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\nThe sticker ‘U.S. Army’ seen on a soldier uniform from the 1st Infantry Division, during a military training at Nowa Deba training ground, in Nowa Deba, Poland, on April 12 2023.\n<\/p>\n
Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Selective Service System<\/a> plans to automatically register eligible American men between ages 18 and 26 for a U.S. military draft<\/a> by December, almost a half-century after compulsory registration for the draft by that group became law, a government filing shows.<\/p>\n The SSS’s proposal would implement a requirement passed by Congress<\/a> in December in the National Defense Authorization Act<\/a> to include automatic registration for “every male citizen of the United States” between those ages.<\/p>\n There has not been a military draft since 1973, when U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam<\/a> was winding down. <\/p>\n But in 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed a law<\/a> requiring men between the ages of 18 to 25 to register for military conscription. Since then, the federal government has relied on voluntary compliance with that law, not automatic enrollment. Men who are 26 are allowed to enroll late to comply with the law.<\/p>\n The SSS has said that in 2024, 81% of all eligible men registered, a three-percentage point drop from the previous year.<\/p>\n The proposal by the SSS to automatically enroll men in the draft was submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs<\/a> on March 30. <\/p>\n The proposal was made about a month after the U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran. A two-week ceasefire in that conflict<\/a> took effect on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n There are currently no plans to reinstate a draft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n