As of December 2026, young men will no longer be required to register with the Selective Service System (SSS) for a possible military draft, or report to the SSS each time they change their address. Instead, the SSS will try to register them all “automatically” on the basis of other federal databases.

The “self-registration” system in effect since 1980 has been a failure. Fewer than 40% of the men who turned 18 in 2023 registered with the SSS by the end of the year. Nobody tells the SSS when they move, or even knows they’re supposed to. The database of potential draftees’ names and addresses is so incomplete and inaccurate that it would be less than useless for a draft.

Draft registration resisters could potentially make reactivation of a draft unfeasible. We should thank them for their service in countering military adventurism.

Growing awareness of the failure of draft registration has led to proposals to abolish the SSS. Repeated bipartisan efforts have attempted to repeal the Military Selective Service Act. The most recent push came May 14. It has the support of a diverse coalition of anti-war, religious, feminist and civil liberties organizations. But rather than........

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