On Wednesday, during markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to the NDAA that would automatically register all draft-aged male U.S. residents with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft, based on information from other Federal databases.
This system of automatic draft registration would replace the system in effect since 1980 in which young men can decide for themselves whether or not to sign up for the draft – and so many choose not to register that the Selective Service database would be useless for an actual draft.
The automatic draft registration proposal was instigated by the Selective Service System as part of its annual budget request to Congress, introduced in the HASC by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), “wholeheartedly” endorsed by HASC Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL), and approved by voice vote of the full committee without audible opposition.
Rep. Houlahan had been one of the leading proponents of proposals in previous years to expand draft registration to women as well as men. Her latest proposal for automatic registration of men only for a military draft indicates that she is more deeply committed to militarization than to any purported feminism.
The provisions for automatic draft registration are now included in the version of the NDAA that will go to the House floor. The NDAA is a “must-pass” bill, so these provisions are likely to remain in the version of the NDAA adopted later this year by the full House unless some House member introduces, and the full House agrees to vote on and approves, a floor amendment to remove them. It remains to be seen whether a similar provision will be included in the Senate version of the NDAA, although we fear that this may be likely.
The proposal for automatic draft registration makes it urgently important to find House and Senate sponsors to reintroduce the Selective Service Repeal Act, which had bipartisan sponsorship in both the House and Senate in 2021-2022 but never got a hearing in either the House or Senate Armed Services Committee, much less a floor vote in either chamber of Congress.
The proposal that was added to the House version of the NDAA would authorize the Selective Service System (SSS) to issue regulations requiring any Federal agency to hand over any information in Federal records “necessary to identify or register a person subject to registration” with the SSS, and to register them without their participation or consent. The SSS would also be authorized to issue regulations requiring individuals to provide information directly to the SSS, perhaps to cover instances in which individuals could be identified from other Federal records as subject to a military draft, but not with enough information – such as a current address – to register or draft them.
The proposal would also create a legal basis that could be used in the future for involuntary automatic registration of individuals subject to a special-skills military draft, such as for activation of the Health Care Personnel Delivery System.
“Automatic” registration for a military draft would be complex, difficult, and in some cases impossible. Whether a draft-age individual is required to register with the SSS depends on both their sex as assigned at birth and, if they aren’t a U.S. citizen, their immigration and visa status. Undocumented immigrants are supposed to register with the SSS, but foreign students and H-1 visa holders, many of whom are of draft age and who often live in the USA, legally, for years, are considered temporary “nonimmigrant” U.S. residents. As such, they aren’t required or allowed to register with the SSS, or subject to a draft, under current law.
As with state motor vehicle agencies trying to determine which applicants for driver’s licenses are required to register with the SSS and which aren’t, the SSS would need to obtain – either from other agencies or directly from prospective draftees – immigration, visa, and birth information. But birth records are generally state and local, not Federal records, and sex as assigned at birth is not necessarily included in any Federal record.
Any applicant for a U.S. passports can now self-select the gender marker (“M”, “F” or X”) they want on their passport, without regard for their sex as assigned at birth. Similarly, an individual can now self-select the gender marker (again, “M”, “F” or X”) to be recorded in their Social Security account.
Automatic draft registration is likely to lead to automatic mis-registration of individuals who aren’t eligible to be drafted, rendering the SSS database even less accurate or useful for an actual draft. Automatic registration of all draft-age U.S. residents, without regard for visa or immigration status or sex as assigned at birth, would add hundreds of thousands of draft-ineligible foreign students, H-1 visa holders, and trans and non-binary individuals who weren’t assigned male at birth (including, presumably, anyone who chooses a non-gendered “X” passport and Social Security account record, regardless of their sex as assigned at birth) to the registration list that would be used to generate induction orders of a draft were activated.
Automatic draft registration won’t make administering a draft easier, more effective, or more fair.
The reason warmongers want to switch from self-registration to involuntary and automatic registration isn’t to make a draft easier or even to make draft resistance harder. What they want is to make young people’s opposition to being drafted – currently manifested mostly through noncompliance with draft registration – less visible. That makes it all the more important for opponents of military conscription to educate, agitate, organize, and speak out now against planning and preparation for any type of draft.
Also yesterday, the California Senate voted 23-2, with one Republican and one Democrat voting “no” and 15 Senators not voting, to approve a bill to “automatically register draft-age male applicants for California driver’s licenses with the Selective Service System”. The bill, SB-1081, now goes to the California Assembly. (The alert in yesterday’s blog post to send messages to California Senators was deactivated after the Senate vote. I apologize for any confusion.) Californians should tell their representatives in the state Assembly to oppose SB-1081. But if the proposal for national automatic draft registration is adopted by Congress, it would render state laws like this intended to boost Selective Service registration largely moot.
Tell Congress to repeal the Military Selective Service Act and abolish the Selective Service System entirely.
Edward Hasbrouck maintains the Resisters.info website and publishes the “Resistance News” newsletter. He was imprisoned in 1983-1984 for organizing resistance to draft registration.
Yeah, that ought to make young Americans ready to die for the neocons…
We’ll see a much larger exodus of young Americans from the US than the couple hundred thousand the Russians lost when they reactivated former Russia military in fall, 2022. Because no one except utter morons want to die for the US (or the EU). Compare that to the 1,500 Russian VOLUNTEERS PER DAY that Russia is experiencing.
I’m happy I’m WAY past draft age.
Frankly I think “fighting for your country” – which in the US and most countries means fighting for greed and hegemony – as opposed to fighting an enemy invader who is a direct threat to oneself as the Russians are doing – is the second dumbest idea after being monogamous in sex.
I think this entire proposal is highly un-American. What is being proposed and indeed, potentially, foisted upon young people of our democratic country, so called, is a crock of sh-t.
Highly Un-A-What?
Unfortunately you have it completely upside down Donna,…sigh
Militarism is very very very very american, its one of the reason we’re so broke(not just morally).
Militarism is very very very very Homo Sapiens. And Cro-Magnon. And Neanderthal. In fact, every bi-pedal creature with opposable thumbs has used those attributes to propel himself at others with a club, to beat him to death and take his stuff.
They already have a ready-made army in the country, all the Illegals that have come across the border. Just like Rome when then used foreign mercenaries to fight their wars, the U.S. is heading in the same direction and will suffer the same fate.
This will mark the rebirth of rock and roll. There will be many new songs that tell the stories of cowards in Congress who borrow money to kill children and school teachers around the world on TV, 24/7. Lord in heaven,,, Near as I can tell… The sun never sets on borrow and spend American war mongers thirsting for the blood of innocent moms, dads, children and their pets.
Well, you lose the whole “hey you volunteered for this crap!” angle when you Institute a draft. And I expect women to be subject to being drafted too, equality dont’cha know!
As soon as they are given loaded weapons, young Americans should turn them on their leaders. That would change a few things? Want to be an officer? I wouldn’t.
Shades of Fragging during Vietnam
HELL NO! Do not go.
The draft should be abolished, it should go the way of the USSR, Warsaw Pact and the Berlin Wall.
So many politicians of the Duopoly Parties never served in the military and have no children that served there either.
George W Bush and Dan Quayle joined the National Guard to avoid combat in the Vietnam War and Quayle was George H W Bush’s VP and they started the Gulf War and invaded Panama and bombed Iraq after the Gulf War was officially over.
George W Bush started “The War On Terror” in Afghanistan and Iraq and it caused more terror and not less terror and it caused ISIS to form.
The draft was abolished, that’s the problem. The rulers realized that the draft was causing far too much opposition to their wars of empire, so they got rid of it. I know that for anti-war people it’s counterintuitive to support a draft, but that’s the only way to get people to oppose all these wars. The peace movement is practically nonexistent in this country compared to when there was a draft.
The Bushes, the Clintons, Cheney’s, etc., are all spawns of Lucifer.
Part of your family called america, we all share the blame not for what we do, but what we allow, what we say nothing about..All our hands are dirty with our tax $, with our flag standing we can do no wrong,bs…i could go on but your old enough to be able to stop take a breath,think and go, oh yea…
Time for WWIII
So it seems.
May 23, 2024 “Both parties WANT war with Russia and Iran” Fmr. Congressman Dennis Kucinich
How did both parties become the parties of war? Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio has some insight on that. He used to be a major face of the Democratic Party but he is now running as an independent. He joins us on Redacted today!
https://youtu.be/IIUGwxvMaiE?si=9WgsYkrcwRpwFFQR
There are no parties in the U.S. of Atrocities, there is only the UNIPARTY, beholden not to us, but to the donor class.
You are absolutely correct Vlp1730 as this article illustrates.
AUG 10, 2023 Send help to Hawaii, not Ukraine
$24 billion proposal to Ukraine is a slap in the face to thousands of American families dealing with the aftermath of devastating wildfires in Maui.
https://www.dossier.today/p/send-help-to-hawaii-not-ukraine
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7af70a68-6225-4d0a-b44c-df65244a44b5_1636x1674.png
Since when were both parties not pro-war? The small opposition to these wars used to come from a few Democrats, but the party as a whole supported these wars. Now there are a few Republicans who oppose these wars, but 1) they’re a small minority; and 2) some of them only oppose the war in Ukraine because there’s a Democrat in the White House, as shown by their advocacy of starting a war with China.
Thanks for your time and comment Jeff. I am however a pragmatic kind of guy who only views one uni-war party.
MAY 4, 2023 Mapping All U.S. Military Bases, in Hopes of Closing Them
A new online database, compiled by a Gaza conflict survivor, is a critical resource for intervening in the war machine. On the few occasions when a government moves toward converting property or weapons production facilities into something useful, I can’t help but think, “What if this signals a trend, what if practical problem-solving begins to replace reckless war preparation?”
https://progressive.org/latest/mapping-us-military-bases-kelly-040523/
I agree. I was responding to your question: “How did both parties become the parties of war?”
Actually, that is the question posed in the article I shared and not actually mine. Thanks however for your time!
Draft the Drones, leave the humans alone.
Money is power. That is on display in Louisville with the news about the #1 golfer in the world taking upon himself to drive around an accident scene that was being policed, dragging a police officer, who landed on the ground, then had to go to the hospital for treatment. That officer is being thrown under the bus because he did not have his body camera on. Money comes into play with the Mayor of Louisville stating the obvious, that he is aware and appreciative of the city hosting the PGA tournament (lots of money, lots and lots of money). Officer Gillis has been “disciplined” for not having the body camera turned on. Never mind the actions of the golfer, Scheffler, disobeying the directions of the officer, driving around the accident scene, over the median. Money is involved in the wars. Money, of the powerful controls the destinies of all of us. It is killing men and women in Ukraine. It is most definitely killing men and women in Gaza and the West Bank. The donor class controls all but a few of our congress, and most definitely the current administration in D.C. Perhaps I am wrong, but the Scheffler incident in Louisville exemplifies the state of the world and this country. The privileged get what they want. The rest of us have to live with it.
Good! Maybe now the young people and their families will rebel against all these wars of empire, as they should have been doing all along. Much harder to be apathetic when it’s your ass on the line.
Every day the clowns occupying the US government sink deeper into a shithole. What a joke.
“Goooooooood Mornniiinnnnnnnnn’ Vietnam! ” [Revison]
‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ‘ https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/08d897b208a33ed6d0976f44dd77a502270dc138b6949d5e1a81d5f438f04734.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b0a8517dc25c248db5d586eb5bd797e425e2fe7f5742d9d85a0bf89bc55857f4.jpg
Do it for him!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/02da188fd4348aad8d52b1061aaa98a7fb5e6b2e7e391a5c0341b3f693d1ddde.jpg
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. JFK
Albert Einstein — ‘The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service.’
Try as they might, they haven’t been able to goad Russia into attacking a NATO country. If they follow through with these plans, they will succeed and WW3 will have officially launched. https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/05/25/nato-chief-ukraine-should-be-allowed-to-use-western-supplied-missiles-against-russian-mainland/
Women fought for decades for equal rights, with equal rights come equal responsibility…. the draft should not be sex oriented. ALL people should be subject to any possible draft, or NONE should.
Sign up members of congress first!
SC has already ruled the SS Act is unconstitutional because of sexual bias.
So in order to actually effect anything, they will try round up everybody, not just the traditional cannon fodder (men).
Drafting women will help them ensure that the brutalization of humanity is completed.
So what happens when 6-foot, 275 pounds of Frank reports for Boot Camp and he’s listed as female? Better yet, what happens when boatloads of draftees are listed as Conscientious Objectors? What happens when units are- without even being deployed- rendered combat ineffective when half the unit refuses to train or do anything? There are an awful lot of people, I suspect, who would stand on principle and take an Article 15 rather than submit to The Man.
I am all for National Service, but offer alternatives to military service. Put people to work in civil jobs- building or repairing infrastructure, manning administrative offices, forestry, to name a few. Somewhere out there is a ditch waiting to be dug or garbage to be picked up.