US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's staff smashed Eisenhower's WWII globe after refusing to wait for furloughed Pentagon experts

The Department of War brushed off the incident with 'accidents happen' and dismissed the story as 'another inconsequential non-story'. On February 3, the 30-inch globe fell onto its base, opening a wound several inches across close to Antarctica. Army spokesman Christopher Surridge said the sphere was also dislodged from its rotating metal mount. The furlough that had sidelined the curators ended that same day.

One source attributed the botched move to an 'apparent lack of patience'.

Defence analyst John Ridge called it 'a more apt metaphor' for Hegseth's department.

The Pentagon now insists the damaged globe was a 'replica' and is being repaired.