04/14/2026
A diverse coalition is mobilizing opposition to a recently-passed federal law that seeks to step up preparations for and readiness to activate a military draft. The new law authorizes the federal Selective Service System to begin using automated involuntary registration to increase the number of individuals currently listed in the agency’s database of potential draftees.
Since 1980, almost all male U.S. citizens or residents who reach age 18 have been required by law to register themselves with the Selective Service System. However, the SSS has seen persistent shortfalls in compliance, and it has become increasingly obvious that its database is both incomplete and inaccurate. As a result, Congress approved a provision buried in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that will authorize the culling of information from other federal databases to automatically and involuntarily register men with the SSS. This law will give the SSS unprecedented authority to aggregate data from any other federal agency that might help identify or locate potential draftees.
The coalition includes peace and anti-war groups, draft resisters, religious organizations and civil libertarians. They are calling for Congress to end SSS registration with a repeal of the Military Selective Service Act – before the new law directing the SSS to try to find and automatically register potential draftees takes effect in December 2026. Bipartisan legislation for this purpose has been introduced several times in the past – most recently in 2022 (H.R. 2509) and 2024 (S. 4881).
“Trying to get young people to sign up and report every time they change their address has been a fiasco,” says Edward Hasbrouck who maintains the ‘Resisters.info’ website. “Trying to find and track them all ‘automatically’ will inevitably be another fiasco. It’s time for Congress to recognize that a military draft isn’t a realistic policy option.”
