said in an appearance on CNN’s News Central.
“But let me tell you a name change has nothing to do with the strength of our military,” he told host Erica Hill.
Trump on Friday afternoon signed an executive order to formally change the Defense Department to the Department of War. The move, which includes a title change for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was met with both enthusiasm and skepticism, primarily about the steep costs.
The president, who first floated the change last month, framed the rebrand as a signal of American strength, pointing to the U.S. military’s record of success under the Department of War moniker.
“Really it has to do with winning. We should have won every war. We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey and we just fight forever,” he told reporters from the Oval Office, flanked by Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
“We had it, and we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything before, and as I said, we won everything in between,” the president added. “And we were very strong. But we never fought to win. We just didn’t fight to win.”
Panetta pushed back on Trump’s suggestion that a shift in attitude followed after the White House in 1949 renamed the entity the Defense Department — after a brief stint as the National Military Establishment from 1947-1949 under former President Truman.
“Our military is strong, because it takes the president and secretary of defense to focus on improving our military, investing in our military, investing in our men and women in weapon systems in technology and in capabilities,” the former defense official added.
“That’s what makes the United States strong, and that’s what people pay attention to,” he added. “They are not going to pay attention to a name change.”
Hegseth, now the Secretary of War, posted a video online Friday showing his nameplate being changed and the defense.gov website was updated to war.gov.
Any permanent change would require congressional approval. Republican lawmakers earlier Friday unveiled legislation to bolster the rebrand.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who chairs the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has also challenged Trump to follow up his executive order with an increase in the Pentagon’s budget, citing potential threats from China, Russia and other adversaries.
