Pentagon and Hegseth consider maintaining ties to Scouting : NPR
An Eagle Scout Award is pinned on a uniform. The Pentagon, which has considered severing its ties with Scouting America, is moving toward maintaining these relationships.
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An Eagle Scout Award is pinned on a uniform. The Pentagon, which has considered severing its ties with Scouting America, is moving toward maintaining these relationships.
David Ryder/Getty Images
After months of backlash, including from some Republicans, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appears to be abandoning efforts to sever the Pentagon’s century-old relationship with Scouting America, the youth organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.
Documents reviewed by NPR last fall detailed Hegseth’s intention to exclude the Boy Scouts for abandoning what one memo called “masculine virtues” and for attacking “boy-friendly spaces.” The proposal would have banned Scout troops from meeting on U.S. bases, ended military assistance to the Scout Jamboree and eliminated a long-standing policy of offering an advanced rank to Eagle Scouts who enlist.
About 25,000 children of U.S. military personnel are currently involved in Scouting America programs, according to the organization.
A new document recently obtained by NPR shows that contingency plans to withdraw support are still being developed. But according to a Defense Ministry source who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, additional efforts are now being made to negotiate a memorandum of understanding that will allow the partnership to continue.
According to the DoD source, the Pentagon’s requirements include requiring new scouts to register under the sex assigned at birth. The current Scouting application form only allows the choice of “male” or “female” gender, and most troops are single-sex. However, their official policy states that all young people are welcome, regardless of “gender or orientation”.
It’s unclear whether this concession would satisfy Hegseth — and how it would affect transgender youth. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. A Scouting America spokesperson declined to comment.
Hegseth sharply criticized Scouting’s decision in 2019 to admit girls and later rename Scouting America. As a Fox News host, he said the Boy Scouts “had been falling apart for some time,” arguing that Scouting was being diluted by progressive politics. An internal Pentagon memo reviewed by NPR stated: “The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of America’s boys.” »
When NPR reported on the memo last year, the Defense Department declined to comment, saying it could not authenticate the documents and that they were possibly “pre-decisional.”
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican on the Armed Services Committee, however, said he confirmed NPR’s information with the Pentagon. He said he heard from angry voters.
“Some Trump supporters in Omaha called me, angry that Hegseth was fighting with the Boy Scouts.” Bacon said. “He’s got bigger fish to fry. I’ve heard a lot of stupid things, but this one is up there.”
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, criticized the Pentagon’s position and said he thought it was inappropriate for the Defense Department to pressure a youth organization in this way.
“The bigger problem is that Hegseth is determined to advance a right-wing cultural revolution that is very divisive,” Smith said.
Failure to reach an agreement would have major consequences for this summer’s National Scout Jamboree. The camp attracts up to 20,000 youth and adult leaders to a remote West Virginia site every four years – and requires extensive planning. According to letters between Scouting and the DoD in documents reviewed by NPR, help for this summer’s gathering was first requested in late 2023. If the Pentagon withdraws support, the Scouts would be expected to scramble to replace medical care, transportation and other emergency services.
