DICKtator Cannot Legally Change DoD to the DoW (Department of War).

[Igel]

2. That's why he's not actually doing what he and others claim he's doing.

The WH is clearer than NPR (and, naturally, Trump):

RESTORING THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to restore the historic name “Department of War” as a secondary title for the Department of Defense. This is the 200th Executive Order the President has signed since taking office.

The Order authorizes the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Defense, and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as “Secretary of War,” “Department of War,” and “Deputy Secretary of War” in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch.

The Order directs all executive departments and agencies to recognize and accommodate these secondary titles in internal and external communications.

The Order instructs the Secretary of War to recommend actions, to include legislative and executive actions, required to permanently rename the U.S. Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of War.

It's another one of those trollish EOs that are worded so as to make some misrepresent it (helped by Trump's inability to keep things straight) while the lawyers make clear where the legal lines are, as they see them (and not always too far off, that).

It's even acknowledged that this is likely a temporary thing, since EOs can be revoked with the same ease they are imposed.