Commission to review 750 Confederacy-linked military items for renaming

The congressional Naming Commission announced Wednesday that it will review “more than 750 Department of Defense items” to determine whether their names “commemorate the Confederacy.”

The commission will “assess the cost of renaming or removing names, symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia” that celebrates any person who voluntarily served the Confederacy, a statement from the commission said. 

The full list of items under review includes everything from military bases to stickers and flyers. The items are located at military installations across the U.S. and in other countries, including two at a naval base in Japan. 

“We will update the inventory list in collaboration with the Department of Defense, including its sub-agencies and the military branches, as we continue to identify assets within our area of consideration,” retired Adm. Michelle Howard, chair of the Naming Commission, said in the statement. “This work is vital to understand the scope and estimated cost of renaming or removing Confederate-named assets and will enable us to provide the most accurate report possible to Congress.”

The commission, which was established by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, came under intense scrutiny by former President Trump when it was created in 2020. One of the committee’s original purposes was to investigate renaming nine military bases, including Fort Lee, Fort Bragg, Ford Hood and Fort Benning, over ties to the Confederacy. The new list includes items on the original nine military bases as well as many others. 

Cost estimates for the proposed renaming or removing of items will be included in the commission’s final recommendations to Congress, which are due to the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee by Oct. 1.