Trump rebrands Department of Defense as Department of War

US President Donald Trump has officially ordered that the Department of Defense be renamed the "Department of War." The move restores a name the agency last held in the 1940s. 

Also in the programme: Celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of The Sound of Music, widely regarded as one of the great popular classics of 20th century cinema, and; China’s president Xi Jinping appeared alongside his Russian and North Korean counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Olena Lennon, an expert on national security at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, joins us.

Presenter Julian Worricker is joined by Darya Dolzikova, a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute defence think-tank in London specialising in nuclear proliferation and policy and Daniel Glaser, a neuroscientist and writer.

(Photo: US President Trump press at the White House, Washington, USA - 05 Sep 2025. Francis Chung/EPA)