STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have some news for you. NPR has learned that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth plans to stop cooperating with Scouting America, the group formerly called the Boy Scouts. That would break a century-old tradition. Hegseth does not like that the organization has let 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.
GRAHAM SMITH, BYLINE: Good morning. How you doing (ph)?
INSKEEP: What are the documents?
SMITH: Well, there are a number of documents shared by a source with DOD, including a draft report to Congress from Hegseth 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.
INSKEEP: Why do they care?
SMITH: 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, it hasn't been delivered to Congress yet, but the draft has Hegseth 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.
INSKEEP: OK. So he doesn't like the adapted mission, and those are the reasons to kick the Scouts off of military bases?
SMITH: 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 ends up at a base in Germany or Japan, a really any unfamiliar place.
INSKEEP: I would also imagine the military involved itself with the Scouts because they could recruit kids, future soldiers and so forth. How's that come into play?
SMITH: 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% 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.
INSKEEP: 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?
SMITH: 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."
INSKEEP: OK.
SMITH: 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.
INSKEEP: Graham Smith is with NPR's investigations unit. Thanks for the revelations. Really appreciate it.
SMITH: Good to talk with you, Steve.
INSKEEP: We'll keep covering this story.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
