In a significant shift, President Trump has ordered the renaming of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. This change, announced on September 5, allows the department to be referred to as the Department of War and the Office of the Secretary of War. The rebranding is being implemented through executive order, which means it could be reversed by a future president.

The Pentagon is currently updating its seals, signage, and letterhead to reflect this new designation. The executive order uses the phrase "referred to" because the Department of War and the Department of the Navy were merged into the Department of Defense by law in the late 1940s. To officially revert to the old name, Congress would need to pass new legislation.

While the president cannot change laws directly, he can direct executive branch employees to adopt new titles and modify the department's online presence. This executive order is part of a broader trend where recent administrations have relied heavily on executive actions to bypass the legislative process.

In a related context, President Trump has also made headlines for his executive order regarding the desecration of the American flag. He claimed that burning the flag could result in a year in jail, despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is a protected form of expression under the First Amendment. His order suggests that local authorities should be notified if flag desecration violates state or local laws, but it does not change the legal status of flag burning.

The Trump administration has issued numerous executive orders, with the White House recently stating that no president has signed 200 executive orders this quickly since Franklin D. Roosevelt. This trend of using executive orders has been noted in previous administrations as well, with President Biden and former President Obama also utilizing this approach to implement policy changes.

Executive orders function as directives from the president to the executive branch, allowing for significant changes in policy without the need for congressional approval. This can lead to rapid shifts in legal interpretations, where actions that were once legal can become felonies under a new administration, and vice versa. Harvard Law School's Erin Peterson noted that the last three presidents have expanded the powers of the office through various strategies, including the use of executive orders.