The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains a database of registered U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription. Although the U.S. military is currently an All-Volunteer Force, registration is still required for contingency planning and preparation for two types of draft: a general draft based on registration lists of people assigned male at birth, aged 18–25, and a special-skills draft based on professional licensing lists of workers in specified health care occupations. In the event of either type of draft, the Selective Service System would send out induction notices, adjudicate claims for deferments or exemptions, and assign draftees classified as conscientious objectors to alternative service work. All male U.S. citizens and immigrant non-citizens who are between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of their 18th birthdays, and must notify the Selective Service within ten days of any changes to any of the information they provided on their registration cards, such as a change of address. The Selective Service System is a contingency mechanism for the possibility that conscription becomes necessary.
World War I draft card. Lower left corner to be removed by men of African ancestry in order to keep the military segregated
Selective service information available in a local post office in Boston, Massachusetts
Image: Dykstra National Defense Mediation Board
Image: L. B. Hershey 111 P 200365
Independent agencies of the United States government
In the United States government, independent agencies are agencies that exist outside the federal executive departments and the Executive Office of the President. In a narrower sense, the term refers only to those independent agencies that, while considered part of the executive branch, have regulatory or rulemaking authority and are insulated from presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.
The headquarters of the Federal Reserve System
A USPS truck in the snow