Important bit:

Until recently, the US government department responsible for the military was generally known as the United States Department of Defense. Technically, it still is. It had a sub-brand, however, that nobody had used since 1947. You jokingly say “well, let’s not use the name ‘Department of War’ hahah!” and you spot that look in the client’s eye that says “brilliant! You’ve nailed it! Let’s!”

They didn’t get the joke. OK, but you crack on. Consequently, the branding team must have felt mortified when the mood board that was titled “Avoid these” was displayed with the heading set in too small a font and the government officials went “Yes! Please! That’s brilliant!” It probably looked something like this:

[...]

They are, of course, not the first leaders to use imagery in such a style; they’re merely looking back on nostalgic, heart warming times. It’s only a coincidence that this new branding just happens to have similarities to the less pleasant parts of European history. It’s almost certainly just a consequence of the trend towards simplifying branding for easier reproduction across multiple media types from screens and paper to large fabric banners that can be clearly seen from a distance by your enemies victims allies so they know what to expect when you’re in charge. And it’s definitely not at all alarming. Oh no. Definitely not.

As someone from not the US it was not clear what's going on.

The point is, this was the Seal of the United States Department of Defense since 1949:

The new "simplified" version is the one on the header image of the article: