Politics
Pentagon renamed War Department as Trump invokes ‘strength and victory’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has signed an order to bring back the old War Department name for the Pentagon, saying it better reflects strength and victory.
Flanked by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth at a signing ceremony in the White House, the Republican president called the change a powerful symbol, replacing the Department of Defence title that has been in use for more than 70 years.
He said the current name was too “wokey.”
“I think it sends a message of victory,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about the rebrand. “It’s a much more appropriate name in light of where the world is right now.”
The name harks back to the War Department, the title used for more than 150 years from 1789, just after independence from Britain, until 1947, shortly after the Second World War.
Trump cannot formally change the Pentagon’s name without congressional approval — but the 79-year-old’s order authorises the use of the new label as a “secondary title.”
Former Fox News host Hegseth quickly embraced the change, posting a video of a new nameplate reading “Secretary of War” being fixed to his door at the Pentagon.
The combat veteran, appointed by Trump to lead a major overhaul of the sprawling department, said the change was “not just about renaming, it’s about restoring the warrior ethos.”
“Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders,” said Hegseth.
Trump meanwhile appeared to blame America’s military setbacks since its victories in the First and Second World Wars on the 1949 decision to call it the Department of Defense.
“We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey,” said Trump, who was signing the 200th executive order of his second term.
Too ‘defensive’
The rebrand is part of Trump’s broader push to project power at home and abroad in his second term under the “Make America Great Again” policy.
He has ordered a US military build-up in the Caribbean to counter what he calls drug cartels led by Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro. US forces killed 11 people earlier this week in a strike on what Washington said was a drug-carrying boat.
Trump also ordered a US military strike on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Domestically, he has deployed the US National Guard in Washington and Los Angeles in recent months, describing it as a crackdown on crime and illegal immigration.
Trump’s “Department of War” move could also sit uneasily with his campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize, for what he claims is his role in ending several conflicts — he has alternately said six and seven.
Democrats have dismissed the move as an expensive political stunt by the billionaire.
The White House has yet to say how much a rebrand would cost, though US media expect a billion-dollar price tag for the overhaul of hundreds of agencies, emblems, email addresses, and uniforms.
A Pentagon official told AFP: “The cost estimate will fluctuate as we carry out President Trump’s directive to establish the Department of War’s name. We will have a clearer estimate to report at a later time.”
Trump had trailed the announcement for weeks, complaining that the Department of Defense sounded too “defensive” and made America appear weak.
Hegseth has also attacked previous administrations for policies he and Trump derided as “woke.”
Notably, he has sought to expel transgender troops from the military and to restore the original names of bases once honouring Confederate soldiers, after they were renamed under President Joe Biden.
The War Department was created in August 1789 to oversee the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, according to an official Pentagon history web page. The Navy and Marines split off a decade later.
WASHINGTON: Air travel turmoil deepened with more than 4,300 flights delayed nationwide on Monday following more than 8,800 delays on Sunday, with air traffic controller absences surging as the federal government shutdown reached its 27th day.
The Federal Aviation Administration cited staffing shortages affecting flights across the Southeast and at Newark Airport in New Jersey, while the agency imposed a ground stop at Austin Airport in Texas and a ground delay program at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport that delayed flights by an average of 18 minutes.
Southwest Airlines LUV.N had 47%, or 2,089, of its flights delayed on Sunday, while American Airlines AAL.O had 1,277, or 36%, of its flights delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website. United Airlines UAL.O had 27%, or 807, of its flights delayed and Delta Air Lines DAL.N had 21%, or 725, of its flights delayed.
Roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay. The Trump administration has warned that flight disruptions will increase as controllers miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday.
On Monday, Southwest had 24% of flights delayed, American 18% and Delta 13% as of 5:00 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), according to FlightAware.
A US Department of Transportation official said 44% of Sunday’s delays stemmed from controller absences — up sharply from the usual 5%.
The mounting delays and cancellations are fueling public frustration and intensifying scrutiny of the shutdown’s impact, raising pressure on lawmakers to resolve the budget impasse.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was in Cleveland meeting with controllers on Monday, while the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union plans events at numerous airports on Tuesday to highlight the first missed paycheck.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending wait times at some airport checkpoints. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York and Washington.
- US-backed plan aims to stabilise fragile Gaza ceasefire.
- Israel rejects Turkish troop participation under Trump’s plan.
- Netanyahu says Tel Aviv will decide which forces enter Gaza.
The Israeli lawmakers have been told that troops from Pakistan would likely be part of the international force in Gaza, alongside soldiers from Indonesia and Azerbaijan, a media report claimed.
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee members were told during a closed-door briefing last week, according to a report in the Ynet news site.
It further stated that a US-backed international force to stabilise security in Gaza will include soldiers from the three Muslim countries.
Furthermore, Indonesia has publicly offered to send troops for the effort, whereas Azerbaijan had also agreed to contribute soldiers, The Times of Israel reported.
US President Donald Trump’s plan includes an international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire, which began this month, halting two years of war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Israel said earlier today that it won’t accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under a US plan to end the war in the Palestinian territory for good.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said today that Israel has not surrendered its right to self-defence as part of the agreement brokered by Washington, Egypt and Qatar.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv would decide which foreign forces to allow in Gaza.
But it remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops to the international force.
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
— Additional input from Reuters
- Rubio meets Jaishankar as US–India push trade talks.
- Highest-level contact since sanctions on Russian oil firms.
- Meeting sidelines Southeast Asian summit in Malaysia.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with India’s foreign minister on Monday, as the two countries push trade talks and ease tensions over Washington’s punishing tariffs.
Few details were released, but Rubio’s meeting with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is the highest-level contact since the United States imposed sanctions last week on Russian oil companies, a key source of India’s crude supplies.
Jaishankar posted a photograph on social media showing him smiling and shaking hands with Rubio, saying he “appreciated the discussion on our bilateral ties as well as regional and global issues”.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Malaysia, which US President Donald Trump attended in person and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed by video link.
Relations between Washington and New Delhi plummeted in August after Trump raised tariffs to 50%, with US officials accusing India of fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying Moscow’s discounted oil.
Trump, who spoke to Modi last week by telephone, has claimed that the Indian leader has agreed to cut Russian oil imports — something New Delhi has not commented on.
Trump warned that New Delhi would continue paying “massive” tariffs if it did not stop buying Russian oil.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked about India’s assertion that it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
India has become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
India’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of any telephone conversation between the leaders that day, but said that New Delhi’s main concern was to “safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer”.
— With additional input from Reuters
SC permits Centre to review Rs 6,000cr additional dues on Vodafone-Idea – The Times of India
Aroldis Chapman says he’d ‘retire on the spot’ if ever traded back to Yankees
OpenAI shares data on ChatGPT users with suicidal thoughts, psychosis
-
Tech1 week agoHow to Protect Yourself Against Getting Locked Out of Your Cloud Accounts
-
Tech1 week agoThe DeltaForce 65 Brings Das Keyboard Into the Modern Keyboard Era—for Better or Worse
-
Business1 week agoGovernment vows to create 400,000 jobs in clean energy sector
-
Business1 week agoDiwali 2025: Gold & silver likely to consolidate next week; Here’s what analysts said – The Times of India
-
Tech1 week agoGemini in Google Home Keeps Mistaking My Dog for a Cat
-
Fashion1 week agoReal UK GDP grows 0.3% QoQ in quarter to Aug 2025: ONS
-
Business1 week agoInflation expected to jump to highest since January last year
-
Fashion7 days agoChinese woman charged over gold theft at Paris Natural History Museum