Hegseth’s team broke WWII-era globe from Eisenhower’s office

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s team dropped and damaged a historic World War II-era globe previously used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a source familiar with the incident told The Hill on Thursday.

While moving the artifact to the secretary’s office, Hegseth’s staff lost control of the 30-inch floor globe, causing it to crash on its base and resulting in an inches-wide gash near Antarctica, The Washington Post first reported Thursday .

The Post obtained images of the globe that showed the damage caused during the early February relocation attempt.

The Army’s press office referred The Hill to Hegseth’s office.

A Pentagon official confirmed to The Hill on Thursday the accident occurred while staff was transporting the replica of the Eisenhower globe as part of its relocation.

“Accidents happen, we are grateful no one was harmed, and the globe is being repaired,” the official said in a statement. “It is unsurprising that the Washington Post is once again dedicating time to another inconsequential non-story.”

One of the Eisenhower globes has pen lines and markings from World War II on it, the source familiar told The Hill, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Early this year, Hegseth wanted the globe to be relocated to his office, but instead of trained curators, his staff dispatched its own team to do the job, the Post reported.

The Army office in possession of the artifact initially expected to consult with experts to make sure it could be safely transported, the newspaper reported.

Those plans were later interrupted when staffers were furloughed during a partial government shutdown as a result of a disagreement in Congress over the Trump administration’s immigration policy. After failing to reach the experts, Hegseth’s staff took the matter into its own hands, according to the Post.

The Army’s press office referred questions to the Pentagon.

It is unclear whether Hegseth personally asked for the globe to be moved to his office.

In recent years, another globe, which is around 40 inches in diameter and stands about 4 feet off the ground and is also connected to Eisenhower, was moved from the Army Center of Military History in Anniston, Ala., which is part of the Army Transformation and Training Command, to an Army base.

“When packing an asset of this size, we had to consider the context of its worth on many levels,” Craters & Freighters wrote in late December 2022. “Since the globe is considered priceless, we knew its value was much greater than financial, and that our team was heavily relied upon for a safe delivery.”

During World War II, Eisenhower led the attack on Nazi-occupied Europe as supreme commander of the Allied forces, including the D-Day landings in 1944, leading to the liberation of Paris. He later became the 34th U.S. President, serving from 1953 to 1961.