While it was once an informal nickname, Trump signed an executive order to change it to its official secondary title in September 2025, which might just have been a costly decision.
According to Trump, the change reflected the ‘strength’ of the US, as her said, per ABC News: “I think it sends a message of victory. I think it sends a message, really a message of strength.
“We’re very strong.”
However, this rebrand is likely to cost anywhere from $10 million to $125 million, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in a January 14 report.These figures come as the CBO revealed if the name changed stayed within Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s office, it could be on the cheaper end of the scale. However, it also ‘could be as large as $125 million if the name change was implemented broadly and rapidly throughout the department’.
“The faster the changes were implemented, the more parts of DoD that the changes applied to, and the more complete the renaming, the costlier it would be,” the estimate added.
