The House of Representatives now has competing legislation that addresses the issue of military recruiter access to information about high school students. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) is trying again to limit the ability of military recruiters to tap into personal information about high school students, by requiring an opt-in release from parents; he introduced a similar measure in 2007. Competing legislation from Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.), newly elected into his father’s old seat, would amend the existing law to include a one-time notice to parents that they can opt-out. So far, Honda’s legislation (H.R. 1091) has 28 cosponsors, and Hunter’s (H.R. 1026) has 37.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.