What Trump's incoming defense secretary said about renaming Fort Liberty
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
President Donald Trump’s incoming pick to lead the Department of Defense has shared the same views as Trump about the renaming of military installations that were formerly named after Confederate soldiers.
The Senate narrowly confirmed Pete Hegseth on Friday as secretary of Defense, a win for President Donald Trump's new administration.
Hegseth is a combat veteran who served in the Army National Guard and later became a political commentator for Fox.
According to CNN, Hegseth has said he does not think military installations should have been renamed.
What Trump has said
Trump said in November 2020 that Fort Bragg would keep its name.
The following month, the House voted 335 to 78, and the Senate voted 84 to 13 to approve the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a provision from a bill filed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren seeking to remove Confederate names from installations
Fort Bragg was established as Camp Bragg in 1918 — after World War I — and named after Braxton Bragg, an artillery officer who served in the Mexican-American War and later served as a Confederate general. He is also associated with being a slave owner and losing battles during the Civil War.
In June 2023, the installation was renamed to Fort Liberty.
During an October campaign stop at the Crown Arena in Fayetteville, Trump told the crowd that his administration would get the name Fort Bragg “back.”
What Hegseth has said
Earlier in 2024, Hegseth also referred to the name change when promoting his book, “The War on Warriors.”
During an “Every Day Warrior” podcast with host and retired Navy Seal Mike Sarraille in June, Hegseth agreed with Sarraille by saying that he did not think money should have been spent to change the names of military installations.
“We should change it back, because legacy matters, because … my uncle served at Bragg. I served at Bragg,” Hegseth said.
The same month, in a YouTube interview with conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, Hegseth said he completed his infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, which was renamed Fort Moore.
“Hal Moore is great, but there’s also a generational link that breaks when you rename Benning and Bragg,” he said. "Like, where’d you serve? Bragg. Where’d you serve? Benning. Where do you serve now? Liberty. Like, it’s garbage.”
Act of Congress
According to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the secretary of defense or the secretary of a military department may not give a name to an asset that refers to the Confederate States of America, including names of Confederate leaders or those who won a Confederate battlefield victory.
It’s unlikely that Trump would try to bypass Congress by telling military leaders to change names because he’s in charge of the military, Dr. Christopher Cronin, a political science professor for Methodist University and head of the university’s Social Sciences Division, told The Fayetteville Observer in November.
Cronin said Trump could also ask a member of Congress to write a new bill about the name change that the majority of Congress could approve.
The president would ultimately need money for another name change, and Congress is in charge of the budget, he said.
Renaming Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty cost more than $6 million, excluding state Department of Transportation sign changes.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.