WASHINGTON, D.C. – InsiderNJ walked into the Dubliner and a source said, “[Senate President Steve] Sweeney is gearing up for war. Did you hear, Drennan’s going back to the Senate Majority Office?”

That’s Kevin Drennan.

He’s returning to Sweeney’s inner sanctum as executive director of the Senate Dems.

Gene Lepore, the current acting executive director, will become vice exec. director.

A veteran Sweeney ally and political and government confidant, Drennan left the Senate Majority Office last year to take a private sector job with UnitedHealth Group.

The source who buttonholed InsiderNJ at the Dubliner said he saw the move as Sweeney putting himself on “war footing.”