WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has created a vast database of millions of Americans as young as age 16, full of personal data such as grades and Social Security numbers, to help find potential military recruits, officials said on Thursday, in a program condemned by privacy advocates. The database contains information on US high school students ages 16 to 18, college students, and those who have registered with the Selective Service System as required by law in the event a military draft is resumed, the Pentagon said.

The database includes names, birth dates, addresses, Social Security numbers, individuals’ e-mail addresses, ethnicity, telephone numbers, students’ grade-point averages, field of academic study and other data, the Pentagon said.

Privacy advocates questioned the database’s legality, saying amassing the information ran afoul of the Privacy Act, a law intended to reduce government collection of personal data on Americans.

—Reuters