Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's staffers damaged a historic globe used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II when they tried to move it to his office at his request, three U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News. The Washington Post first reported the incident on Thursday, October 22.

Source: NBC News via Newsline24

The globe was one of at least two that Eisenhower had, the officials said, and it was especially notable because it carried green pen or marker notations where Eisenhower marked areas in Europe during World War II. The 30-inch floor globe, believed to date to the 1930s, is catalogued and held by the U.S. Army Center of Military History and was kept in a senior Army office in the Pentagon.

A move made without the historians

Historical items in the Pentagon are normally moved under the supervision of trained curators. The Army office that keeps the globe had planned to consult the Center of Military History on moving it safely, but those historians were furloughed during a partial government shutdown. Rather than wait, Hegseth's staff dispatched its own team on February 3, according to the Post's reporting. The movers lost control of the globe and dropped it, sending it crashing onto its base and puncturing the fragile shell near Antarctica, leaving a gash that appears to be several inches wide.

Army spokesperson Christopher Surridge confirmed the damage happened during an "attempted move" on February 3, saying 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 to Hegseth's office, and Pentagon officials declined the Post's request to photograph or inspect it, though the paper obtained images of the damage on its own. One person familiar with the matter described the decision to proceed without the historians as an "apparent lack of patience."

Replica or original? The one point in dispute

A Pentagon official acknowledged that an accident occurred but said the globe was a replica. "An accident occurred while staff were transporting a 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, calling the Post's reporting an inconsequential non-story in the fuller statement reported by other outlets.

NBC News reported that it verified from the three officials and a photo that the damaged globe was not a replica but the original used by Eisenhower. Eisenhower was supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II, with ultimate responsibility for decisions including the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, and was later elected the 34th president. The department says the globe is now being repaired.