by Walter Brasch

The Army National Guard, faced by extended tours of duty in Iraq, didn’t meet its recruitment quota. So in 2004, it began a multimillion-dollar direct mail advertising campaign. One of those targeted was Petra Gass, a resident of rural northeastern Pennsylvania, who received a full-color 12-inch by 17-inch tri-fold telling her in bold capitals that she could be “the most important weapon in the war on terrorism.” Gass says she doesn’t know how she got onto the database that generated her name. She does know she has no plans to join the Guard. Petra Gass is a 50-year-old German citizen. A little known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President Bush in 2001, requires all public high schools to provide to the Department of Defense the names, ages, phone numbers, and addresses of all males. The government has the data for about 4.5 million high school students. Few parents are aware the data is routinely provided to the government; even fewer are aware they have the right to “opt-out” by signing a form that prohibits the school district from sending personal information to the Department of Defense....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July05/Brasch0718.htm