The Selective Service System (SSS), the federal agency that keeps the database of men who could be called up in a national emergency, submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30, according to the office’s website. That rule would help implement the automatic registration mandate Congress approved in the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The United States has not used a draft since 1973. Military service has remained voluntary for more than five decades. Still, the machinery of conscription has never disappeared.
