Latest updates (more news; subscribe to e-mail updates)

• Action Alert: California puts bill to require draft registration for driver's licenses "in suspense"
• Draft registration is no longer required for Federal student aid
• News about draft resistance in Israel
• Советы призывникам в России и Украине (advice for draftees in Russia and Ukraine)
• Reintroduce and support the Selective Service Repeal Act (PDF)
• Draft registration compliance, noncompliance, and enforcement
• What do feminists say about the draft and draft registration?
• My testimony to the National Commission on Military Service

Links to other sites

1. Draft registration and the possibility of a general draft
2. Background on “Selective Service”, draft registration, and draft resistance since 1980
   
3. Resistance within the military and by veterans and military families
4. U.S. war resisters in Canada and other countries
5. Resistance to military recruiting
6. Outsourcing and privatizing war to mercenaries and contractors
7. Petitions to Congress related to draft registration

• Draft registration and the possibility of a general draft

  • Expanding the Military Draft Is Not Feminism. Abolishing Draft Registration Is.
    (by draft-age women in the CODEPINK Peace Collective, Truthout, 23 August 2021)
  • Youth Liberation and Military Conscription
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, Peace Chronicle, Summer 2021)
  • Activists fought the US military draft for decades — they may soon have to again
    (by Robert Levering, Waging Nonviolence, 19 May 2020)
  • U.S. Congress to Extend Draft Registration for Women
    (War Resisters International, 8 June 2020)
  • Congress to Consider Requiring Women to Register for the Draft
    (“The Boys Who Said No!” blog, 31 March 2020)
  • Fifty Years Strong: The All-Volunteer Force of the United States Military and Resolving the Recruiting Crisis
    (“Why Conscription Will Not Work for Gen Z and the Twenty-First Century”, by Alan Chase Cunningham, Military Review, “the professional journal of the U.S. Army”, June 2023)
  • The Draft in Perspective
    (TEDx talk by Wadi Yakhour, staff director for the Selective Service System, 28 May 2020)
  • Talk of War
    (interviews with military veterans and with Rivera Sun of CODEPINK, Santa Fe New Mexican, 23 January 2020)
  • Could the U.S. Reinstate the Military Draft?
    (by Daniel Holland, Yes! Magazine, 13 February 2020. “This is my call to resist.”)
  • Should women be eligible for US military draft?
    (by James Jeffrey, BBC News, 26 April 2020)
  • Bringing Back the Draft: 5 Possibilities for the Future of Military Conscription
    (by Hope Hodge Seck, Military.com, 22 March 2020)
  • As Army Calls on Medics to Return to Service, Congress Considers New Skills Reserve
    (by Hope Hodge Seck, Military.com, 8 April 2020)
  • Selective Service Registration
    (Truth In Recruitment, 6 November 2018)
  • Should women be required to register for the draft? Commission likely to recommend big changes
    (by Gregory Korte, USA Today, 23 January 2019)
  • Commission Issues Verdict: Women, Like Men, Should Have To Sign Up For Draft
    (by David Welna, NPR, 25 March 2020)
  • Selective Service registration comes under fire again
    (by David Welna, NPR, 27 May 2019)
  • Women Should Have to Register for Military Draft, Too, Commission Tells Congress
    (by Sarah Mervosh and John Ismay, New York Times, 24 March 2020)
  • Military draft should include women, Congress-appointed commission report finds
    (by Laura Widener, American Military News, 25 March 2020)
  • Would a Draft Matter?
    (by Nan Levinson, TomDispatch.com, 10 March 2020; also reprinted by The Nation and elsewhere)
  • COVID-19: Another Reason Why The Draft is Obsolete
    (by James Jay Carafano, Heritage Foundation, 23 April 2020)
  • Report on the Purpose and Utility of a Registration System for Military Selective Service
    (report to Congress by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, 17 March 2017; made public as an appendix to government motion to dismiss complaint in Kyle v. Selective Service System, filed 28 August 2017)
  • The Selective Service System and Draft Registration: Issues for Congress
    (Congressional Research Service report R44452, Version 15 updated 18 August 2021)
  • Expanding the Selective Service: Legal Issues Surrounding Women and the Draft
    (Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar LSB10491, 8 June 2020)
  • For a million U.S. men, failing to register for the draft has serious, long-term consequences
    (by Gregory Korte, USA Today, 2 April 2019)
  • ‘Selective’ Service Refuseniks Are Still Punished, Just Not Prosecuted
    (by Matt Welch, Reason, 3 April 2019)
  • Draft Registration Has Hurt American Men for Decades. Now It May Hurt Women, Too.
    (by Max J. Rosenthal, Mother Jones, 17 June 2016. “The Senate has approved making women register, but plenty of people want to get rid of the Selective Service system altogether.”)
  • Rep. Hartzler: Time to End ‘Archaic’ Military Draft Registration
    (by Sandy Fitzgerald, Newsmax, 5 November 2021)
  • Building a F.A.S.T. Force: A Flexible Personnel System for a Modern Military
    (by the Bipartisan Policy Center, March 2017. Recommendations include: “Enhance and expand the Selective Service System to include all young American adults. Require Selective Service registrants to complete the military vocational aptitude test.”)
  • Nothing Will Come of Nothing
    (Guest blog post by Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, U.S. Army (retired), co-counder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum, which has lobbied the NCMNPS to recommend reinstatement of the draft and universal basic military training.)
  • Rising costs, dwindling recruit numbers, increasing demands may bring back the military draft
    (by Todd South, Military Times, 19 November 2019)
  • Why Bringing Back the Draft Could Stop America’s Forever Wars
    (Op-Ed by Elliot Ackerman, Time, 10 October 2019)
  • The Draft: The Disconnect between the U.S. Military, Its Wars, and the American Public
    (by Marti Hiken and Luke Hiken, Dissident Voice, 22 April 2011)
  • Talking about the draft
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, WIN Magazine, Summer 2010)
  • Refuse, Resolve, Resist
    (“WIN Letter”, WIN Magazine, Summer 2010)
  • Draft Resistance and Prison
    (by John Bach, in “Friends and the Vietnam War”, Pendle Hill, 1998. “The treatment afforded to women in the anti-war movement was too many times dismissive, unjust, and lecherous. I would have my sisters know that many of us regret and repent. We live and learn and hopefully get better. This is what distinguishes us from our government.”)
  • The case for keeping military draft registration
    (by Larry Korb, Military Times, 22 April 2019. “[i]n the 1980 campaign, Ronald Reagan pledged he would cancel [draft registration] because it was an unnecessary and wasteful program. In my first year serving as an assistant secretary of defense for President Reagan, I was given the task of developing the case for the president to renege on his campaign promise….”)
  • The United States Still Needs Draft Registration
    (by Mark F. Cancian, Task & Purpose, 25 February 2016; “Eliminating registration would send the wrong signal to Americans as well as our enemies…. Draft registration also sends a message to prospective adversaries. It shows that the United States has a great reservoir of personnel that it can draw from in an emergency.”)
  • The Hard Questions About the Selective Service Have Nothing to Do With Women in Combat
    (by Katherine Kidder, War on the Rocks, 12 February 2016; “Perhaps the question isn’t whether or not women should have to register for Selective Service — but whether Selective Service should exist at all…. Representative Hunter is concerned that the full inclusion of women in combat positions will affect combat effectiveness. Yet a much larger threat to an effective U.S. military is the influx of conscripts into the force.”)
  • Three Vietnam Veterans Respond to National Commission
    (by Briana Erickson, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 14 November 2020; more about the novel, Last Draftees)
  • Kerry expresses reservations about nation’s all-volunteer military
    (by Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, Austin American-Statesman, 27 April 2016)
  • In honor of Muhammad Ali, Sen. Rand Paul will introduce bill to end Selective Service
    (by Nick Storm, CN2 Louisville TV news, 6 June 2016; includes embedded video interview with Sen. Paul.)
  • Before blogs caught it, Obama site told of requiring students to serve
    (WorldNetDaily, 8 November 2008)
  • Obama’s chief of staff choice favors compulsory universal service
    (by J.D. Tuccille, The Examiner, 6 November 2008)
  • The Draft Debate Heats Up
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, The Nonviolent Activist, January 2005)
  • End Draft Registration!
    (by Sheldon Richman, 29 December 2006)
  • Americans Reject Reinstating the Military Draft
    (poll results attributed to CBS News, 18 March 2006)
  • Dodging The Word “Draft”: Support grows for beefing up U.S. forces; Some see situations where volunteers may not be enough
    (San Francisco Chronicle, 4 April 2005, page A-1)
  • Collateral Damage: Draft Resistance & the Anti-War Movement
    (by Chris Clarke, Coyote Crossing, 18 July 2006; incorporates an earlier article first published by CounterPunch, 25 January 2003)
  • Counter-recruitment and the draft
    (letter to the editor by Edward Hasbrouck, S.F. Weekly, 2 November 2005)
  • Shelter Under the Anti-war Umbrella
    (by David Solnit, AlterNet, 18 February 2005)
  • Poll: 29% of young voters would resist a draft
    (15 October 2004)

• Draft resistance history since 1980

  • Unrepentant Resister: Looking Back 20 Years to my Draft Resistance Trial
    (by Andy Mager, Syracuse Peace Council Newsletter, February 2005)
  • 1980-1981 Military Draft Actions in Chicago
    (by Karl Meyer)
  • Costs of a Flimsy Card
    (by Michael Wehle, The Progressive, April 1987)
  • Draft Resistance, 80’s Style
    (profile of 1980’s draft resister Ben Sasway by 1960’s draft resister and New York Times staff writer David Harris, The New York Times Magazine, 22 August 1982, comparing draft resistance in the 1960’s and in the 1980’s)
  • Nothing About the Draft Makes Sense
    (by William Greider, Rolling Stone, 30 September 1982. “Registration is not working…. [H]undreds of thousands are not signing up. Collectively, they confront the government with one of the grossest episodes of mass defiance of the law since Americans decided to drink their way through Prohibition. In this case as well, the only practical solution is repeal.” See also William Greider’s 1981 Rolling Stone profile of draft registration resisters Matt Meyer, Matt Nicodemus, and Edward Hasbrouck, not available online.)
  • Men and Women Who Dare to Say No
    (history of Mennonite resistance to draft registration, 1980-1985)
  • When Law and Conscience Conflict: The Draft Nonregistration Case of U.S. v. Mark Arden Schmucker
    (by one of Mark Schmucker’s attorneys; published as a chapter in the the court’s officially-commissioned history of its notable cases, pp. 266-288)
  • Rally at noon
    (editorial in the Daily Princetonian during the tenure of current Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan as chair of the editorial board, 12 February 1980)
  • Resist Registration
    (editorial in the Harvard Crimson, 8 January 1981. “It isn’t often [the government] decides to give large parts of the population an opportunity to show their displeasure with the country’s foreign policy. This week, though, the government has called on all 18-year-old men to register for the draft. It is an opportunity not to be missed. We urge those called upon to register to refuse, and to refuse loudly.”)
  • Why I Refuse to Register
    (Op-Ed by Paul Jacob, first published 17 May 1985, The Orange County Register)
  • Reawakening resistance to draft registration: some implications for the 1980’s
    (by Lieutenant Paul Joseph Jackson, U.S. Navy, December 1980. A bizarre and confused but nonetheless interesting master’s thesis by a student/researcher from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, who infiltrated meetings and collected literature from Northern California draft resistance and draft counseling organizations in 1980. “The objectives of this research are (1) To determine who the leaders of the local draft registration meetings are; (2) To determine the extent of their support at these meetings; (3) To gather data on the alternatives to draft registration offered at these meetings as well as in current anti-draft literature; (4) To gather data on the effectiveness of such meetings in convincing draft-age youth not to register or to register under protest; (5) To offer predictions, based on the history of draft resistance in America and on the observations made above, on the impact of such groups on future attempts to bring back the draft.”)
  • I Want You! The Evolution of the All-Volunteer Force
    (by Bernard Rostker, ISBN 0-8330-3896-6, RAND Corporation, 2006, free e-book or PDF download. Now on the staff of the RAND Corporation, Rostker was Director of the Selective Service System from 1979-192. Despite its obvious self-interest, this book is the most detailed and revealing “insider” memoir of the reinstatement of draft registration in 1980. Rostker left the Selective Service System in 1982, and his memoir makes no mention of the aborive attempt at prosecution of nonregistrants that followed.)
  • Selective Service System “Channeling” memorandum, 1965
    (Also available as a PDF as reprinted by the Resistance, c. 1968. One of the few pre-1980 documents on this Web site, but reproduced here because of its enduring influence and because the full document, while often mentioned, isn’t readily available elsewhere.)

• Resistance within the military and by veterans and military families

  • The GI Rights Hotline
    (877) 447-4487
  • CourageToResist.org
    (“No recruitment. No draft. Support GI resisters. An army of None!”)
  • Bradley Manning: Rich Man’s War, Poor (Gay) Man’s Fight
    (by Larry Goldsmith, June 7, 2011; included in the anthologies Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars and Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion.)
  • Info and Resources on Resistance Within the Military
    (Jeff Paterson, Gulf War refusenik)
  • Peace-Out
    (“You can get out of the military as a conscientious objector, even if you enlisted. Here’s how.”)
  • Iraq Veterans Against the War
    (“Bring the troops home now. Support Iraqi reconstruction. Support our veterans and our troops now and upon their return home.”)
  • Veterans For Peace
    (“Veterans working together for peace & justice through non-violence”)
  • Military Families Speak Out
    (“People opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones in the military”)
  • Gold Star Families for Peace
    (“Families of soldiers who have died as a result of war … organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the human cost of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses.”)
  • West Point Graduates Against The War
    (“Duty, Honor, Country.”)
  • Vets4Vets
    (“Outreach to Iraq-era vets by Iraq-era vets” including confidential support groups)
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
    (“We uniquely empower Iraq & Afghanistan combat veterans to use their credibility and experiences to speak truth to power [and] shape public opinion.”)
  • Sir! No Sir!
    (a documentary film on “the story of the G.I. movement to end the war in Vietnam”)
  • Winter Soldier
    (a re-released 1971 documentary film on the eyewitness testimony of Vietnam veterans about what they had seen and done in the war)
  • “Fuck the Troops”: 1 2 3
    (Why some people don’t “support the troops” who fight, but only support the troops who refuse to fight)

• U.S. war resisters in Canada and other countries

  • War Resisters Support Campaign / Campagne d’appui aux objecteurs de conscience [Canada]
    (Canadian national headquarters in Toronto; campaigning “to allow US war resisters… to have refuge in Canada”)
  • War Resisters Support Campaign - Vancouver
  • Let U.S. Iraq War Resisters Stay in Canada!
    (Campaign in support of Canadian Bill C-440, “An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (war resisters)”. If passed, Bill C-440 will allow US Iraq War resisters to apply for permanent resident status in Canada.)
  • Let Them Stay: Voices of US Iraq War Resisters in Canada
    (28-minute video, 2005; excerpts available online as streaming video with links to supplemental video and other resources, or available for purchase on DVD or videotape)
  • Briefing Paper on US Soldiers coming to Canada
    (Canadian Friends [Quakers] Service Carol GiacomoCommittee; includes information on Canadian immigration and refugee laws relevant to draft as well as military resisters)
  • Vietnam War Resisters in Canada
    (an extremely thorough bibliography of print and online resources compiled and maintained by Joseph Jones, Librarian Emeritus, University of British Columbia)
  • Our Way Home Research (OWHR) Institute For War Resistance and Policy Alternatives
    (Involved in organizing the Our Way Home” Reunion Event and Memorial in Castlegar, B.C., in 2006 and 2007, and subsequent events honoring “the contribution made to Canadian life by the US war resisters who came to Canada during the Vietnam War…. the courage of those resisting current US militarism by seeking safe haven in Canada now, during the US war in Iraq [and] the thousands of Canadians who helped them resettle in this country, both then and now.”)
  • Iraq war vet Andre Shepherd seeks asylum in Germany
    (By Military Counseling Network, Connection e.V., and Courage to Resist. 3 December 2008; includes link to audio interview)

• Resistance to military recruiting

  • National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)
    (network of local and national counter-recruitment organizations)
  • Taskforce to End Compulsory Military Training in Schools (TECMITS)
    (Organizing against Junior ROTC and other military training in schools)
  • From Student Debtor to Soldier: How the student loan debt crisis forces low-income students of color into the military
    (by Anna Attie, In These Times, 14 December 2020)
  • Counter-Recruitment in the Time of Covid
    (by Kate Connell and Fred Nadis of Truth in Recruitment, Antiwar.com, 29 September 2020)
  • Truth In Recruitment
    (Santa Barbara County, CA)
  • Counter-recruitment and the draft
    (letter to the editor by Edward Hasbrouck, S.F. Weekly, 2 November 2005)
  • What Everyone Should Know Before Joining the Military
    (FAQs about military recruiting and enlistment)
  • Does Selective Service data matching violate Federal laws?
    (comments of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others, 21 December 2004)
  • Not Your Soldier” Project
    (youth counter-recruitment and direct action organizing and training)
  • Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (Project YANO)
    (San Diego, CA; local group with some national resources)
  • Oh Baby, It’s Drafty Out There
    (by Frida Berrigan, AlternNet, 5 July 2005)
  • Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars
    (see also their anthology Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars, also included as a section in their larger collection, Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion.)

• Outsourcing and privatizing war to mercenaries and contractors

  • The Mercenary Challenge to Anti-militarism: Privatizing (In)Security
    (by Celine Joiris, The Nonviolent Activist, January-February 2006)
  • The Other Army
    (by Daniel Bergner, New York Times Magazine, 14 August 2005)
  • Mercenaries ‘R’ Us
    (by Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet, 24 March 2004)
  • Occupiers spend millions on private army of security men
    (by Robert Fisk and Severin Carrell, The Independent (UK), 28 March 2004)

• Petitions to Congress about draft registration and Selective Service:

  • Email Your Representative and Senators to End Draft Registration, Not Require Women to Register
  • Repeal the U.S. Military Selective Service Act
  • End Draft Registration Once and for ALL!
  • Don’t Force Women to Register for the Draft, Dump the Draft Entirely
  • Petition to U.S. Presidential Candidates: Don’t draft our daughters. (Petition started by the Family Research Council against extending draft registration or the draft to women, but expressing no opinion on whether men should have to register or be drafted.)

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This page published or republished here 5 June 2016; most recently modified 21 January 2024. This site is maintained by Edward Hasbrouck. Corrections, contributions (articles, graphics, photos, videos, links, etc.), and feedback are welcomed.