The nation’s 47th president was set to sign an executive order on Friday, Sept. 5, in an effort to rename the United States Department of Defense “The Department of War.”

The move, confirmed by the White House after Donald Trump suggested the name change to reporters last week, would resurrect a name abandoned during a 1947 Cabinet reorganization. Its intent is to reflect what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the Trump administration’s “effort to instill the warrior ethos” across the nation’s armed forces.

“It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound,” Trump said.

A White House summary of the order obtained by USA TODAY said the move will restore “Department of War” as a secondary name for the department. The order authorizes Hegseth 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 more, according to the White House.

If approved, executive departments and agencies must recognize and change the DOD name to “The Department of War” in internal and external communications, the White House reported.

But is it legal for Trump to rename the long-standing agency created to protect and defend Americans?

Here’s what to know about Trump’s plan and when and if it could go into effect:

Is it legal for Trump to rename the Department of Defense?

Yes, but with a caveat.

Under federal law, Trump cannot change the name unilaterally on his own through an executive order. The president must have approval from Congress.

What year was the DOG previously called ‘Department of War’?

For more than 150 years, the Department of Defense was called the “Department of War,” but in the late 1940s, following World War II and the consolidation of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force into a single agency, it was renamed.

Lawmakers formally rebranded the agency as the Defense Department in 1949.

It would take another act of Congress to change the name back to the Department of War, according to previous USA TODAY reporting..

Before Trump’s announcement, Jamal Greene, a professor at Columbia Law School, told The New York Times it was unclear whether the name change would immediately take effect.

“The president has more clear-cut power to order changes to geographical names as they are used in the United States,” the outlet reported.

It would not be the first time Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to rename something. In January, he renamed the historically named Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, because he said the name had a “beautiful ring.”

Contributing: USA TODAY’s Joey Garrison

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can Trump legally rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War?

Reporting by Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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