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Military database violates students’ privacy

Published Jun 30, 2005 9:18 PM

The regular army and the reserves of the four military branches have been unable to fulfill recruitment goals for months. The military’s recruitment problem has worsened as the insurgency in Iraq grows and support for the war falls at home. The U.S. ruling class has already resorted to a number of measures intended to shore up recruiting targets.

The Bush administration’s attacks on education funding, job training and affirmative action have effectively limited options for young workers and people of color. As a result, many young people who would have otherwise entered the work force or enrolled in college have joined the military.

Still, the armed forces have failed to recruit the numbers necessary to continue occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and be ready to invade other countries. So, to address its recruiting problems, the Pentagon has used a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act to create a database of 16-to-25-year olds.

The database, created by a private contractor, includes the student’s contact information, Social Security number, height, weight and other information. The idea is to assist the military to more effectively target potential recruits and replenish its shrinking ranks.

Privacy advocates and civil-liberty groups point out that the database is a violation of the federal Privacy Act. This law requires that government agencies allow for a consultation period of public comment before creating any additional record systems.

The Pentagon itself admits that it violated the law by failing to inform Congress of the database when it was first created in 2003.

Yet David Chu, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, defended the database’s creation. Trying to use the threat of a draft to scare the database’s opponents into silence, Chu said: “If we don’t want conscription, you have to give the department of defense, the military services an avenue to contact young people to tell them what is being offered. It would be naïve to believe that in any enterprise, that you are going to do well just by waiting for people to call you.”

Chu unwittingly acknowledged that the days of the “all-volunteer” army are numbered. He has indicated that with recruiting down, there are two choices available: re-institute the draft or create a massive database that allows recruiters to target and intimidate young people into service.

Parents of 16-to-18-year-old high school students have expressed outrage that students are being targeted for military recruiting without their parents’ knowledge. They say it is hypocritical for the government to recruit students to kill other young people overseas without parental notification even as the Bush administration attacks young women’s right to privacy by trying to require parental consent for abortion.

Low recruiting levels have created a crisis for the U.S. ruling class. The Pentagon’s recent admission that the army reserve is turning into a “broken force” raises the possibility that this database is simply a prelude to resurrecting the draft.

Every attempt to bolster recruiting has been met with opposition by the masses, who are unwilling to barter the lives of their sons and daughters in exchange for U.S. imperialism’s goal of global occupation for exploitation and greed.

The writer is an organizer with the youth group, Fight Imperialism, Stand Together. Contact [email protected] for more information.