President Trump will sign an executive order Friday restoring the Department of Defense to its original name, the Department of War.

Both he and Secretary Pete Hegseth have been hinting at the move for weeks, seeking to change the agency’s name as part of several initiatives under the administration’s “warrior ethos” campaign. Mr. Trump has said that he believes “defense is too defensive” of a name, explaining last month his desire to carry through with the rebranding back to the name used starting in 1789 and through World War II.

“We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War,” Mr. Trump said to reporters gathered at the Oval Office in August, referring to how the name change would harken back to America’s record of military victories.

“Defense is too defensive,” he added. “And we want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too, if we have to be.”

The original name was used for more than a century, spanning wars with Britain, Spain, Mexico, the Confederacy, and conflicts in the Philippines. It was changed by President Truman in 1947 after signing the National Security Act, which merged the Department of War with the Navy and Air Force into a single organization known as the National Military Establishment.

The executive order will designate “Department of War” as a secondary title for the agency and “Secretary of War” for Mr. Hegseth, who will be directed to propose legislative and executive actions to make the changes permanent, according to Fox News. The name cannot be officially changed by the president without legislation from Congress.

Mr. Hegseth, who has already been referred to as the “secretary of war” by Mr. Trump, said in an interview with “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday that the changes reflect a cultural shift at the Pentagon.

“We won World War I, and we won World War II, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department, with the Department of War,” he said. “As the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.” 

The order will also require changes to all public-facing websites as well as signage at the Pentagon, which includes the renaming of the public affairs briefing room to the “Pentagon War Annex.”

Friday’s signing will mark the 200th executive order from Mr. Trump since entering office in January for his second term.