Hegseth gives Scouting America 6-month ultimatum to drop DEI or lose Pentagon support

On Feb. 27, 2026, Defense Secretary PHPete Hegseth posted a six-minute video on X announcing a memorandum of understanding between the Pentagon and Scouting America. He said the organization had six months to implement agreed-upon reforms or lose all Pentagon support, including base access for scout troops, Jamboree assistance, and the longstanding policy of granting Eagle Scouts advanced military rank upon enlistment.

The required changes include eliminating DEI programs and replacing 'politicized' language across all publications, discontinuing the Citizenship in Society merit badge (which required Life Scouts to engage with diversity and inclusion content before advancing to Eagle Scout), introducing a Military Service merit badge, and waiving registration fees for children of active-duty, Guard, and Reserve military families.

Hegseth said Scouting America's membership applications must designate biological sex at birth and not gender identity, and that 'biological boys and girls will not be permitted to share intimate spaces, including toilets, showers and tents.' Scouting CEO RKRoger Krone immediately contradicted him, telling the Associated Press: 'We have transgender people in our program, and we'll have transgender people in our program going forward.' He said the application had always listed only male and female designations.

About 25,000 children of U.S. service members are currently enrolled in Scouting programs, according to the organization. The National Scout Jamboree, scheduled for summer 2026 in ⛰️West Virginia, draws as many as 20,000 participants and requires extensive Pentagon logistical support — support that would have been withdrawn if negotiations had failed.

Hegseth had publicly threatened to cut all Pentagon ties with Scouting for months, criticizing the organization's 2017 decision to accept transgender youth, its 2019 decision to admit girls, and its 2024 rebranding from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America. He called these changes 'an insidious, radical, woke ideology.' His position reflected the Trump administration's executive order banning DEI programs in federal contractors and partners.

Republican Rep. Don Bacon of 🌽Nebraska, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, publicly called Hegseth's earlier plan to sever ties 'one of the dumbest things I've heard.' After NPR reported on Hegseth's plans last fall, Scouting alumni and members began lobbying Republican lawmakers against the cut. That backlash — including from senior Trump supporters — was credited with pushing Hegseth toward the deal rather than a clean break.

Scouting America said it maintained its name and preserved its programs for the more than 200,000 girls who participate. The organization said it would comply with Trump's executive order banning DEI, but framed the agreement as a 'renewed, strengthened partnership' rather than a capitulation. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon had no business pressuring a private youth organization this way.

The Pentagon under Hegseth has renamed itself the 'Department of War' in internal communications and social media. Hegseth's account posted the announcement under the handle '@SecWar.' The Scouting deal is part of a broader pattern of the administration using federal contracts and partnerships as leverage to pressure private and nonprofit organizations into anti-DEI compliance.