Automatic military draft registration starts in December. Here's what it means on Long Island.
Army soldiers at a reenlistment ceremony in June in Washington, D.C. Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Harnik
Before the year is out, military draft-eligible Long Islanders — along with the rest of American men ages 18-25 — will no longer need to register for the Selective Service System because the federal government will start doing it for them.
This does not mean that the all-volunteer U.S. military is returning to the draft, which the United States used to fight its wars from 1917 through 1973. But it is a departure from a system in place since 1980 that requires men within a month of turning 18 to register with the selective service in the event of a national emergency that would necessitate a military draft.
It comes at a time when the United States is at war with Iran and navigating heightened tensions with potential adversaries including China and Russia.
Here are answers to some questions about the new process.
What is selective service, and why is it making this change?
The Selective Service System is an independent federal agency, not part of the Pentagon. The agency’s media office did not respond to a request for comment, but said in its 2024 annual report that, in an attempt to bolster registration rates, it would submit legislation to Congress to include automated registration in the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual funding bill.
Automatic registration was mandated in late 2025 when President Donald Trump signed the 2026 NDAA into law.
That 2024 report said registration rates "have declined in recent years," and 81% of eligible men registered in 2024. "Automated registration reduces bureaucracy while also reversing negative trends in compliance, resulting in additional military and national service recruitment leads."
How will it work?
The Selective Service System said in its 2026-30 strategic plan that it will use "automated data feeds" from federal sources. Also in place by the end of 2026 will be "matching algorithms" and ways to handle exceptions to the registration, such as conscientious objectors.
The system said it will work with the federal Office of Management and Budget and "data partners." By fiscal 2026, the agency will sunset half of all "manual compliance activities"; by fiscal 2027, selective service will be entirely automatic.
How many Long Islanders will be affected?
Exact numbers are hard to find, but in 2020, according to the census, Nassau County had 9,167 men aged 18, with 73,831 aged 18 through 25; Suffolk County had 11,057 and 83,491, respectively. With few exceptions, according to the Selective Service System, the registration requirement applies to all male U.S. citizens and male immigrants residing in the United States aged 18 through 25.
What about Iran and other potential wars?
Planning for this change started well before the United States and Israel attacked Iran and before the public discussion of possible ground operations, which would be more personnel-intensive.
Adrian Lewis, a professor of military history at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, said Congress could authorize a draft, but that it would likely face widespread public opposition — especially in a war that has polarized the American public. (Most polls show Republicans support military action against Iran, while Democrats and independents oppose it.) "Draft conscription only works when you have the support of the people," Lewis said. "When you do not have the support of the people, you have what happened in Vietnam."
Moreover, said Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist and national security aide under President George W. Bush during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States doesn’t have the sort of recruiting challenges that might conceivably make a draft necessary. (According to the Pentagon, fiscal 2025 was the best recruiting year in 15 years.)
"Almost no military leader is calling for a return to the military draft," Feaver said. First, a genuine draft would yield far more recruits than the military could absorb, raising the specter of the selective exceptions that, during the Vietnam War, were seen as so unfair that public support for the draft collapsed.
Second, Feaver said, "It would not improve the quality of those who join the military. ... You wouldn’t be able to get them to stay long enough to become adept at their craft, to fight at the level of proficiency that we require and to learn the laws of armed conflict."
Why are people talking about this now?
On March 8, a Fox News interviewer, talking to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the war in Iran, raised the prospect of "mothers out there ... worried that we're going to have a draft" before asking Leavitt to comment on the "president's plans for troops on the ground."
Leavitt answered that Trump "wisely does not remove options off of the table," without clarifying which hypothetical development she was addressing. Google searches for "will there be a draft" and "selective service" spiked that day and again on April 8, about a week after the Selective Service System submitted a proposed rule covering the change to OMB.
Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.
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