Across America, the imperial march has intensified. On Friday, Sept. 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War. To some, this may seem like an insignificant change – the stoking of one man’s ego for a more “macho” America. In many ways, this is correct. Trump himself claimed the name “just sounded better,” and that he found the concept of “defense” to be too “politically correct.” But Trump’s renaming of one of America’s most important departments is something to be feared by both the world and the American people. It signals a regression to an idealized pre-Truman era, when American policy was centered on imperialism abroad. The Department of War is a callback to our expansionist days, dominated with conquests against Mexico, Spain and the Philippines, paired with the genocide of the Native American people.
The Department of Defense was organized in 1949 under then-President Harry S. Truman, during the early days of the Cold War. The change was meant to reflect the expanding duties of the former Department of War, including navigating foreign policy, intelligence and, above all, national security. The change showed the world that America was not about war, but about defending its interests and those of its allies abroad. America, it said, would always work towards a peaceful resolution when mitigating conflict; violence would always be a last resort.
As geopolitical tensions continue to increase as we face new threats abroad – including a Russia-China alliance, increased cyber-attacks and the technological development of outer space – America has never had more need of defense and the mitigation of conflict for a safer world. Yet Trump has shown little interest in our legacy of deterrence and peace. In just the past few weeks, he has dismantled broad swaths of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security which worked to ensure election system safety. Trump fired a four-star general and head of the National Security Agency simply because of his apolitical stance, as well as six National Security Council Members for belonging to a supposed “deep state.” In fact, Trump’s only major investment in defense is the “Golden Dome,” inspired by Israel’s own Iron Dome, an anti-missile space weapon system. Yet this too serves to unsettle allies and adversaries alike given its dangerous potential.
This new-found American drive – to not only have the bigger stick, but to use it too – is best summed up by Pete Hegseth, the newly christened “Secretary of War.” As he states, “words and names and titles matter” when it comes to the new War Department. Under the Department of Defense, he argues, the US was soft, inactive, and weak: “We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not just tepid legality… violent effect, not politically correct.”
It is impossible to ignore the concerning disregard for the legality of world affairs that Hegseth seems to possess as the leader of one of the world’s biggest military structures. But Hegseth’s obsession with bringing back a “lethality” and “warrior ethos” from some nonexistent military golden age of America harkens back to the fascist rhetoric of the early 20th century. Worse, this view is not exclusive to just Hegseth. On Aug. 30, President Trump tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the world will soon understand nothing can stop what is coming,” set to a backdrop of himself standing in front of a burning Earth.
We are already starting to see the danger that the new Department of War poses to the world. Off the coast of Venezuela, Trump and his War Department have positioned a large, heavily armed military force. He has already violated Venezuela’s sovereignty by organizing raids against suspected drug cartels off their coast and has reportedly weighed mainland attacks, claiming President Nicolas Maduro has failed to fix the issue himself. Maduro, for his part, has claimed Trump is seeking regime change through military force. In response to the Department of War’s military threat, Maduro has stated that “Venezuela has been willing to talk [and] engage in dialogue, but we demand respect.” These offers of diplomacy have gone unanswered by the Trump administration.
Trump’s militarized threats don’t stop at foreign shores. Trump has threatened “war” against Chicago, claiming the city is ridden with drugs and crime despite all statistics pointing to these and other violent factors being at an all-time low. Online, he posted that Chicago was “about to find out why it’s called the department of WAR.” Trump later walked back his exaggerated language but has still vowed to deploy the National Guard. In truth, this move has been attributed to carrying out increased deportations and acting as a tool of intimidation in the deeply blue city.
We now face an era where American strength is not a promise of protection, but a threat of destruction. We have moved to idealize an America willing to commit atrocities in the name of expansion and strength. The renaming of the Department of Defense paints the picture of an autocratic, ego-driven regime, obsessed with expansion, strength and legacy. It is not a thing to be taken lightly.