Overview
- Congressional Budget Office pegs costs at roughly $10 million for a modest rollout within top offices and up to $125 million if changes are applied broadly and quickly across the department.
- The watchdog calls its estimate uncertain after the Pentagon declined to share implementation details, noting a separate report that five Office of the Secretary of Defense organizations spent $1.9 million in 30 days.
- Trump’s executive order authorized use of “Department of War” as a secondary title, and the Pentagon has already updated signage and online branding, including shifting its website to war.gov.
- A statutory renaming approved by Congress could push expenses into the hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on scope and speed of implementation.
- Democrats Jeff Merkley and Chuck Schumer requested the estimate, Republican proposals to codify the change have not advanced, and the White House defends the rebrand as reflecting a stronger military ethos.