"Statutory references to the Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense, and subordinate officers and components shall remain controlling until changed subsequently by the law."
That is, until a law is passed by Congress, DoD is the primary, controlling title (DoW is an "additional secondary title" according to the EO).
https://archive.is/2025.10.22-233212/https://www.nytimes.com...
This is not a conservative vs liberal event. Fox News and the NYTimes among others refused to agree to the new policy.
Why are they refusing to call it the War department?
See https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/rest..., section 2(e):
"Statutory references to the Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense, and subordinate officers and components shall remain controlling until changed subsequently by the law."
That is, until a law is passed by Congress, DoD is the primary, controlling title (DoW is an "additional secondary title" according to the EO).
It’ll be changed in US Code, by Congress. Right now, Hegseth is actually Secretary of Defense.