Lead: The Pentagon said Friday that Scouting America has agreed to change several policies at the Defense Department’s urging, including a measure affecting transgender youth participation, in order to preserve military support. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the review in a video posted on X and warned the Pentagon will reassess the relationship in six months and could withdraw support if the organization does not meet expectations. Scouting America said it would comply with an executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion and highlighted its continued service to more than 200,000 girls. The move follows months of public back-and-forth over the scouting organization’s 2024 rebrand and its recent policy shifts.
Key takeaways
- The Pentagon, led by Secretary Pete Hegseth, said it urged Scouting America to adopt several reforms and will review compliance in six months with the possibility of ending military support.
- Scouting America proposed discontinuing the Citizenship in Society merit badge, adding a Military Service merit badge, waiving registration fees for military families, and dissolving a DEI committee in proposals it shared with the Defense Department in January.
- As of May 2024, Scouting America reported more than 200,000 girls in its programs and over 6,000 girls had achieved Eagle Scout rank.
- The organization said its membership was just over 1 million and that it added about 16,000 new scouts in the most recent year, a gain of under 2%.
- U.S. military support for scouting has deep roots: the service has provided logistical help for the National Jamboree since 1937 and sponsors troops on many bases domestically and overseas.
- The Boy Scouts’ successor organizations have faced major legal and financial challenges, including a 2023 court approval of a $2.4 billion bankruptcy plan covering tens of thousands of abuse claims.
Background
Scouting America traces its institutional lineage to the Boy Scouts of America, founded in 1910, and carries a century of ties to the U.S. military. Military installations have long hosted Scout troops and events; the armed forces have provided logistical support for the National Boy Scout Jamboree since 1937. For generations, Eagle Scouts have been overrepresented in ROTC, service academies and other military leadership pipelines, a fact Scouting America and the Pentagon both cite when discussing the partnership’s value.
Over the past decade the organization altered membership policies: it began admitting gay youth in 2013, lifted a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015, opened boys-only programs to transgender boys in 2017, and expanded Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA to include girls in 2018–2019. The group rebranded in 2024 as Scouting America, a move that drew both praise and criticism and became a focal point in debates about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) inside youth organizations and the military.
Main event
On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon had pressed Scouting America to make specific policy changes and that the department will “vigorously review” the group’s actions over the next six months. Hegseth framed the effort as part of a broader campaign against DEI initiatives within military-affiliated institutions, warning that continued support hinges on concrete compliance. He also said the Pentagon could end ties if Scouting America fails to meet the department’s standards.
Scouting America acknowledged it would follow an executive order from President Donald Trump concerning DEI programs and said Friday that it would maintain its Scouting America name and its programs serving more than 200,000 girls. The organization emphasized its historical relationship with the armed services and described scouts as a reliable pipeline into military service. In January the Scouts told the Pentagon they had developed a plan that included dropping the Citizenship in Society merit badge, creating a Military Service badge, waiving fees for children of military personnel and staging a rededication ceremony to “God and country.”
Officials at the Pentagon previously said Scouting America had “lost its way” and criticized what they described as gender-fluid ideological stances and social-justice approaches. A February Pentagon statement said leadership decisions at Scouting America were inconsistent with the administration’s values, setting the stage for the recent push for tangible reforms and the six-month compliance timeline.
Analysis & implications
The Pentagon’s leverage derives from decades-long logistical, sponsorship and symbolic ties between the military and scouting. With bases hosting units and the military helping large events like the Jamboree, a withdrawal of support could materially affect local troop operations, event logistics and recruitment pathways into uniformed service. Units on installations often rely on base access, meeting spaces and informal recruitment networks that a break in official partnership would complicate.
Politically, the episode is emblematic of larger culture-war pressures on nonfederal institutions that rely on government partnerships or public funding. The push to roll back DEI-related elements and to emphasize traditionalist language about duty and God aligns with a broader push inside the Pentagon under Hegseth to curtail DEI programs. That alignment raises governance questions about when a federal partner can or should condition support on policy alignment.
For transgender youth and other groups whose inclusion was expanded in recent years, policy reversals or new restrictions could mean reduced access to programs and leadership opportunities. Scouting leaders say that inclusion drove membership diversity and produced high-achieving participants; any contraction could lead to membership losses or legal challenges from families or advocacy groups. The organization’s past litigation and the $2.4 billion bankruptcy settlement over abuse claims underscore how policy shifts can produce prolonged legal and reputational consequences.
Comparison & data
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Reported total membership | ~1,000,000 |
| Girls in programs | >200,000 |
| Girls earning Eagle Scout (as of May 2024) | >6,000 |
| Recent membership change | +16,000 (<2%) |
| Bankruptcy plan approved (2023) | $2.4 billion; ~80,000 claimants |
The data show Scouting America’s sizable female participation since admitting girls and the group’s continued national reach despite modest year-over-year growth. The bankruptcy settlement remains a major financial and organizational milestone that shaped the group’s restructuring. If military support is reduced, the immediate operational impacts would be venue access and logistical assistance for national events; the longer-term effects would play out in recruitment and philanthropy trends.
Reactions & quotes
The announcements generated swift responses from both sides. Below are representative statements and context.
“We hope that doesn’t happen, but it could. Ideally I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded.”
Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense (video posted on X)
The comment underscores Hegseth’s framing of the dispute as cultural and institutional, invoking a return to historical norms as the preferred outcome while leaving open the prospect of withdrawing Pentagon support.
“Scouting America is one of the most reliable pipelines to the United States Armed Forces our country has ever known.”
Scouting America (organization statement)
Scouting America used this language to explain why it is willing to adapt policies: preserving close ties with the military, the group argued, protects longstanding service pathways for scouts and maintains logistical partnerships that support events and local troops.
“The fact that we were going with a more kind of gender-neutral name … generated wider interest.”
Roger Krone, Scouting America President and CEO
Krone’s remark acknowledged backlash to the 2024 rebrand while portraying the change as an engagement strategy that modestly increased membership.
Unconfirmed
- It is not yet independently verified whether Scouting America will formally eliminate internal DEI structures beyond the January proposal; public statements did not list every specific governance change.
- The Pentagon’s timeline for ending support is conditional; whether the department will cut logistical support for specific events like the National Jamboree remains unconfirmed pending the six-month review.
- Reports that the Pentagon would remove pay-grade increases for enlistees who are Eagle Scouts were reported earlier; the current status of that personnel policy change is not confirmed in official guidance.
Bottom line
The latest exchange between the Pentagon and Scouting America highlights how federal partnerships can be leveraged to influence private nonprofit policy, particularly on culturally charged issues like DEI and gender inclusion. Scouting America has signaled willingness to alter programs and governance to preserve its military ties, but the department’s six-month review creates a period of uncertainty that could bring operational consequences for units meeting on bases and for national events that rely on Pentagon logistics.
Watch for three practical indicators over the coming months: whether Scouting America formally adopts the specific badge and governance changes it proposed in January, whether the Pentagon follows through on withdrawing support if changes are deemed insufficient, and how affected families and community sponsors respond legally and politically. Those outcomes will determine both the future of the military-Scouting relationship and the programmatic experience of thousands of scouts, including transgender youth and girls who have recently joined.
Sources
- Associated Press (news report)
- Scouting America (organization statement)
- U.S. Department of Defense (official newsroom/statement archive)
- NPR (public media reporting referenced)