A routine notice advertising the need for people to serve on US draft boards has prompted press reports in the United States that the Pentagon may restart the military draft.
But officials have denied any such moves. "There are no secret discussions," said Mr Pat Schuback, a spokesman for theSelective Service System, the government agency that would be in charge of any US conscription. "We aren't doing any planning that we don't do on a routine basis."
The United States has not had a draft since 1973, when it was abolished during the latter months of the Vietnam War.
Registration was reinstated in 1980, in response tothe Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the law still requires that males who are US citizens or resident aliens register within 30 days of their 18thbirthdays.
About 10,000 to 12,000 people serve 20-year terms as unpaid board members. Mr Schuback said because the current board system was set up in 1979, and most volunteers stayed the full 20 years, many of the appointments expiredbeginning in 1999.
That means hiring replacements has been going on for several years. Confusion arose in recent weeks when someone posted the hiring notice on a Pentagon website about the war on terror, even though the Selective Service System is not a part of the Defence Department.
The stories appeared as the news media wrote increasingly about the Pentagon's extensive mobilisation of National Guard and Reserve troops for duty in Iraq.
AP