Trump's Trials - U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning for the military to sever all ties with Scouting America, saying the group once known as the Boy Scouts is no longer a meritocracy and has become an organization designed to "attack boy-friendly spaces," according to documents reviewed by NPR.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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a weekly show focused on the Trump administration's economic policies and plans. Examine how Trump's policies are shaping the global economy and what is going to happen next, available wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Steve Inskeep. We have some news for you. NPR has learned that Secretary of Defense, Pete Hankseth, plans to stop cooperating with scouting America. the group formerly called the Boy Scouts.

That would break a century-old tradition. Hexeth does not like that the organization has led in girls, among other things. Graham Smith with the NPR Investigations team has been reviewing internal Pentagon documents and joins us now. Graham, good morning. Good morning. What are the documents? Well, there are a number of documents shared by a source with DOD, including a draft report to Congress from Heg-Seth, explaining why the Pentagon won't be supporting next year's scout jamboree, which is a gathering of about 15 to 20,000 youth and leaders in West Virginia about every four years.

The military provides logistical and medical support, and we also have memos and draft orders relating to other ways the military is going to cut ties. They're not going to let scout troops meet on military bases anymore, and they'll stop offering incentives that channel a lot of top scouts into military service. Why do they care? Well, let's start with the jamboree. There's a law approved by Congress that requires Pentagon to support it at no-cost to. scouts, but there's an escape hatch. The secretary can waive support if he determines the effort would be detrimental to national security. He has to provide Congress with a report on why, and that's the first key document we have. A draft of that report, and again, hasn't been delivered to Congress

yet, but the draft has, he said saying that there's a limited budget, lots of international challenges, and it would harm the U.S. to divert resources to this youth event. But he offers all these other reasons why supporting scouting hurts America. He says, scouting America promotes DEI, that it rebranded itself to be genderless and attack boy friendly spaces, and that it strayed from a mission to cultivate masculine values. Okay, so he doesn't like the adapted mission, and those are the reasons to kick the scouts off of military bases? Yeah, those are the reasons given in this draft memo. It has not yet been sent out, but it was written for the heads of the different military branches, ordering them to cease all support for scouting America, saying that

the organization is no longer a meritocracy, and that's the reason why their activities will no longer be allowed on bases. Military families we've talked to say that if this happens, it's going to be a huge deal for them. They may get restationed several times during a career, and it's especially hard on their kids. They say scouting is a constant, kind of a home. And sometimes it's really the only kid-centric activity outside of school when a family hands up at a base in Germany or Japan are really any unfamiliar place. I would also imagine the military involved itself with the scouts because they could recruit kids, future soldiers and so forth. How's that coming to play?

They do a lot of recruiting among scouts. Scouts who are super motivated and stick with the program eventually can become Eagle Scouts. It's a lot of work. But the military loves this kind of task-oriented, civic-minded kid. From 10 to 20 percent of the students at the Service Academy are Eagle Scouts. And Eagles who enlist get advanced rank and pay. This would end under the new policy. And we've seen already one memo that shows some friction over this. The Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, said the policy may be too restrictive. And he points out that as many as a third of officers in training had some involvement with scouting.

Let's emphasize these are draft documents that you're seeing on a not quite final policy. What's the Pentagon or anybody else saying about the possibility of this? Yeah, that was what they, the one-liner that they gave us in terms of comment was that they would not comment on, quote, leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and that may be pre-decisional. Okay. Scouting America, we also reached out to them. They said they're very proud of their relationship with the military, and they'll continue to support military families no matter what happens.

Graham Smith is with NPR's Investigations Unit. Thanks for the Revelations. Really appreciate it. Good to talk with you, Steve. We'll keep covering this story. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR politics podcast, where you can hear NPR politics podcast, where you can hear NPR And NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon.

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We are now in an age of corruption. New York Times columnist David French urges us to create unity through resistance. In an age of cruelty, kindness is rebellious. In an age of corruption, virtue is rebellious. I'm Scott Carter, listen to David French on Yee Gods wherever you get your podcasts.