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The case for keeping military draft registration

Lawrence J. Korb explains why the United States should keep the selective service—and why it should have been activated during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A federal judge in Texas ruled last month that exempting women from the Selective Service violates the Constitution’s equal protection principles. However, the controversy over whether women should be required to register for Selective Service overlooks a more critical issue, namely, whether we even still need to continue draft registration, or Selective Service, 46 years after the end of conscription and the creation of the all-volunteer force (AVF), during which time we have never used it.

The above excerpt was originally published in Military Times. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Lawrence J. Korb

Former Senior Fellow