Secretary of Defense Wants to Sever Ties with Scouting America

Ever since 1937 when President Theodore Roosevelt first endorsed Scouting America, formerly The Boy Scouts of America, they have had a mutually beneficial relationship with the U.S. military for over the past 100 years. The Scouts National Jamboree, is an event that takes place every three to four years where 20,000 scouts go to remote West Virginia for 10 days. In the past, it was funded by the Pentagon, and they provided medical resources, logistical aid, and even put on aviation and skydiving demonstrations. Scouting America is an organization that has always been a great recruitment tool for the military, and their Jamboree has been seen as a training exercise for the military.

Despite this, however, since its name change and its decision to be more inclusive, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in memos leaked to NPR, has proposed cutting this funding. These memos were drafts to be sent to Congress from the Pentagon.

His proposal draft would cut ties and funding to Scouting America’s National Jamboree. It says that sending resources to a 10-day youth event would be harmful to national security by diverting from border operations that should be protecting U.S. territory. He also says, not surprisingly, that the scouts are fostering “gender confusion” and are trying to become “genderless” with its name change. He also cited that he intends to bar that the military recruit from Scouting America as well as ban them from U.S. military bases overseas and within territory.

Navy Secretary John Phelan, after reading over the drafts Hegseth wrote, sent a memo to the Pentagon. He writes, “Prohibition of access could be detrimental to recruitment and accession within the department.”

A Spokesperson for Scouting America told The Advocate, “Scouting is and has always been a nonpartisan organization. Over more than a century, we’ve worked constructively with every U.S. presidential administration—Republican and Democrat—focusing on our common goal of building future leaders grounded in integrity, responsibility, and community service.”

The potential loss the military would be facing is losing out on motivated kids who want to join. Statistics from Scouting America show that 20% of cadets and midshipmen come form the Eagle Scouts, and Phelan wrote that up to a third of his Navy officers in training, have some scouting background.