With the reality of the Iraq war discouraging young Americans from joining the military, U.S. Army recruiters have resorted to appalling tactics in an attempt to boost their numbers of new recruits. Recruiters have recently been caught showing teenagers how to create a fake high school diploma and telling them what products to buy to pass a drug test.
This illegal and unethical behavior follows Congress’ decision to slip in a provision into the No Child Left Behind law requiring schools to give military recruiters access to children’s personal records without parental consent.
Recently, I joined Representative Mike Honda (CA-15th) to co-sponsor the Student Privacy Protection Act to ensure military recruiters could only have access to a student’s personal information with their parents’ permission. My office has made a form available which will shield a child’s information from military recruiters. You can access that form at: http://www.house.gov/stark/issues/03-24_recruiters.htm.
In addition to federal legislation, policies to inform parents of their right to block a recruiter’s access to their child’s personal information are being implemented at the local level.
These local initiatives combined with Congressional action have led the Army to ask every recruiter to take a course on May 20th in military ethics and the laws that govern what can and cannot be done to enlist someone into the Army.
While I am encouraged the Army is addressing this problem, I am not convinced this “training” is anything more than a PR stunt. To ensure this issue is dealt with appropriately, this week I am writing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to appoint a special counsel to look into the Army’s illegal and dishonorable recruiting tactics. Please click here to read the letter.
I will continue to work to protect the privacy of our children and to maintain a high ethical standard for how our young people are recruited into the armed forces.
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Sincerely,
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Pete Stark
Member of Congress
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