What does the new war department mean?

“We are going to attack, not just defending. According to Secretary Pete Hegseth, the name change of the Defense Department for that of war signals a change in culture within the American army. But the experts see it as an attempted diversion from the Trump administration weighed down by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Decryption.

(Ottawa) Why a Ministry of War?

“To bring back the warrior spirit and the taste for victory,” said Pete Hegseth, who now carries the title of secretary to war, during the announcement in the oval office. His department “will fight decisively and not in endless conflicts, will fight to win and not to lose”. President Donald Trump judged the name “Department of Defense” too “ woke “,” Too politically correct “.

In fact, it is a return to the name used for almost 160 years. George Washington, one of the founding fathers of the United States, had created the War Department in 1789 a few months after having become the first president. “Why a return to this name and to this obsolete concept?” I believe that it is Trump’s desire to diversion when he faces economic, social, political problems, and scandals like that of Jeffrey Epstein. He wants to make believe that he really does something, ”says Richard H. Kohn, professor emeritus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The name of the war department remained until 1947 when Harry Truman changed it with the National security law to create The national military establishment which will become two years later the Department of Defense. It was the start of the Cold War that followed the end of the Second World War. The United States was then the only nuclear power. Russia tried to catch them, which it will do with her first nuclear test in 1949.

The creation of the Department of Defense was a way of uniting the earthly army, the air forces and the navy which “were in competition with each other”, underlines the specialist in American military history. “It was necessary to reorganize to force cooperation and the sharing of resources,” he explains. Times had changed. The Second World War had killed around 60 million and the West now wanted to avoid armed conflicts. The name of the Defense Department therefore became a “symbol of internal change with the creation of the National Security Council of the President and the CIA for intelligence”.

The change of name for the war department was hailed by the Washington Post in an editorial. Daily sees it as a way of redefining the role of the American army in order to prevent it from getting more away in bureaucracy and scatter. Richard Kohn rather believes that “it is neither necessary nor effective and that it will cost billions of dollars to change the name on the thousands of armed forces facilities all over the United States and in the world”.

Could this change of name report a change in military doctrine?

This is what Andrea Charron, specialist in military issues at the University of Manitoba, will watch. “This suggests that the United States, or at least President Donald Trump, think they are potentially on a war foot, but I am not sure it is the case,” she says. I think it is a smoke screen to divert attention from its inner problems and also to suggest to its militant base that he is the war president she wanted. »»

Same bell of Frédéric Labarre, instructor at the Royal Military College of Canada. “In my opinion, it is another creepy idea of ​​Mr. Trump who may not have immediately,” he suggests. I am not too worried, for the moment. That doesn’t mean that Americans will change their attitude to the outside. »»

“Did we have this discussion there if the Epstein sector was not as heavy for Mr. Trump?” He wonders. The links between the American president and this financier accused of sexual crimes on adolescent girls fuel the controversy. Jeffrey Epstein died in prison in 2019 before having undergone his trial.

The next revision of the American military doctrine, which takes place every four years, must take place in 2026. “For me, it would be a red flag if it was modified to reflect a more aggressive war department. I would then be worried, ”admits Andrea Charron. Canada should then reflect on its role in the aerospace defense command of North America (NORAD) which emphasizes defense and not the aggression of a more belligerent military doctrine south of the border.

“I think it’s a passenger. There are many, many people at the Pentagon who will be against the idea simply, argues Frédéric Labarre. Donald Rumsfeld (ex-Secretary in Defense under George W. Bush) tried, twenty years ago, to make reforms on a pack of subjects. He was not capable of it. Bureaucracy closed the square. »»

Has Canada already had a Ministry of War?

Not a Ministry of War, but a Ministry of National War Services created by a decision of the Parliament in 1940 to mobilize all the resources necessary to fight the enemy during the Second World War. This ministry, separate from the Ministry of National Defense, was responsible for the mobilization of citizens as well as material resources. The Radio-Canada company was one of the organizations put under the authority of the Minister of National War Services. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, France had a war ministry from 1791 to 1945, but the names Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of National Defense and War began to be used from the 1930s.

Sources: The New York Times,, The Washington PostAtomic Heritage Foundation, United Nations, Government of Canada, Francearchives