'Wash Post': Pentagon Getting Private Data on Teens as Recruitment Falters

By: The Defense Department, faced with enlistment shortfalls, has reportedly begun assembling a database of young people as a recruiting aid.

The Washington Post reports the Pentagon is working with a private company to collect information on high school students ages 16-to-18 and all college students.

Privacy advocates tell the newspaper there are serious problems because the database will have a lot of personal information. They say it looks like the government is trying to evade restrictions on collecting such information by hiring private companies to do it.

Recruiters have already angered parents and some school districts by using available information to contact students at home.

The Post reports that school systems could lose federal funds if they don't give up the information, though students or parents could withhold data.