Pentagon officials are irritated and outraged by the renaming of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Politico writes about this.
The details of Donald Trumpʼs decree are not yet fully understood, but it is likely that the emblems on more than 700 000 objects in 40 countries and all 50 US states will have to be changed — from the letterheads of six military departments and dozens of agencies to napkins in dining rooms, jackets for officials and souvenirs in the Pentagon store.
One former official said the renaming would not affect China or Russia, but instead enemies would use the renaming to portray the US as the aggressor.
"This is being done only for domestic politics. It will cost millions of dollars," the former employee believes.
The official, who asked to be identified as a “War Department official”, said the cost of the renaming would vary throughout the process. He did not provide an exact or even approximate amount.
Democrats point to the irony — a president who is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize is distracting from real problems.
"This is just a distraction from training our military," Senator Jeanne Shaheen said.
What preceded
The US President Donald Trump renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War on September 5. He has already signed a corresponding executive order.
The BBC writes that initially the agency will use the new name as a "secondary" one while the Trump administration seeks congressional approval to make the change permanent.
However, The Guardian, citing a Trump administration spokesman, notes that this order makes the "Department of War" a secondary name and thus bypasses the need for congressional approval for an official renaming.
The order Trump signed states that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be called Secretary of War. He will be required to prepare and submit legislative and executive proposals for the final renaming of the department.
The White House has not yet announced how much the rebranding will cost, but American media reports say that the overhaul of hundreds of agencies, emblems, email addresses, and uniforms will cost a billion dollars.
- The United States Department of War existed from 1789 to 1947, when the administration of the 33rd US President Harry Truman divided the department into the Army and Air Force, and also merged it with the then independent Navy.
- Trump argued that the agencyʼs previous name better reflects military victories and honestly reflects its activities.
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