Bernard D . Rostker Bernard Daniel Rostker ( born February 1 , 1944 ) was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Manpower and Reserve Affairs ) from 1977 to 1979 ; Director of the United States Selective Service System from 1979 to 1981 ; Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Manpower and Reserve Affairs ) from 1994 to 1998 ; Under Secretary of the Army from 1998 to 2000 ; and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 2000 - 2001 . Beginning in 1996 , he also served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illnesses . Biography . Bernard D . Rostker was educated at New York University , receiving a B . S . in 1964 . While in college , he participated in the Reserve Officers ' Training Corps , graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate and being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve . He next attended Syracuse University , earning an Master of Arts and then a Ph . D . in Economics . In 1968 , he joined the Manpower Requirements Directorate of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis as an economist . Two years later , he joined RAND as a research economist , becoming Program Director of the Manpower Personnel and Training Program , a program sponsored by the United States Air Force . He joined the United States Department of the Navy in 1977 , upon being named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs . In 1979 , he became Director of the Selective Service System , holding this post November 26 , 1979 – July 31 , 1981 . The selective service registration requirement for all U . S . men aged 18 – 25 , had been abolished by President of the United States Gerald Ford in 1975 , but was reestablished when President Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation 4771 , " Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act " on July 2 , 1980 , retroactively re - establishing the Selective Service registration requirement for all 18 - 26 year old male citizens born on or after January 1 , 1960 . Rostker thus oversaw the Selective Service Revitalization Plan which registered four million men for selective service . He is the named defendant in the U . S . Supreme Court case of " Rostker v . Goldberg " , 453 U . S . 57 ( 1981 ) , which upheld the constitutionality of requiring only men to register for selective service . Rostker joined the Center for Naval Analyses in 1981 , becoming Director for the Navy ' s Management Program . In that capacity he conducted research into the major management issues facing the United States Navy . In 1983 , he joined software development company SRA International as Director of the Systems Management Division . He returned to RAND in December 1984 to help establish the Arroyo Center , the Army ' s federally funded research and development center for studies and analysis . He served as Program Director of the Force Development and Employment Program and Associate Director of the Center . In January 1990 , he shifted to RAND ' s National Defense Research Institute as Director of the Defense Manpower Research Center . In October 1994 , President Bill Clinton nominated Rostker as Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Manpower and Reserve Affairs ) and Rostker subsequently held this office from October 1994 until October 1998 . On November 12 , 1996 , he was also named Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illnesses and became responsible for coordinating and overseeing all of the United States Department of Defense ' s responses to Gulf War Illnesses . President Clinton nominated Rostker as Under Secretary of the Army and he was sworn in on October 26 , 1998 , while retaining his responsibilities for Gulf War Illness issues . As Under Secretary of the Army , Rostker was the # 2 civilian in the United States Department of the Army ; was responsible for assisting the Secretary of the Army in recruiting , organizing , supplying , equipping , training and mobilizing the Army and managing its $ 64 billion annual budget and more than 1 . 3 million active duty , National Guard , Army Reserve and civilian personnel ; and assumed the duties of acting Secretary of the Army when the Secretary was not available . After a nomination from President Clinton and confirmation by the United States Senate , Rostker was sworn in as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on May 23 , 2000 . In that capacity , he was the senior adviser to the United States Secretary of Defense on recruitment , career development , pay and benefits for 1 . 4 million active duty military personnel , 1 . 3 million Guard and Reserve personnel and 725 , 000 DoD civilians . He also oversaw the Military Health System , the Defense Commissary Agency , the Army and Air Force Exchange Service , the Department of Defense Education Activity , and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute . He was also responsible for overseeing research on the nation ' s military readiness . Rostker was replaced by David S . C . Chu , who was sworn in as Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on June 1 , 2001 . Upon leaving government service , Rostker returned to RAND and his research there has focused on managing the recruitment , retention , and performance of police officers in large city departments ; managing the volunteer military ; and reforming the military by lengthening military careers .