Scouting America, the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, is once again at the center of a national debate—this time over sweeping policy changes demanded by the Pentagon in exchange for continued military support. On February 27, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Scouting America had agreed to a series of reforms, including a controversial requirement that membership be based solely on “biological sex at birth and not gender identity.” This move, which comes amid broader efforts by the Pentagon to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, has sparked intense discussion about the future direction of one of the country’s oldest youth organizations.
According to the Associated Press, these changes were set in motion after months of tension between the Pentagon and Scouting America, with Hegseth criticizing the organization’s “embrace of DEI and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances.” In a video posted to X (formerly Twitter), Hegseth laid out the Pentagon’s position unequivocally: “Scouting America will require its members to use their ‘biological sex at birth and not gender identity.’ Applications will list only options for male and female and the one checked must match the applicant’s birth certificate.” He further clarified that “biological boys and girls will not be allowed to occupy or share intimate spaces together, toilets, showers, tents, anywhere like that.”
These changes go beyond the organization’s approach to gender. Scouting America will discontinue its Citizenship in Society merit badge—a badge introduced to promote civic engagement and understanding of diversity—and instead introduce a Military Service merit badge. Registration fees will also be waived for children of military personnel, a move intended to deepen the century-old partnership between the Scouts and the armed forces. As reported by The Hill, Scouting America’s leadership has agreed to “review and replace politicized, divisive and discriminatory language,” aligning with President Trump’s executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”
The Pentagon has made it clear that this is not a one-and-done arrangement. Hegseth announced a six-month review period, at the end of which the military will assess whether Scouting America has fully implemented the agreed-upon reforms. “If we’re unsatisfied with Scouting America’s progress toward and commitment to the agreed upon reforms, we will find them in violation of the president’s executive order and cease our support,” Hegseth stated. “We hope that doesn’t happen, but it could.”
In a statement, Scouting America did not directly address the new policy targeting transgender youths but emphasized its ongoing commitment to foundational values: “leadership, character, duty to God, duty to country and service.” The organization also pointed out that it had maintained its new name and “preserved our service to the more than 200,000 girls who participate in our programs.” Girls have been an integral part of Scouting since the 1960s through co-ed explorer and venturing programs, but it was only in 2018 that girls were formally admitted as Cub Scouts, and in 2019 into the flagship Scouts BSA program. As of May 2024, more than 6,000 girls had earned the prestigious Eagle Scout rank.
The roots of this conflict stretch back over a decade of dramatic change for the Scouts. The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910 and quickly became a fixture of American culture, with pinewood derbies, the Scout Oath, and Eagle Scouts woven into the national fabric. Yet, the organization has faced repeated controversies and legal battles over questions of inclusion. In 2013, it began allowing gay youths to join, and two years later ended its blanket ban on gay adult leaders—though it allowed church-sponsored units to maintain exclusions for religious reasons. In 2017, the Boy Scouts announced it would accept transgender children who identify as boys, a decision prompted in part by the case of an 8-year-old asked to leave his troop after leaders discovered he was transgender.
These reforms, coupled with a flood of sexual abuse claims and a $2.4 billion bankruptcy settlement in 2023 to compensate more than 80,000 men who said they were abused while in scouting, have left the organization in a state of flux. Last year, Scouting America’s President and CEO Roger Krone acknowledged that the rebranding from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America had provoked some backlash but ultimately generated wider interest. “The fact that we were going with a more kind of gender-neutral name, a lot of people kind of wanted to know more about it,” Krone said, according to the Associated Press. The organization reported a gain of about 16,000 new scouts in the prior year, bringing total membership to just over 1 million.
Despite these changes, the connection between Scouting America and the U.S. military remains strong. The military has sponsored Scout troops and provided logistical support for the National Boy Scout Jamboree since its inception in 1937. Eagle Scouts are disproportionately represented in ROTC programs, service academies, and military leadership tracks. “Scouting America is one of the most reliable pipelines to the United States Armed Forces our country has ever known,” the organization noted in a recent statement.
This long-standing relationship was threatened earlier this year when the Pentagon said it was reviewing its support, claiming that Scouting America had “lost its way” and calling its DEI efforts “unacceptable.” The Pentagon’s February 6 statement was blunt: “Scouting America’s leadership has made decisions that run counter to the values of this administration, including an embrace of DEI and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances.” The military’s support is not just symbolic—Scouting America relies on Pentagon backing for access to military bases, logistical support for national events, and even pay grade incentives for Eagle Scouts who enlist.
In response to the Pentagon’s concerns, Scouting America submitted a plan in January 2026 that included not only the badge and registration fee changes but also a ceremony to rededicate itself to leadership, duty to God, duty to country, and service, as well as the dissolution of its DEI board committee. These steps, the organization hopes, will be enough to satisfy Pentagon demands and preserve a partnership that has endured more than a century.
Yet, the debate over Scouting America’s future is far from settled. Hegseth, for his part, has made his preferences clear: “Ideally, I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded, a group that develops boys into men. Maybe someday.” For now, Scouting America walks a tightrope—balancing its commitment to inclusion and modern values with the demands of its most powerful institutional partner. The next six months will reveal whether the organization can find a path that satisfies both its critics and its supporters, or whether it will be forced to chart a new course altogether.