A Congressional Budget Office analysis released Wednesday found that renaming the Department of Defense the “Department of War” could cost U.S. taxpayers as much as $125 million, depending on how broadly and how quickly the change is implemented.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September authorizing “Department of War” as a secondary title for the Pentagon, saying the switch was intended to signal that the United States was a force to be reckoned with. Congress, which must formally approve any permanent name change, has shown no serious interest in doing so.
The CBO report attaches a taxpayer cost to a rebrand that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already partially carried out through unilateral sign changes — and illustrates how a symbolic executive action can generate real fiscal exposure before Congress acts.
The Congressional Budget Office found Wednesday that renaming the Department of Defense the “Department of War” could cost U.S. taxpayers as much as $125 million, depending on how broadly and quickly the change is made — putting a price tag on a rebrand that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already partially carried out through unilateral sign changes.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September authorizing “Department of War” as a secondary title for the Pentagon, saying the change was intended to signal that the United States was a force to be reckoned with. Trump also complained that the Department of Defense’s name was “woke.” Congress, which must formally approve any permanent name change, has shown no serious interest in doing so.
What the CBO found
The CBO analysis found that a minimal, phased-in implementation would cost at least a few million dollars. A “modest implementation” of the executive order within the agency — changing the name internally — would run roughly $10 million, an amount Pentagon officials said would most likely be absorbed within existing budgets.
A full statutory renaming, implemented broadly and rapidly, could reach $125 million. “A statutory renaming could cost hundreds of millions of dollars,” the report said, depending on how Congress and the Defense Department choose to proceed.
The Pentagon has more than 6.5 million square feet of office space. Many signs, logos, and seals have remained unchanged, and it is not clear how far the rebrand has extended to military facilities outside Washington.
Pentagon officials said at the time of the executive order that they could not offer a cost estimate because they expected costs to fluctuate and promised a clearer figure later. Officials did not answer questions about what recommendations, if any, Hegseth has made regarding permanent implementation — a task the order assigned to him.
Hegseth’s unilateral moves
Hegseth moved quickly after Trump’s September order. He had employees remove the large gold letters spelling “Secretary of Defense” from outside his office and replaced the door sign to read “Secretary of War.” The Pentagon’s website also shifted from defense.gov to war.gov the day the executive order was signed.
The executive order came as the military launched airstrikes against alleged drug-carrying boats in South America. Since then, a U.S. military operation captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration has threatened military action in locations including Iran and Greenland.
Congressional status
Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee introduced legislation to make the name change official shortly after Trump signed the executive order. The measure has not advanced.
The CBO analysis was requested by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. The CBO, established more than 50 years ago, provides impartial fiscal analysis to support the congressional budget process.