Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aides damaged a World War II-era globe linked to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower after they skipped the Pentagon’s history experts and tried to move it into his office themselves, according to a new report.
The 30-inch floor globe is one of two in the Pentagon believed to have been used by Eisenhower, and generations of Army leaders have kept them, but people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post that Hegseth was drawn to the globe’s history, which is believed to date to the 1930s, and his staff asked for one to be moved into the secretary’s office.
Historical items in the building are normally moved under the supervision of trained curators. Instead, Hegseth’s staff sent its own team, and the movers lost control of the globe and dropped it. The globe then crashed onto its base, and the fragile shell was punctured near Antarctica, leaving a gash that appears to be several inches wide.
The Army confirmed the damage happened during an “attempted move” on Feb. 3. Spokesman Christopher Surridge said that besides the hole, “the spherical portion of the globe was detached from the metal mounting that allows it to rotate.”
The globe was never relocated, and Surridge referred questions about the movers to Hegseth’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment. Pentagon officials refused the Post’s request to photograph or inspect the globe, but the paper obtained images of the damage on its own.
The Army office that keeps the globe had planned to consult the U.S. Army Center of Military History on moving it safely. But those historians were furloughed during a partial government shutdown, and Hegseth’s staff went ahead without them.
The shutdown ended the same day the globe was damaged. One person familiar with the situation pointed to an “apparent lack of patience.”
According to the Post, the mishap became “instant fodder for gossip and jokes inside the Pentagon.” Some people there said it showed the brashness and fondness for World War II nostalgia they see as hallmarks of Hegseth’s tenure.
Hegseth carried out Trump’s order to rebrand the Defense Department as the War Department and uses the title “secretary of war,” although Congress has not approved the change.
Ty Seidule, a retired brigadier general who taught history at West Point, was harsh in his assessment of the current Pentagon chief.
“Hegseth wants an Eisenhower totem to be like Ike, brilliant in war and peace,” Seidule said. “Hegseth is no Ike. The globe won’t give him Ike’s attributes of humility, intellect and judgment.”
The care was very different when a similar Eisenhower globe was moved from an Alabama storage site in recent years, when it was wrapped in protective covering and secured in a crate. It is unclear whether Hegseth personally ordered the move.
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