Automatic military draft registration takes effect in December. Here’s how it would work CNN
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.
Automatic registration is already in place in 46 states and territories, according to the Selective Service System’s 2024 report. The SSS proposed a rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs late last month to implement the practice nationwide.
The nationwide measure has no connection to the ongoing war with Iran and was passed with bipartisan support months before the current conflict with the country. But the Trump administration has declined to rule out the possibility of putting US troops on the ground, and the war has led to renewed attention on the draft policy.
CNN has reached out to the Selective Service for more information about the proposed rule.
Here’s what you need to know about automatic Selective Service registration.
Who will be registered and how will it work?
According to the National Defense Authorization Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in December, the automatic registration will apply to male US citizens and “every other male person” in the country between the ages of 18 and 26.
The mandatory registration applies to green-card holders, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented men. Those on a nonimmigrant visas are exempt.
Currently, in states that haven’t enacted automatic registration, men must register “within 30 days of (their) 18th birthday,” according to the SSS website. The agency “accepts late registrations up until” a man’s 26th birthday.
It is a felony to not register for selective service and can result in the loss of certain benefits, like some student loans and federal jobs. It’s also a violation of the Military Selective Service Act, which could lead to imprisonment up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000.
Some places, like Arizona and Delaware, and Washington, DC, automatically register eligible men when they apply for driver’s license or another form of state identification. Meanwhile, in New York, the application for driver’s license includes a section that allows eligible men to register for selective service.
According to the SSS’ 2023 report, over 60% of registration came from state motor vehicle departments.
More:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/09/politics/us-military-draft-registration-2026
