THE BEST-LAID PLANS

Conrad, Thomas

The best-laid plans While the draft debate continues. Selective Service is ready to go Thomas Conrad Nuclear issues are not the only ones the Government has lately swept under its rug of secrecy....

...He has written for Seven Days, Christian Century, The Progressive, and other publications...
...The SSS documents released in June portray a tightly organized, calculated approach to channeling the nation's youth into the military services...
...Western Union, already in negotiations with Selective Service, says it is prepared to send out several thousand induction orders a day with only a small margin of error...
...The recent disclosure of detailed plans for reviving the draft shows the Government has been quietly developing a conscription program while leading the public to believe debate on the draft is still in its early stages...
...In Pennsylvania alone, according to the documents, SSS has designated 433 public and private schools to serve as compulsory registration centers...
...The information on the SSS plans will unleash a whole new level of public debate...
...Last November, FPC filed suit in the U.S...
...2. Registration Plan for (name of county or state), including but not limited to any and all appendices, annexes and lists...
...Educators who interfere with registration, as well as students who refuse to register, could be imprisoned for five years or fined up to $10,000...
...But the disclosure of the documents is significant for more than just the draft issue...
...Selective Service's motives for keeping these plans under wraps are clear: The threat of reinstatement of the draft is much more immediate when spelled out in specifics, and much more likely to arouse opposition...
...Sincerely, (signature) — T.C...
...Ask for a copy of the "Registration Plan" and the "Reconstitution Plan, " either for your state or for your county, and be sure to send your letter by certified mail...
...To kick off the conscription drive, SSS plans to distribute media kits to the nation's 5,000 radio outlets and 1,000 television stations as soon as the date of registration is set...
...Of course, my request covers the entire and most recent updated versions of these documents...
...The documents make it clear that violation of Selective Service provisions would constitute a criminal offense...
...This was frequently the case during the Vietnam war, but the SSS documents make it clear that Selective Service intends to rely systematically on the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion to provide registrars and personnel for local offices as well as draft board members...
...Under the new program, draftees will receive induction orders churned out by computers in huge batches and dispatched by telegram...
...It is a dangerous state of affairs when a "people's government" hides from its citizens the information they need if they are to raise their voices in the determination of their own future...
...As provided in the Freedom of Information Act, I will expect to receive a reply within ten working days...
...The Registration Plan would initiate the draft with a one-day mass registration drive, followed fifteen days later by an ongoing program of registration...
...To verify students' compliance with the draft, schools are likely to be required to turn over class lists to Selective Service...
...The names of local Legion and VFW posts turn up repeatedly in the Reconstitution Plans for Pennsylvania, California, and New Jersey...
...According to the records released to the Friends Peace Committee, Selective Service has already negotiated with the veterans' organizations and secured their enthusiastic cooperation...
...District Court in Philadelphia to force SSS to relinquish the material...
...The Government's blueprint for reviving local offices and draft boards details individual plans for every county of every state...
...SSS is counting on support from a wide range of civilian institutions, especially the media...
...Selective Service recently completed an ambitious computerization program which centralizes many of the functions that used to be performed on the local level...
...suggested freedom of information request Date Return Address Telephone Number Director Selective Service System Washington, D.C...
...FPC first requested the documents in July 1978 under the Freedom of Information Act, but Selective Service ignored the requests...
...Please send me one copy each of the following documents: 1. Reconstitution Plan for (name of county or state), including, but not limited to, any and all appendices, annexes and lists...
...It provides one more example of a violation by the Government of the people's right to know...
...In fact, veterans' organizations are listed as a "source for local board members" for every SSS office in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and all but one office in California...
...An out-of-court settlement reached in June 1979 forced the agency to release the documents and awarded legal costs to the plaintiff, confirming what FPC knew all along: The records were public information that was apparently withheld to stifle public protest against the draft until conscription could be implemented smoothly and swiftly...
...Contrary to the claims of such draft crusaders as Senators Sam Nunn and John Stennis, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Selective Service System has not deteriorated into emasculated disarray since it issued its last induction order in 1973...
...The documents assert, "We must communicate the urgency of obtaining maximum exposure especially during the critical period ten days prior to National Registration Day...
...If you have any questions about this request, please call me at the above number...
...The series of major planning documents released to the Quakers include a National Registration Plan, an Emergency Military Manpower Procurement System Manual, and a Mobilization Readiness Exercise...
...Compulsory Government registration in community schools and colleges may intensify opposition to the draft, since it raises a host of issues relating to academic freedom and Federal incursion into local schools...
...The schools offer Selective Service a conveniently captive apparatus for ensuring that no one escapes the conscription dragnet: SSS plans to conduct registration in the schools...
...The role of local draft boards will be confined to those cases that cannot be handled by computers...
...It also contains a master list of registration sites in three states...
...What you can do To stimulate local discussion and find out where Selective Service wants to locate draft boards in your area, where board members will come from, and what schools and other agencies will serve as registration sites, you can get copies of Selective Service plans for your area under the Freedom of Information Act...
...In some communities, SSS also plans to get members from other organizations, including churches and fraternal clubs, but members of the veterans' groups would clearly be in the majority...
...The material outlines in detail the Government's new game-plan for setting up draft boards and resuming classification and registration operations...
...Teachers could, in effect, be slyly enlisted as Government agents...
...Copies of this material were recently made available as a result of Friends Peace Committee v. Selective Service System so I can see no possible reason for their being exempt from release...
...Immediately after registration, information about the nation's draftees will be transcribed onto computer cards to be held in a national "Registrant Information Bank" engineered by the Systems Development Corporation...
...The plan calls for staffing the draft boards overwhelmingly with right-wing, pro-military members...
...Faculty and administrators could find themselves in the impossible position of having to enforce registration requirements and identify non-registrants...
...SSS knows exactly where every draft board will be located and expects to start recruiting members in 1980...
...Thomas Conrad works for Friends Peace Committee in Philadelphia...
...The Selective Service System (SSS) released its plans for reinstatement of the draft only after losing a year-long battle with the Friends Peace Committee (FPC), a Quaker group in Pennsylvania...
...The plans for a revived draft promise even less compassion and fairness than the induction system of the Vietnam years...
...The registration drive is to be accompanied by a publicity campaign based on the assumption that "an aggressive, well coordinated publicity effort is essential to the success of registration...
...The press is to be "cultivated" in hopes of winning free publicity for the draft...
...But the success of the registration drive apparently is to hinge on coercion of the educational system...
...I am prepared to pay reasonable search and copying fees...
...Since the resumption of the draft is currently a topic of national debate, access to this material would enhance public discussion and I therefore request that you waive any and all fees...
...20435 Dear Director: This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act as amended (5 U.S.C...
...552...
...When pressed for an explanation, SSS finally issued a formal denial, claiming the records were "interagency" memoranda and thereby exempt from disclosure...
...Chinese, Spanish, and "soul-type" ads are also being prepared as an appeal to minorities...
...As you know, the Freedom of Information Act allows you to waive these fees if release of these documents will benefit the public...
...Selective Service plans to recruit state departments of education and affiliates of the National Education Association to help dragoon the nation's high school and college students into draft registration...

Vol. 43 • December 1979 • No. 12


 
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