Donald Trump signed an executive order on 5 September to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War. This was a callback to the department’s original name used from 1789 to 1947. WATCH.
00:00Next, we have a number of executive orders for your attention, sir.
00:03From 1789 until 1947, our nation won some of its greatest military victories
00:09under the direction of a Secretary of War operating within a Department of War.
00:15Today, with this executive order, you will authorize the current Secretary of Defense
00:20and the current Department of Defense to once again embrace this great lineage
00:25and once again be named the Secretary of War and the Department of War.
00:30So, this is something we thought long and hard about.
00:35We've been talking about it for months, Pete and I and Dan.
00:39Dan came into the fall, by the way, a great general.
00:42He headed up the, I wouldn't call it an attack, I'd almost call that one maybe even more than an attack.
00:50What he did with Iran, you saw the success of that operation.
00:54It was perfect.
00:55In fact, we have, this was sent to me by the great company that makes that particular B-2 bomber
01:01and it was flawless.
01:03It was actually flawless.
01:04They flew for 37 hours back and forth and there wasn't a bolt that was out of condition.
01:10There wasn't an engine failure.
01:12There was no problem.
01:13It was a perfect attack and it knocked out any possible nuclear capability for Iran, which
01:21nobody wanted to see and we weren't going to put up with.
01:24So, great job, Dan.
01:26And we've been talking about this Department of War.
01:29So, we won the First World War.
01:31We won the Second World War.
01:33We won everything before that and in between.
01:36And then we decided to go WOK and we changed the name to Department of Defense.
01:39So, we're going Department of War.
01:42And I'd like to ask our Secretary of War to say a few words, Pete Hexeth.
01:49I think it's a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now.
01:55We have the strongest military in the world.
01:57We have the greatest equipment in the world.
01:59We have the greatest manufacturers of equipment by far.
02:02There's nobody to even compete.
02:04And you see that with this and so many other things.
02:08The patriots are the best.
02:09Every element of the military, we make the best by far.
02:13So, Pete, I'd like to ask you and maybe Dan Raising Cain to say a few words, please.
02:19Mr. President, thank you.
02:21After winning a war for independence in 1789, George Washington established the War Department.
02:28And Henry Knox was his first Secretary of War.
02:31And this country won every major war after that, to include World War I and World War II.
02:37Total victory, Mr. President, as you said.
02:39Then 150 years after that, we changed the name after World War II from the Department of War to the Department of Defense in 1947.
02:48And as you pointed out, Mr. President, we haven't won a major war since.
02:52And that's not to disparage our war fighters, whether it's the Korean War or the Vietnam War or our generation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
02:59That's to recognize that this name change is not just about renaming.
03:04It's about restoring.
03:06Words matter.
03:07It's restoring, as you've guided us to, Mr. President, restoring the warrior ethos, restoring victory and clarity as an end state, restoring intentionality to the use of force.
03:20So, at your direction, Mr. President, the War Department is going to fight decisively, not endless conflicts.
03:27It's going to fight to win, not not to lose.
03:31We're going to go on offense, not just on defense.
03:34Maximum lethality, not tepid legality.
03:38Violent effect, not politically correct.
03:42We're going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.
03:45So, this War Department, Mr. President, just like America, is back.
03:50Thank you for your leadership and your clarity.
03:52We're going to set the tone for this country.
03:55America first, peace through strength, brought to you by the War Department.
04:00We're back.
04:00Thank you very much.
04:01Very well stated.
04:02And really, it has to do with winning.
04:05We should have won every war.
04:06We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey.
04:13And we'd just fight forever.
04:17And then we'd, you know, win.
04:20We wouldn't lose, really.
04:21We'd just fight to sort of tie.
04:23We never wanted to win wars that every one of them we would have won easily with just a couple of little changes or a couple of little edicts.
04:32You know, I was told that ISIS would take five years to win.
04:35And Dan Kane, when I told him how long would it take, he said, I think about four weeks, sir.
04:42I said, what do you mean four weeks?
04:43I was told five years by the people in Washington.
04:46You know who they were?
04:48Five years.
04:48I said, you can't do it in four weeks.
04:50I actually flew to Iraq to meet with him, and I met him at a big air base.
04:56And remember that famous day, right?
04:57It turned out to be a famous day for our country because you're now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is the biggest deal.
05:04And he is because he did things that everybody said he couldn't do.
05:08So they said it was going to be five years, and he knocked them out in about four weeks total, 100%.
05:14We took over, and ISIS was gone.
05:18And pretty amazing.
05:20But we never fought to win, and now we, if we have to fight at all, you know, we solved seven wars.
05:27We have the one that I thought was going to be probably one of the easier ones, and that's with President Putin and Ukraine.
05:34And that turned out to be one that's a little bit more difficult.
05:37But the seven are done.
05:39They were supposed to be much more difficult to solve.
05:41I solved every one of them.
05:43And we're going to get the other one done, too.
05:45But it turned out to be a little bit more difficult than I thought.
05:48And it'll get done, or they'll be held to pay.
05:51But because they're losing six to seven, it used to be five.
05:54I used to tell you five.
05:55Now it's almost seven.
05:57I guess 7,000 people last week.
06:007,813 people, young soldiers died.
06:04Russian and Ukrainian, not American soldiers.
06:07But it's a shame.
06:09It's just, you know, they're human lives, and I want to see it stop.
06:12But General Cain's done a fantastic job.
06:16And, again, defeated ISIS, which they said would take a long time.
06:21And it didn't take a long time at all.
06:23And did other things that people said really couldn't happen.
06:26We have the greatest equipment in the world.
06:28We have the greatest soldiers in the world.
06:31Dan, say a few words, please.
06:32Yes, sir.
06:33Thank you, Mr. President.
06:35It's a true honor for me today to represent the incredible men and women of America's joint force.
06:43Today and every day, the 2.8 million service men and women stand ready to fulfill our sacred duty to protect America at home and abroad.
06:55As the President said, America's military is the single most powerful fighting force in the world.
07:01The mission you and the Secretary have given us is clear and unambiguous to deliver peace through overwhelming strength.
07:10And I remind everyone that the U.S. military can reach any adversary at the time and place of our choosing.
07:19Service to this nation is an incredible gift, and we're grateful and honored every day to do so.
07:25Thank you, Mr. President.
07:26Thank you, and it's an honor to sign this, and we will do that right now.
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