WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, reviving a name that was last used in the late 1940s.

The order would authorize the Department of Defense, the secretary of defense and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as "Department of War," "Secretary of War," and "Deputy Secretary of War" in official correspondence and public communications, according to a White House fact sheet.

It also instructs Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to recommend actions, including legislative and executive actions, to make the renaming permanent. A full legal change would still require congressional approval.

"Defense is too defensive," Trump said in the Oval Office last month. "And we want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive too if we have to be. So, it just sounded to me like a better name."

Hegseth had argued that changing the name is "not just about words -- it's about the warrior ethos." Critics warned it could incur high costs and distract from security priorities.

US Senator Andy Kim said the renaming was a childish idea, adding: "Americans want to prevent wars, not tout them," according to a BBC report.

The Department of War, created in 1789, directed the US Army and oversaw the country's military through both World Wars before being consolidated into the Department of Defense in the late 1940s.