When the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act last week, which authorized $895.2 billion in military spending, one of the measures included would automatically register men aged 18 to 26 for Selective Service. Not to be outdone, in the Senate, language from Democrats has been added to the NDAA, as it’s called, that would also require women to register for the draft.

The uproar from Republicans and conservatives was swift. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, described the requirement for women to sign up for the draft "insane."

"Leave our daughters alone," Hawley said.

For some expert perspective on these controversial provisions, WND spoke to Dr. Charles "Chase" Spears, recently retired from the Army after a 20-year public affairs career specializing in ethical military communication strategy.

"The Constitution does, in fact, give power to Congress to raise armies," Spears told WND, "and the National Defense Authorization Act is the way the country funds this large, standing military force that has been maintained since the end of the Second World War."

However, most Americans fail to recognize the fact that the military as an all-volunteer force since 1973 is "not a novel thing in American history," Spears pointed out. "Peacetime drafts are the anomaly in American history," he said, emphasizing that drafts typically occur when the nation is at war.

Following the last peacetime draft that ended in 1973, the Selective Service System required male U.S. citizens who reached the age of 18 to register themselves into a database for potential military conscription should it ever be required.

"Most of us don’t think anything of it," Spears admitted.

The current NDAA proposal offers two potential changes, he noted. First, the House has voted to allow automatic registration, without the consent of individuals, for Selective Service between the ages of 18 and 26.

Controversially, the Senate version of the proposed legislation would require women to present themselves as potentially eligible for a military draft.

"This is a stark departure from historical norms," Spears told WND, questioning what this might entail for young women. "Civilized societies throughout the history of humanity did not force women to the front lines of the battlefield, but would America's women now find themselves there by compulsion of elected officials?"

For Spears, "there are two different versions of the National Defense Authorization Act floating through the houses of Congress, both the Senate and the House, that are both trying to upend tradition and the moral order of warfare among free peoples." Both versions are equally concerning to him, he admitted.

"Automatically registering men for the draft increases the roots of militarism within our society," Spears told WND. "Much of modern society praises patriotism, but standing militaries were viewed as very suspicious to our ancestors because of their tendency to use force against the people at the behest of political rulers."

Spears argued, "A lot of the visuals that we see today in society are reminiscent of what's called militarism, a social doctrine in which societies embrace an idea that they exist not under the blanket of military protection, but to perpetuate military power."

What's more, he declared, "Drafting women for service to overseas adventurism that has little to do with American national defense is an immoral proposition. For lawmakers in the Senate to require women to put themselves down in the Selective Service is a further step in society to adopting a permanent militarism in our nation, in which American citizens are viewed by the military as a pool of coercible manpower rather than the client to whom the institution is accountable."

In Spears’ view, "This is antithetical to freedom and to our way of government – and we need to take a step back."

Spears pointed out that "some lawmakers are threatening to send American troops to the battlefields of Europe if we up the money for Ukraine." But for what purpose, he questioned.

"We as a nation are way past the point where we have forgotten the point of the military," he argued. "The very oath taken by all members of the military reinforces that the constitutional point of the Defense Department is to protect our homeland." He considers it "ridiculous" to automatically register men for Selective Service and for women to be forced to register themselves to "fight in overseas wars that really have nothing to do with us."

While recruiting and retention numbers plummet across the Armed Forces, Spears told WND, "they're trying to make it even easier to grab people – Americans – to get involved in future wars that are of no more benefit to our national security than the ones we've been in over the last 30 years."

"Give the American people an actual justification tied to our own national security," he said, "and then let's have that conversation about who needs to be forced to register with Selective Service. But until then," Spears concluded, "there should not be a single move made toward increasing Americans' obligations to the military complex."

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