US brings back mandatory military draft registration

The US is bringing in automatic draft registration for military-aged men. The move is cross-party and predates the paused illegal war on Iran. Yet it shows that the US political elite remains committed to warfare on a massive scale in the future.

CNN reported:

Young, eligible men will be automatically registered for the military draft pool starting in December as part of a measure tucked into the annual defense policy bill Congress signed into law late last year.

Men ages 18 to 26 must already register for selective service in case a draft is required. The last time a draft was in effect was February 1973, during the Vietnam War.

US politicians passed the Selective Service System (SSS) bill in 2024. And a recent amendment means automatic registration will begin in December.

The SSS describes itself as:

SSS is an independent Federal agency established to ensure the availability of personnel to support the United States in times of national emergency. The Agency’s mission is to provide manpower to DoD when conscription is authorized by Congress and the President and to operate a system of alternative service for conscientious objectors.

By maintaining a robust registration system and ensuring preparedness, SSS plays a critical role in supporting America’s national security needs.

US — Failure to register

Registering does not mean joining the military. But federal law requires:

all male citizens of the United States, and male immigrants residing in the country, ages 18-25, to register with SSS.

Failure to register can result on punishment by the American government:

such as ineligibility for employment in the Executive branch of the Federal government; Federally-funded job training; and state-based student aid and employment in many jurisdictions. Additionally, naturalization to become a U.S. citizen may be delayed up to five years if a person fails to register.

There are some differences between US states, but the obligation includes, for example, green card holders and dual citizens.

The US used the ‘draft’  — mandatory conscription to the military — in the World Wars and Vietnam. Both main US parties backed the SSS legislation, passing it with “bipartisan support”. The US military is currently an all-volunteer force, albeit one which relies on a so-called poverty draft. And the current US commander-in-chief has developed a taste for foreign wars, despite claiming otherwise.

Trump’s wars

US president Donald Trump, who came to power as an ‘anti-war’ candidate has entangled the US in an illegal war of choice war with Iran. His official foreign-military policy stance described in the 2025 National Security Strategy seemed to mark a degree of withdrawal from world affairs. Direct involvement in a war like Iran did not seem to be on the agenda.

To quote the NSS directly:

We want to prevent an adversarial power from dominating the Middle East, its oil and gas supplies, and the chokepoints through which they pass while avoiding the “forever wars” that bogged us down in that region at great cost.

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked — creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until “the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender”. Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket. He now faces worldwide humiliation.

This bill shows that a commitment to war is built into American politics across all major parties. Whoever is in power — imperialist liberals like Barack Obama or hard-right demagogues like Donald Trump — the US is still at its very core a violent imperial power.

Featured image via IMDB