What the New Automatic Military Draft Means for Men Aged 18 to 25

For years, the U.S. government had made it necessary for individuals to register their names for the military draft manually. The process will now be changed as the Selective Service System (SSS) now wants to automate the names, abandoning the traditional system that mandated individuals to register their names by themselves.

The revised system will be implemented later this year and it might play a crucial role in recruiting young soldiers. The change was approved by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026.

According to the official SSS website, the automated registration process will apply to male U.S. citizens, immigrants and dual nationals between the ages of 18 and 25. Eligible individuals will have 30 days to complete the automated registration process.

Failure to register within that period constitutes a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Men already serving full time in the military are exempt from the registration requirement. The SSS website also states that individuals who were hospitalized before or during their 18th birthday through age 25 are exempt.

Individuals who are on non-immigrant visas are barred from registering for the military draft, according to the website. They will remain exempt as long as they hold a valid visa until they turn 26. Women may enlist voluntarily but are not required to register for the draft.

The agency clarified on its website that it will accept registrations until a man turns 26. Furthermore, the SSS revealed that it has decided to implement automatic registration processes by December 2026.

The SSS had pushed Congress for several years to revamp its handling of the military draft list, according to a report by The New York Times. Its 2024 annual report showed that registration rates had declined significantly.

Military experts and historians said that this decline may have stemmed from policy decisions made during both the Joe Biden and Trump administrations. Lindsay P. Cohn, a national security affairs professor at the U.S. Naval War College, said the "Selective Service System was very outdated."

Cohn added, "The Selective Service System is about management of manpower, more than simply just generating manpower." The 2024 report noted that 81 percent of men aged 18 to 25 were registered with the SSS — a figure the agency said indicated that the longstanding model should be replaced with an automated process.

Congress has approved change of rules in the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2026 fiscal year.

The report further mentions that during a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump "does not remove that option off of the table," in reference to a potential military draft activation amid ongoing tensions with Iran.