Bill > S2685

This bill proposes to change the name of the Department of Defense back to its historical title, the Department of War. Specifically, the legislation would officially redesignate the current Department of Defense as the Department of War, and rename the department's head from Secretary of Defense to Secretary of War. The bill includes a provision that would automatically update all existing legal documents, regulations, and official papers to reflect this name change, ensuring that any references to the "Department of Defense" or "Secretary of Defense" would be automatically interpreted as referring to the "Department of War" and "Secretary of War," respectively. This change appears to be largely symbolic, returning to the department's pre-1949 nomenclature, when the Department of War was split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, and later consolidated under the Department of Defense.

Military Affairs and Security

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2685/all-info