PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Male youths will find out in a week or so whether they will have to register for possible military service, says White House spokesman Larry Speakes.
Speakes said Thursday he expects President Reagan to announce shortly after he returns to Washington his decision on whether to revoke the executive order requiring draft registration for 18-year-olds or to continue the system.
The president has been studying a report from a military manpower task force, headed by Maj. Gen. Thomas K. Turnage. A top Pentagon official said the report analyzes the range of options but makes no recommendations.
Reagan also has heard arguments from Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who wants to continue registration because he believes dropping it would cast doubt on the U.S. determination to rebuild its military strength.
But Martin Anderson, the president's chief domestic policy adviser, has long opposed draft registration or conscription in peace time, and Reagan spoke against registration during the 1980 presidential campaign.
An indication that Reagan may be contemplating abandoning draft registration was the Justice Department's recent order to delay indictments of 183 non-registrants named for prosecution by the Selective Service Office.
If draft registration is continued, they will be prosecuted.
Officials estimate as many as 800,000 have failed to register since President Carter invoked the system in July 1980 in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Another indication of Reagan's thinking was his recent statements noting the rise in recruiting for all the armed services and the major increase in re-enlistments.
