Legislation on military draft

Thank you for writing to "Radical Reference" I am including a press release and two links to congress.gov which lead the pages of the actual bills
introduced. Another librarian is working on your question, so you may get more resources.

A Press Release

S.89: The Senate Bill introduced by Fritz Hollings

HR 163 is the Bill that congress put fourth by Rep. Charles Rangel and John Conyers. This bill essentially says that if there is a draft, it must include everyone regardless of race, gender and status.

On the preparations of the Selective Service System for a draft

Initial preparations for a draft have begun, whether or not Selective Service Director Jack Martin anticipates the prospect that Congress will, at some point after the election, call for a draft. I can, if the requesting party wants, also identify news articles on an effort to fully staff local drafting boards. Selective Service identifies, as a strategic objective for its 2001 - 2006 plan, ensuring "a mobilization infrastructure of 56 State Headquarters, 442 Area Offices and 1,980 Local Boards are operational within 75 days of an authorized return to conscription."
(See the latest "Annual Performance Plan, FY 2004," http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html)

If, given the current manpower shortages, the Selective System was not planning accordingly, it would not be able to make a case before Congress that its repeated requests for increased budget funding warrant approval.

According to the Boston Globe, "US DRAFT PREPAREDNESS AMISS, KEY OFFICIAL SAYS," 7/26/04 A2:

"[T]he Selective Service recently briefed the Pentagon on several proposals that would help enlist troops more quickly and identify the types of troops that would be needed for each crisis.

"Selective Service asked for permission to plan for a possible draft to replenish the reserves rather than the active-duty force, their traditional authority. The agency also proposed identifying linguists, computer analysts, and others with special skills who might be most needed.

"'We said, here's the kinds of things we could do if the world would change and you wanted something different like a draft for the reserve components. It was essentially a think piece that laid out all the alternatives,' said Richard S. Flahavan, one of [Selective Service System Director Jack] Martin's aides. 'They didn't want any of these what-if proposals.'"

It's curious that the Pentagon would receive a briefing, but not, according to the SSS spokesman, welcome the proposals. The appearance of damage-control is plausible.

For more information on SSS planning, the article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Agency initiates steps for selective draft," 3/13/2004, available at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/164693_draft13.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=147

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