Universal conscription as technology policy

Universal conscription offers a policy approach that expands the realms of technical proficiency necessary for tomorrow's national security, and enfranchises a more diverse and inclusive cross-section of society in the process of providing for, and deciding how to provide for, national security. This effect operates even when technologies may be removing many soldiers from direct conflict, because the weakening of the geographic focus for combat that arises from the global nature of terrorist networks and the extension of weapon systems and warfighter participation across regional and global scales means that violence might well follow the soldier to wherever she or he is stationed. It would also expose many more people to the possibility of being drafted, thus giving them and their families a direct interest in national decisions about when to go to war. A well-designed conscription program can reduce incentives for the premature resort to violence to resolve geopolitical differences.