Monterey’s Defense Language Institute to keep name despite Department of War name change

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, commonly called DLI, located in Monterey, will not be changing its name, even after the Department of Defense was renamed the Department of War through executive order. On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would rebrand the agency. The order can only do so much, as Congress would need to formally authorize the new name, but his executive order did authorize the Pentagon to also be called the Department of War. The Pentagon’s website went from “defense.gov” to “war.gov,” and signs were swapped around Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s office. Trump said there would be new stationery, too.KSBW 8 reached out to DLI to see if it would be changing its name to the War Language Institute in line with the branding dictated by the president. The institute’s response was brief. “We have no plans on changing our name,” wrote a spokesperson for the school. The school’s website still reads “DLIFLC is DoD’s premier school for culturally based foreign language education and training,” not updating DoD to DoW.The agency was last named the Department of War in the 1940s, before it was renamed by President Harry Truman to the Department of Defense.

MONTEREY, Calif. —

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, commonly called DLI, located in Monterey, will not be changing its name, even after the Department of Defense was renamed the Department of War through executive order.

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would rebrand the agency. The order can only do so much, as Congress would need to formally authorize the new name, but his executive order did authorize the Pentagon to also be called the Department of War.

The Pentagon’s website went from “defense.gov” to “war.gov,” and signs were swapped around Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s office. Trump said there would be new stationery, too.

KSBW 8 reached out to DLI to see if it would be changing its name to the War Language Institute in line with the branding dictated by the president. The institute’s response was brief.

“We have no plans on changing our name,” wrote a spokesperson for the school.

The school’s website still reads “DLIFLC is DoD’s premier school for culturally based foreign language education and training,” not updating DoD to DoW.

The agency was last named the Department of War in the 1940s, before it was renamed by President Harry Truman to the Department of Defense.