A break in a relationship?
What does the idea of channels into knowledge mean in the context of young people today and the draft? I think it points to a problem we have right now with our Quaker history against war, and with what young Friends may not be learning about it.
Legislation for automatic registration with the Selective Service System for males aged 18-25 was included in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and will go into effect December 18, 2026. (See details below).
Three kinds of not-knowing
There are three kinds of not-knowing:
- Missing
- Withheld
- Abandoned
I’ve been writing about this in the context of Quakers and our relationships with Native peoples. In particular, related to the Quaker involvement in the Indian boarding schools, and taking land. That relates to knowledge that was WITHHELD.
The question here, related to what young Friends may or may not know about the draft is, is this a gap in the information, or a break in a relationship?
The answer varies, as some Quaker meetings and the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) have been generating knowledge about the changes in the draft registration law. These things can help fill in knowledge that is MISSING.
My sense is that in the years since the draft was employed in the Vietnam War era, this information has been ABANDONED. The information was kept, but hasn’t been opened since.
Those of us who lived through the draft era of the 1960s have an obligation to offer this knowledge to young people facing a similar problem today. That might have to begin by making them aware of the new legislation at all, since one effect of automatic registration is that a young person can be registered without ever being told.
During the Vietnam War era, refusing to cooperate with the Selective Service System was one way a young person could object to that system. Taking that possibility away from young people today silences a way of refusing to be complicit in the machinery of war. It removes a way of taking a moral stand.
Build a Channel
I think there is a widespread problem in the relationships between older Friends and younger Friends. This is an opportunity — and I feel it as an obligation — to rebuild those relationships. In previous times of conflict there were channels between older and younger Friends. The communities were more tightly knit, and the youth were in contact with their elders. Many young Friends attended their Quaker meetings.
Do those channels exist today? Where they do not, we should build them, or re-open them.
What does WITHHELD mean here?
My contention, related to Quakers and Native peoples, is that information was WITHHELD. Nothing else explains the damning silence of the history of the Indian boarding schools. Or our continued occupation of Native land.
Do we also have a situation where the knowledge about Quakers and the draft was essentially WITHHELD from our youth? The answer will vary from Quaker meeting to meeting. Those who are engaged with their youth regarding the draft and conscientious objection are not withholding knowledge.
Understand, withheld in this case does not mean that we actively kept this knowledge away from youth. It is what happens when the relationship between adult Quakers and youth breaks down. Which has much wider implications. We see this in the dwindling membership of many Quaker meetings today, as the elders die, and few youth join.
This is an opportunity, and I believe an obligation, to strengthen or to create the relationships at each end of a channel into this knowledge — knowledge adult Quakers have, and young people need.
What now?
In what new ways can we older Quakers engage with young people now? Discussions and actions related to this legislation is one opening for that to happen.
Automatic registration with the Selective Service System
The mandate for automatic registration with the Selective Service System (referred to as the draft) was enacted as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed by Congress and signed into law in December 2025.
Section 535 of the FY 2026 NDAA formally amends the Military Selective Service Act. It removes the legal requirement for individual young men (ages 18–25) to manually register themselves and replaces it with a statutory requirement for the Selective Service System (SSS) to register them automatically using data pulled from other federal and state databases (such as Social Security records, the DMV, and the Census Bureau).
The automated system applies to draft-eligible males between ages 18 and 25 (including U.S. citizens and non-citizen residents such as green card holders and refugees). Registration was not expanded to include women.
The official start date for automatic enrollment as December 18, 2026
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