The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. September 5, 2025 Trump to Sign Executive Order Renaming Department of Defense as Department of War --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- President Trump is signing an executive order today renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War - the title it held for over 150 years until just after the Second World War, when the name was changed through an act of Congress. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has consistently referred to U.S. soldiers as "warriors," will now have the title of secretary of war. .