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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 132 · Wednesday, 4 November 2026

Pentagon

Pentagon confident U.S. will be ready for 2027 war with China by 2035

Officials cite historically proven American strategy of entering wars completely unprepared

Hegseth wears Eisenhower's globe as Halloween costume

Spirit Halloween store to become pop-up ICE detention center

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Vol. 15 · No. 132

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Vol. 15 · No. 132 · Deployed worldwide

Wednesday

4 November 2026

1628 Zulu

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Pentagon · Page 3

Department of War loses access to $1 trillion DoD budget after name change

Check rejected after department fails standard government name verification form

Filed · 0500

WASHINGTON — Pentagon leadership were stunned this morning to find they no longer had access to the nearly $1 trillion budget approved for the Department of Defense following its recent name change to the Department of War, sources confirmed today.

A senior official from the Department of War Comptroller’s office told reporters that the problem stemmed from the fact that the Defense Appropriations Bill listed the nation’s largest government department as the Department of Defense and not by its new moniker. While seemingly trivial, the executive order mandating the name change was not authorized by Congress, preventing the department from depositing the appropriation check in its Pentagon Federal Credit Union account.

“I can’t deposit the funds if the name on the check doesn’t match the name on the account,” a PenFed teller told Secretary of War and Hair Products Pete Hegseth. “This check clearly states, ‘pay to the order of the Department of Defense.’” 

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