Automatic military draft registration starts this year for men 18-26

Daily News Article   —   Posted on April 10, 2026

(LiveFoxNow & RollCall) – The U.S. military will begin automatically registering eligible men for the Selective Service draft system later this year under the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by Congress in December. Previously, the responsibility was on the men to register themselves.

The U.S. has not drafted anyone into compulsory military service since 1973, but young men still have to register with the Selective Service System in case there is a draft again in the future.

The Selective Service System (SSS), or military draft, was established in 1917 by President Woodrow Wilson after the U.S. entered World War I. Under federal law, most males between 18 and 25 years old are required to register with the Selective Service System. Currently, they have to self-register within 30 days of their 18th birthday, but they’re allowed to register late without penalty until they turn 26.

Failure to register is considered a crime that could disqualify you from student loans, most federal jobs and U.S. citizenship for immigrants, Stars and Stripes reports.

Women are still exempt from registering. And some men are exempt from registering if, for example, they have a medical condition that confines them to home or are in the country on a nonimmigrant visa.

The new rule passed by Congress in the NDAA last year will automatically register eligible men in the system, which “transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources,” according to the Selective Service System’s website.

Draft registration has declined in recent years, according to The Military Times, in part because federal student loan forms removed the option to register in 2022.

According to the Selective Service System, automatic registration will be in place by December 2026.

The U.S. has drafted soldiers to fight in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The country ended conscription and moved to an all-volunteer military in 1975, but President Jimmy Carter brought back registration for the draft in 1980, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Beyond the automatic draft registration, the updated law makes several other changes.

For example, the bill proposes to amend requirements for public high schools to give access to campus to military recruiters. Under the new language, schools that receive federal funding must give recruiters access “that is equivalent to access provided to such campus to a prospective employer of such students, an institution of higher education, or another recruiter.”

Schools must also allow recruiters to attend at least one career fair or similar event per academic year.

The bill also would increase the number of authorized Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or JROTC, units. Right now, the law calls for between 3,400 and 4,000 units in the high school program. Under the NDAA, that will increase to between 3,600 and 4,200 units.

While JROTC is not officially a recruiting program, military officials and lawmakers have increasingly seen it as an opportunity to build interest in military service and interact with young people who are inclined to serve.

Lawmakers tried to set up automatic draft registration in early versions of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as well. But the provision was scuttled from the version of the bill that became law after influencers, including rapper Cardi B, spread misinformation on social media that the legislation meant Congress would reinstate the draft.

Compiled from articles at LiveNowFox on April 8 (with info from the Selective Service System, Stars and Stripes and The Associated Press) and a Dec. 8, 2025 article published at RollCall.