Pentagon Dropped Historic Ball in a Move. It Was Eisenhower's Globe

Pentagon gossip has a new centerpiece: a battered World War II-era globe linked to Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Washington Post reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's staff tried to move one of two "Eisenhower globes" from an Army office into Hegseth's, bypassing the Pentagon's normal artifact-handling experts, who had been furloughed during a partial government shutdown. During what the Army terms an "attempted move" on Feb. 3 attempt, staffers allegedly lost control of the 30-inch globe, which smashed into its base, punched a several-inch hole near Antarctica, and separated from its metal mount.

The Army confirms the damage, but Pentagon officials wouldn't let the Post photograph or inspect the globe; the paper obtained images independently (see them here). Critics are laying into the episode as an embarrassment and a symbol of Hegseth's taste for World War II nostalgia, including rebranding himself the "secretary of war" without Congressional sign-off. Retired Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, a Hegseth critic, says the globe "won't give him Ike's attributes of humility, intellect and judgment." A second Eisenhower globe is on display in the Army chief of staff's office. Read the full story by Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe at the Post.