The Trump administration’s vanity project to rename the Department of Defense to the “Department of War” could cost American taxpayers up to $125 million, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
That’s right—up to nine figures to change some signs and letterhead because Donald Trump thinks the post-World War II name is “woke.”
WHAT’S GOING ON: Trump signed an executive order last September to rebrand the federal government’s largest employer.
The agency already calls itself the Department of War on its website and in official communications, but it’s still formally called the Department of Defense under federal law. The CBO released its cost estimate Wednesday after Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Chuck Schumer requested the analysis.
THE DETAILS: The price tag ranges wildly depending on how aggressively the administration pursues this rebrand. A “modest implementation” covering just the Office of the Secretary of Defense would run about $10 million. But if they go full send—changing names across all defense-wide agencies like the Defense Intelligence Agency—it balloons to $125 million.
The Defense Acquisition University has already been renamed the “Warfighting Acquisition University.” Of course it has.
The Pentagon hasn’t provided its own cost estimate. A department official told CBS News the “cost estimate will fluctuate” and they’d have “a clearer estimate to report at a later time.” Translation: they have no idea, and they don’t want to talk about it.
BUT BUT BUT: Trump claimed at the time that the rebrand wouldn’t cost “a lot.” His exact words: “We know how to rebrand without having to go crazy. We don’t have to re-carve a mountain or anything.” He said they’d just change stationery “as it comes due.”
The CBO’s $125 million estimate suggests otherwise.
WHY IT MATTERS: Senator Merkley called this “performative government at its worst.” He’s not wrong. While Americans struggle with grocery prices and healthcare costs, the administration is burning potentially $125 million on what amounts to aggressive rebranding.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to frame this as some kind of warrior awakening: “We’re gonna raise up warriors, not just defenders.” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called it a “nod to our proud heritage” and said “Defense isn’t enough—we’ve got to be ready to strike and dominate our enemies.”
Cool rhetoric. But the military’s mission doesn’t actually change because you swap out some signs. The bombs still bomb. The drones still drone. The $900 billion annual budget still flows.
BOTTOM LINE: This is what happens when governing becomes content creation. The administration gets to look tough and “anti-woke” while taxpayers foot a bill that could reach nine figures—for literally nothing but aesthetics. The Department of War name isn’t even new; it’s what we called the military before 1947. So we’re spending up to $125 million to cosplay as our great-grandparents’ government.