One of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s top advisers has recommended that the Defense Department cut ties with Scouting America, known for decades as the Boy Scouts, saying it is too “woke” to support, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.
Tami Radabaugh, the deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for strategic engagement and a direct adviser to Hegseth, has been lobbying other senior officials to suspend the Pentagon’s decades-old relationship with the group, including arguing that when Hegseth was a host on Fox News, he decried Scouting America as an organization that had “lost what they stand for,” the people familiar said. It is not clear where Hegseth and the people around him stand on the issue.
Though the Pentagon has not yet decided whether to cut off that relationship and whether it would be a total severing of ties or something more limited, such as Hegseth’s not being involved, Radabaugh recommended that Hegseth not participate in a video for the group because of the concern, and he has not so far, according to the people familiar with the discussions.
In a statement, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said, “Secretary Hegseth and his Public Affairs team thoroughly review partnerships and engagements to ensure they align with the President’s agenda and advance our mission.”
In May, when Boy Scouts of America announced it would officially change its name to Scouting America, Hegseth denounced the organization on Fox News, blaming “the left” for supposedly wanting to destroy it.
“This is an institution the left didn’t control. They didn’t want to improve it. They wanted to destroy it or dilute it into something that stood for nothing. So, five years ago, the Boy Scouts let in girls, which was basically the end of Boy Scouts,” he said at the time.