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Remember the good old days, when men were men and scouts were boys? US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth<\/strong><\/a> apparently does, and believes that, in fact, the sun set on those golden days in 2018, when the organization then known as Boy Scouts of America amended its rules to allow girls to join. Things got darker still on February 5, 2025, when the entity officially changed its name<\/a> to Scouting America.<\/p>\n Hegseth is reportedly prepared to order the government to cut all ties with the organization, ending a relationship that dates back more than a century.<\/p>\n NPR reported Tuesday<\/a> that the outlet had received drafts of memos Hegseth intends to send to Congress mandating a severing of ties with Scouting America. Hegseth, who never participated in Boy Scouts, wrote in the draft that the organization now serves to \u201cattack boy-friendly spaces,\u201d accusing the group of being \u201cgenderless\u201d and promoting \u201cgender confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys,\u201d Hegseth reportedly wrote in a memo.<\/p>\n According to the Scouting America website<\/a>, \u201cThe mission of Scouting America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth, however, reportedly believes that the group\u2019s mission is to \u201ccultivate masculine values,\u201d per one memo, and that they are failing at it.<\/p>\n When contacted by Vanity Fair<\/em> for comment, an official from the Department of Defense said, \u201cThe Department will not comment on leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and that may be pre-decisional.\u201d Representatives for Scouting America did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair<\/em>\u2019s request for further comment.<\/p>\n The about-face comes amid attempts by the Trump administration to quash many diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. In 2020, Scouting America added a new requirement for scouts working to achieve the group\u2019s highest rank, Eagle Scout: A \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d badge, later renamed the \u201cCitizenship in Society\u201d badge.<\/a><\/p>\n Though the scouts have never been formally integrated with the U.S. government or military, they\u2019ve had a somewhat symbiotic relationship, with the foundations of the scouting program drawing on military handbooks, and scouting providing opportunities for military recruiting. The armed forces also provide medical and logistical aid, as well as demonstrations, at the National Jamboree, a quadrennial scouting event that sees some 20,000 scouts flocking to West Virginia in the years it\u2019s held. Additionally, military bases often have affiliated scout troops, an association that would be banned under Hegseth\u2019s reported orders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n