# What is the approximate cost for the name change from "Department Of Defense" to "Department Of War"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834 "2025-09-08T02:50:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/1 "2025-09-08T02:50:01Z")
Buildings, signs, letterheads, business cards, websites etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/2 "2025-09-08T03:53:39Z")
Trump actually has no authority to rename the Department of Defense. The name is a result of the National Security Act Amendments of 1949, and it would take an act of Congress to formally rename it. Trump is apparently ordering people to refer to it as the “Department of War” (so much for the “Peace President”) so he’ll probably tell an eager Hegseth to have people just start calling it the “Department of War” and putting out press releases with a dummied up letterhead. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/3 "2025-09-08T13:45:36Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > so much for the “Peace President” At least he didn’t go for Minipax. Although that change would cost less (fewer letters). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/4 "2025-09-08T14:36:46Z")
This thread is for finding out how much such a change would cost. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/5 "2025-09-08T14:46:48Z")
I don’t see how there can be any factual answer because like most of the things Trump does, this isn’t about facts or law but just “Because I wanna!” It isn’t clear what this fake department name change means in terms of operations because it is still the Department of Defense in all legal, contractual, and internal senses. If the Congress were to literally change the name of the Department of Defense, it would require also changing all applicable statutes, novating existing contracts and redrafting RFPs, changing all signage, orders, correspondence, et cetera. Probably hundreds of millions if not a few billion dollars of effort. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/6 "2025-09-08T14:48:57Z")
I saw an article saying it was on the order of billions. But it’s not attributed, so it may be BS. What does seem to be clear is that if renaming that relatively small number of bases named after Confederates was costing in the mid tens of millions of dollars, this is going to be a lot larger than that. [White House to rebrand Pentagon the Department of War - POLITICO](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/04/white-house-pentagon-department-of-war-00545673) ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/7 "2025-09-08T14:51:45Z")
Depends on what exactly needs to change. For simple physical rebranding like in the OP estimates for large companies are in the $5-10 million range. DoD is much larger with facilities worldwide, 10x that number seems like a good guess. Then there are changes that a corporation changing its name doesn’t have. For example, does every classified document now need to be re-marked as DoW vs. DoD? New cover sheets? Another part of the equation is the fact that DoD is at the head of a massive number of contractors - what changes do they need to do internally to comply with the new branding? Is the DoW going to provide the necessary funding to effect those changes? ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/8 "2025-09-08T14:55:18Z")
Since Congress pretty much does whatever Trump wants, I would assume that they plan to draft and pass whatever Act is required at some point after coming back into session today. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/9 "2025-09-08T14:56:18Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Then there are changes that a corporation changing its name doesn’t have. For example, does every classified document now need to be re-marked as DoW vs. DoD? New cover sheets? I’m pretty sure such documents would be grandfathered in. I got a new passport just after Queen Elizabeth passed away, and they used the old stock that still referred to the Queen, not the King. It’s still valid, and will be for another 9 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/10 "2025-09-08T14:58:28Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > Since Congress pretty much does whatever Trump wants, I would assume that they plan to draft and pass whatever Act is required at some point after coming back into session today. I would say that they have bigger fish to fry, what with a looming government shutdown, RFK Jr doing his best to conjure up multiple home-grown pandemics, and farmers getting increasingly agitated about retaliatory tariffs wiping out whatever hope they have of making a profit on export sales, but this is probably just the kind of distraction they need to argue that they’re too busy to deal with that other stuff. > [@Horatius](#): > > I’m pretty sure such documents would be grandfathered in. Internal documents can be ‘grandfathered’ but anything contractual has to be legally novated if the DoD actually had a formal change of name. Trump’s executive order doesn’t do this, though; it basically just puts an unofficial sticker over the current name. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/11 "2025-09-08T15:23:33Z")
Basically it looks like over a billion dollars, as mentioned earlier from Politico, but for cites: > [Forbes said:](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/09/05/trump-renames-defense-department-to-department-of-war-is-it-legal-heres-what-to-know/) It’s still unclear how much the change to “Department of War” will cost the federal government—given the cost of changing signage, official documentation and other assets—but it will likely be millions of dollars. A 2022 [report](https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2285380/m1/26/ "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2285380/m1/26/") by the Naming Commission to Congress found that efforts by the Department of Defense to change the names of all military assets that honor Confederate leaders, which would be less widespread than this initiative, would cost an estimated $62.5 million. > [The Salt Lake Tribune said:](https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2025/09/05/department-war-trump-signs-order/) The Congressional Budget Office has not yet made a cost estimate for [Lee’s bill](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2685?s=1&r=2), but [Politico reported Friday](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/04/white-house-pentagon-department-of-war-00545673) that such a change could cost billions, given the need to change the stationery, signage and emblems of hundreds of agencies in the department, both in the U.S. and abroad. As [NPR noted Friday](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/04/nx-s1-5529420/trump-department-of-war-department-of-defense#:~:text=As%20the%20largest%20department%20in,Lawrence%20contributed%20to%20this%20report.), as of 2023, the cost of renaming just nine Army bases was [estimated at $39 million](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/03/24/the-cost-to-rename-9-confederacy-honoring-army-bases-has-doubled/#:~:text=The%20cost%20to%20rename%209%20Confederacy%2Dhonoring%20Army%20bases%20has%20doubled,-By%20Karen%20Jowers&text=The%20cost%20of%20renaming%20the,pay%20%2439%20million%2C%20said%20Lt). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/12 "2025-09-08T16:43:21Z")
It’s going to depend on exactly what has to be done and who it’s done by , so it’s really impossible to tell now. I worked for a state agency which merged with another state agency in 2011. The new agency got a new name so of course,many things needed to be changed, everything from stationery to laws to policy manuals. But by the time I retired in 2022, everything still had not been changed. Some things didn’t require the changes that might be imagined. For example, changing the letterhead didn’t involve ordering stationery to be printed - by 2011 that just involved someone creating a template in Word and possibly copy/pasting a form from the old stationery to the new. Changing the policy manual involved changing the agency name when directives were reviewed every X years - they didn’t immediately change every individual directive. Same for laws - although certain laws were revised immediately, for others there was a section added that basically said “All references to Former Agency Name shall be replaced by New Agency Name” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/13 "2025-09-08T16:58:31Z")
Here’s a cheap fix. [DOD.gov](http://DOD.gov) is now [WAR.gov](http://WAR.gov). No, it doesn’t redirect you if you use the old URL. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/14 "2025-09-08T19:27:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Here’s a cheap fix. [DOD.gov](http://DOD.gov) is now [WAR.gov](http://WAR.gov). I’m sure that was a few million bucks to some web presence contractor to make that change, with kickbacks to the appropriate outstretched hands. Might I recommend to the o.p. a change of forum appropriate to the kind of discussion this capricious alteration deserves? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/15 "2025-09-08T20:52:33Z")
I read the XO. Apparently Department of War is a secondary name acceptable for use but it is still legally the Department of Defense. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/16 "2025-09-08T21:32:09Z")
**Moderator Note** Just a reminder, but this is in FQ. Let’s keep the political comments out of this thread and focus on just the factual aspects of the topic (costs of the name change). A factual answer may not be possible, but we should at least aim in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/17 "2025-09-09T04:22:31Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > t would require also changing all applicable statutes, novating existing contracts … I don’t think that re-doing contracts is required. I was working for a Bank that went thru 3 acquisitions/mergers/name changes in a few years, and all the contracts just continued in force. No real changes, until new contracts were done. Suppliers continued to deliver ordered products to us, and continued to accept checks in our old name as payment. In commerce, that’s in everybodys best interest to continue with the existing contracts. Heck, even the stock certificates from 3 names ago were still valid ownership shares! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/18 "2025-09-09T05:03:25Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > I don’t think that re-doing contracts is required. Federal government contracts require novation when there is a change in entities per the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), including a change in ownership or a reorganization of a government department, agency, or office under a new hierarchy. Existing contracts that terminate in the near term (not sure how explicitly the FAR defines that) can continue but anything that is a sustaining contract or in which the contractor is merged with or acquired by another business entity requires novation (essentially modifying the contract and confirming that all of the acquisition rules are still in force). This is specifically to prevent a small bidder from winning a contract and then immediately being subsumed by a major contractor that was not qualified to bid on a contract, which used to be a common practice to get around small and HUDzone business set-asides. This doesn’t apply to this situation because Trump isn’t actually changing the legal identification of the Department of Defense, and even if Congress passed a law that was strictly a name change without reorganization for what is already a top-level executive department it might not activate the novation requirements, but as an example when the US Coast Guard transitioned from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 all sustainment contracts were novated if they extended past some period of time. I’ve been through this process repeatedly and it is an enormous pain in the ass. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/19 "2025-09-09T06:19:43Z")
Here’s a talking point from Hegseth from the war site > Hegseth concurred with Trump’s contention. > > “We changed the name after World War II from the Department of War to the Department of Defense and … we haven’t won a major war since,” Hegseth said. I’m genuinely curious now. Of course World War I and World War II were major wars. _What_ major war has occurred since then? Every war I can think of is, at most, regional, not major along the lines of a world conflict. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834/20 "2025-09-09T22:48:41Z")
He said “major war”, not “world war”. Vietnam and Korea surely count. But we did win the first Iraq War: We had clearly-defined objectives, which we clearly achieved. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-approximate-cost-for-the-name-change-from-department-of-defense-to-department-of-war/1022834.md?page=2)