Pentagon collecting names of students

Privacy appears to be dwindling. A few weeks ago congress passed a national ID law on the third attempt, by attaching it to an appropriations bill. It will have all of a person's medical, legal, insurance, library, driving, family history and more. It is a disturbing turn of events, but like many of congress' actions the Real ID system was passed as another unfunded mandate.

But another invasion of privacy comes in the form of a little known provision of the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB)that says that for schools to qualify under federal requirements in that set of unfunded mandates that all schools must provide all student data to the Department of Defense on all high school age children. Other published reports indicate that the Pentagon has been collecting all information on students as young as the age of 12.

This pretty much flies in the face of the US Privacy Act, but hey, who is following rules these days?

The fact is that the Pentagon developed a database of student information and started collecting data in 2003. This came to the fore under the Privacy Act when it hit the Federal Register in May 2005. What becomes even more disturbing is that other agencies will have access to that database including taxing agencies and law enforcement and investigative entities, according to Pentagon officials.

The data collection is not just of high school males, but females as well. And don't forget that the legislation that was in place just prior to the 2004 election, but rescinded by one house of congress, has language to draft both young men and young women if or when the draft is reinstituted and will directly impact young men and women ages 18 through 26...initially.

The DOD recruitment efforts have missed their goals for more than four months and they say that the database will give them an advantage in comparison to other opportunities presented to students when they leave school. Both the reasoning and the motives seems questionable.

Parents can have their child opt out of the system by informing the school district in which they live that they do not want data on their child/children supplied to the DOD.

A few groups have organized to make sure parents are aware of the Pentagon's less than forthright tactics and how their children can opt out including Leave My Child Alone .

There is nothing wrong with opportunities or even obligations to serve one's country in one capacity or another. But those should include alternatives that include the Peace Corps, the Department of the Interior, the University Extension system and others in addition to the military.

It is fair to characterize the DOD approach to this provision as underhanded.

Establishing this database and proceeding with the collection of student information without the knowledge of students or parents was entirely inappropriate and reflects on the motives and the trust we can put in our government leadership. Being less than forthright that there has existed basic data collection efforts already makes one suspect potential alterior motives for establishing the database when Pentagon officials have already said that data is available to other agencies.

If the opportunity arises for entire school districts to opt out of this provision they should. Then the remaining parents and students who indeed want the DOD to have all of their student data and related record should allow those students who wish to be a part of DOD database to opt in or give the records directly to the local recruiters.

Other related resources:

Catholic Peace Initiative

Just say no

CNN Report on recruitment goals

Student Rights

Military Recruiter

Who served in the military

and

From the June 23, '05 Washington Post -"The Pentagon's statements added that anyone can "opt out" of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate "suppression file." That file will be matched with the full database regularly to ensure that those who do not wish to be contacted are not, according to the Pentagon."

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Best to all,

Lloyd

All underlined segments are links to supporting information.