Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, has said it is “surprised and disappointed” by a report that the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, could sever all military ties to the organization for being “genderless” and failing to “cultivate masculine values”.
In a draft memo to Congress obtained by NPR, Hegseth criticized Scouting America, which began admitting girls in 2018, for purportedly attempting to “attack boy-friendly spaces”.
“It is no longer a meritocracy which holds its members accountable to meet high standards,” Hegseth wrote.
The US military has provided support to the Scouts for more than a century. But in the memo, Hegseth said: “The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys.”
His proposal, which has not yet been sent to Congress, calls for the Pentagon to pull medical and logistical aid to the National Jamboree, a gathering of up to 20,000 Scouts at a remote site in West Virginia about every four years. It also looks to prohibit Scouting troops from meeting at military installations in the US and abroad.
In a statement, the Pentagon said it “will not comment on leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and that may be pre-decisional”.
Congress requires the Pentagon to support the Jamboree. It lends trucks, ambulances and medical teams free of charge. But Hegseth can withhold that aid if he determines providing it would be “detrimental to national security”.
In the memo he claims Scouting America is fostering “gender confusion” and that it would harm national security to send troops and equipment to the Jamboree as it would divert resources from protecting US territory.
Scouting America said in a statement that the organization was proud of its long affiliation with the military and, while it is “disappointed in the potential policy change”, it was committed to continuing its work.
“Our nation’s military has walked side-by-side with Scouts for generations,” the group said. Scouting “is and has always been a nonpartisan organization” and works “constructively with every US presidential administration – Republican and Democrat”.
Its “American values have not changed”, he said – to “prepare young people for life by instilling in them the values of character, leadership, citizenship, and service”.
The partnership has long helped the military’s recruitment efforts. As many as 20% of cadets and midshipmen at the service academies are Eagle Scouts, and those who decide to enlist enjoy advanced military rank and better pay. That would end under Hegseth’s proposed policy changes.
As president, Donald Trump is the honorary leader of Scouting America. At the time of the 2017 Jamboree, he praised the group as having “no better citizens” and pointed out that 10 of his cabinet members were former Scouts.
Hegseth, who is not a former Boy Scout, in 2018 complained when the group changed its name and admitted girls, saying on Fox News that the organization had been “cratering itself for quite some time”. “This is an institution the left didn’t control. They didn’t want to improve it. They wanted to destroy it or dilute it into something that stood for nothing,” he said.
Since taking office, Hegseth has moved to slash DEI programs at the Pentagon, disproportionately removing senior female and African American officers, and frequently suggesting, without evidence, that diversity in all its forms has weakened the organization.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
