This story "Godwin's" itself from the lead photo onwards

I'm never fond of arguments which devolve down to "Hitler and the Nazi Party did this" to attempt to tar a group or activity with Nazi-like similarities. This, however, cries out for that treatment:

The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group's longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.

"This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl," said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff's deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. "It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts."

The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out "active shooters," like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.

The conversion of police departments into paramilitary organizations has been bad enough (see the extensive collection of items on Police Militarization by Radley Balko for lots of examples), but now we're seeing the Boy Scouts being given the same "overhaul"? 35,000 Scouts are involved in this program, according to the article, and this is explicitly intended to "create more agents".

All they need to do now is change the name of the program to "Homeland Security Youth" and they're done.