When I wrote this, there was no publicly known petition in Congress to change the name of the “Department of Defense” to the “Department of War”. However, in the time it took me to finish this, I was made aware that an official name change has been requested and (at the time of this writing) has passed the House and needs to go to the Senate before going to the desk of the President for final approval. No doubt this will get the desired approval.

However, Saltee is correct: a Cabinet-level official, no matter how prominent, cannot simply decide to change the name of whatever Department they hold the portfolio to. A Forest Service director may want to change the name of the Department of Fish & Game to “the Department of Plants and Animals” but it is not official until Congress says it is so.

In the meantime, money has been spent on official placards, business cards, and stationery. Why does it matter? It could open a Department Secretary up to legal problems. Imagine being issued a hunting license from “The Department of Plants and Animals” only to later be charged with poaching because the “Department of Plants and Animals” doesn’t officially exist and a license with that title isn’t legally viable if challenged.

Same with orders issued by a “Secretary/Department of War” that are under legal scrutiny.

Funny thing is, I actually wouldn’t have a problem with renaming the DoD as the “War Department” (that was the actual original title), because in my opinion it would be reflective of reality. The US military has an expeditionary doctrine of “defending” through proactive strikes on potential problems, meaning we don’t really wait until something is a threat to defend against, we try to hit it first before it grows too big. That means a more aggressive and confrontational posture that has, well, let’s say “mixed results”.