Automatic registration of men potentially eligible for the military draft will take effect by December, according to the government agency that maintains a database of who could be called up to serve in a crisis. (Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Automatic registration of men potentially eligible for the military draft will take effect by December, according to the government agency that maintains a database of who could be called up to serve in a crisis.
A proposed rule for the Selective Service System was submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30 as part of the process of implementing the change.
Most males between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register with the Selective Service in the event that Congress and the president authorize conscription in response to a national emergency.
The new rule, mandated by defense policy legislation passed by Congress last year, will register men automatically rather than require them to register themselves within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Late registration is allowed until a man reaches his 26th birthday.
Failure to register is considered a crime and can lead to disqualification from student loans, most federal jobs and U.S. citizenship for immigrants.
Lawmakers who championed automatic registration said it will cut government red tape and allow the agency, which spends millions of dollars reminding eligible men that registration is required by law, to save taxpayer money.
The Selective Service System said the change will result in a “streamlined registration process and corresponding workforce realignment,” allowing the agency to transfer responsibility from individual men by pulling data from existing databases.
Registration rates for the draft have declined in recent years but remain high, according to the agency’s most recent report to Congress. In 2024, 81% of eligible men registered — a slight decrease from the 84% of men who registered in 2023.
The strong compliance rate is driven by laws in 46 states and territories that automatically register men for the Selective Service when they obtain a driver’s license, learner’s permit or state identification card, according to the agency.
Women remain ineligible for the draft despite repeated legislative efforts to expand the registration requirement. In 2020, a commission appointed by Congress said including women, who became eligible for all combat jobs in 2016, would be a “necessary and fair step.”
Lawmakers have been able to attach provisions adding women to the draft to various versions of annual defense policy bills in recent years, but the measures have all been scrapped before being put to a final vote.
The U.S. last activated the draft in 1973, near the end of the Vietnam War, and has since relied on an all-volunteer force. Former President Jimmy Carter reinstated the Selective Service registration requirement for men in 1980.
