The U.S. Department of Defense is pushing to sever its blood alliance with Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts), which has lasted for more than 100 years. The move stems from the assessment that the scout organization has pursued political correctness (PC) to an excessive degree and lost its core values. Some experts warned that beyond a simple halt to support, the link between the military, which has underpinned American society, and civil society could be cut.
According to an internal memo from the Department of Defense obtained and reported by leading local outlets such as Newsweek and The Hill on the 26th (local time), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharply criticized in a draft report to Congress, saying, "The scouts no longer follow meritocracy," and "It has degenerated into an organization that attacks boys, not a space for boys."
Minister Hegseth judged that the scouts' full admission of girls in 2019, the recent rebranding to Scouting America by removing "boy" from the organization's name, and a policy line emphasizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) do not align with traditional masculine values or military discipline.
In the memo, he wrote, "The scout organization that President Theodore Roosevelt supported no longer supports the future of American boys." This move does not simply cut the scouts' budget; it means expanding the front of the culture war fiercely waged in the United States into defense policy.
In Korea, scouts are perceived as a youth group that does camping activities, but in the United States, the scouts boast a special status on the level of a "pre-citizenship school." Since its founding in 1910, about 130 million Americans have gone through scout programs over 115 years.
Eleven of the 12 astronauts who walked on the moon, including Neil Armstrong, came from the scouts, and many past presidents popular with the public, such as John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton, were involved in scouting. President Ford recalled, "Thanks to the principles of scouting, I was able to be a better Navy officer and a better president."
Since then, being a scout member has been regarded in American society as a credential that guarantees diligence and leadership. President Donald Trump also praised the scouts in a speech at the 2017 Jamboree during his first administration, saying, "There are no better citizens than Boy Scouts in America." At the time, President Trump boasted that 10 members of his Cabinet had been scouts.
The U.S. military and the scouts still have deep personal links. According to Navy Secretary John Phelan, about one-third of Navy officer candidates have scouting experience. There are also statistics that 20% of U.S. Air Force Academy graduates came from the scouts.
However, Minister Hegseth has concluded that the scouts are "captured by the left" and set a policy to put a full stop to the relationship. The scouts allowed gay youth to join in 2013. In 2015, it opened leadership positions to gay adults.
Finally, in 2017 it granted membership eligibility to transgender people, drawing backlash from conservative Christian circles. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), then the largest sponsoring organization, ultimately cut ties with the scouts in 2019.
In 2020, the scouts were hit with tens of thousands of lawsuits over child sexual abuse cases accumulated over decades. The number of victims exceeded 80,000, and incidents spanning more than 70 years from the 1940s to the 2010s were brought to light through legal proceedings. The headquarters (the federation) then filed for bankruptcy protection and reached a $2.4 billion (about 3.52 trillion won) compensation settlement, suffering moral damage.
U.S. media said, "The scouts have been operating under court supervision and reaching settlements with victims," and assessed that "it is practically difficult to provide significant national-level support to an organization under controversy."
According to the measures written in the memo, the Department of Defense will first cut support for the large-scale camping event National Jamboree, held every four years at the Summit Bechtel Reserve training site in West Virginia. Since the first jamboree in Washington, D.C., in 1937, the U.S. military has provided tents, medical facilities, communications equipment and helicopters free of charge for the event. The Air Force mobilized fighter jets for an air show during the event. The jamboree was not just a scout event; it was an opportunity for the military to train for civil support and a key channel to instill patriotism in Boy Scout members and secure potential enlistment resources.
Scout activities on U.S. military bases overseas will also be banned. The U.S. military has allowed scout activities at overseas deployment sites such as Ramstein Air Base in Germany and Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. In these areas, the scouts have served as the only community for service members' children to adapt to unfamiliar environments and form bonds. Public broadcaster NPR quoted an Iraq War veteran with three children as saying, "We moved constantly from Louisiana to Alaska to Germany and back to Texas, but there were scouts at every base so our kids could adapt," and added, "The Department of Defense seems to value political messaging over military families."
The U.S. military has so far given preferential treatment to members who received the highest Boy Scout rank, Eagle Scout, when they enlist. To earn Eagle Scout, one must receive at least 21 merit badges in various fields such as first aid, swimming and camping, and serve for more than six months in a leadership position at the rank of unit leader or higher. The military has operated an incentive system that grants these members the rank of private (E-2) or private first class (E-3), not recruit (E-1), and pays them more. But with this move, that too will be phased out.
Experts analyzed that this situation goes beyond simple budget savings and represents an example of ideological conflict in the United States expanding into the security realm. The Department of Defense, in response to media inquiries including NPR, said, "We cannot confirm leaked documents, and this is a pre-decision matter," and withheld further comment.
The scouts are already preparing for the National Jamboree scheduled for next summer. If the halt in Department of Defense support is finalized, major disruptions to scout operations will be unavoidable.
Roger Krone, chief executive officer (CEO) of Scouting America, said in a statement, "The scouts are nonpartisan and have always developed talent devoted to the nation," and emphasized, "The claim that meritocracy has disappeared is not true, and scout badges and ranks are still earned, not given."