Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that Scouting America will change several policies to maintain Pentagon support, including requiring members use "biological sex at birth and not gender identity."

Some of the policy changes mirror what Scouting America suggested to the Pentagon last month, including discontinuing its DEI-focused Citizenship in Society merit badge, introducing a Military Service merit badge, and waiving registration fees for the children of military personnel, The Associated Press reported.

Hegseth said in a video posted on X that the Defense Department will “vigorously review” the changes that Scouting America has made in six months and will cease its support if it fails to comply.

“We hope that doesn’t happen, but it could,” Hegseth said. “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.”

In 2013, Scouting America began allowing gay youth, then ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015. In 2017, Scouting America announced that it would accept transgender students. In 2018, the organization began accepting girls as Cub Scouts, then, in 2019, let them into the Boy Scout program – renamed Scouts BSA. By May 2024, more than 6,000 girls had earned the Eagle Scout rank.

The U.S. military and the Boy Scouts have had a longstanding relationship, including the military providing logistical support for the National Boy Scout Jamboree since it began in 1937.

The military also sponsors Scout troops and activities on its bases and has maintained a strong relationship with the Eagle Scouts, whose members often enlist in the armed services.