Hegseth's Staff Broke a Historic Pentagon Globe Trying to Move It Into His Office, Photos Show

Staff for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth damaged a roughly 90-year-old Pentagon globe on February 3, 2026, while moving it toward his office without the Army's Center of Military History, whose historians were furloughed that day during a government shutdown. The Army said the globe's sphere detached from the metal mounting that lets it rotate after Hegseth's staff lost control of it. The Washington Post published photos of the damage on October 22, 2026; the Army said the globe was never actually moved into Hegseth's office. A plaque links the globe to Dwight Eisenhower's work in the Pentagon's World War II planning divisions, though the Army calls that connection a "popular theory."

A Pentagon spokesperson said, "Accidents happen, we are grateful no one was harmed, and the globe is being repaired," and separately called the episode "another inconsequential non-story," describing the item as a replica without elaborating. A former West Point history professor said the episode reflects a disregard for the Pentagon's own expert staff.