Joe Rogan Issues Warning on Call for US Military Draft: ‘Very Scary'

Podcaster Joe Rogan is condemning calls by a prominent technology firm for universal national service, insisting the move could trigger an unwanted military draft.

Rogan criticized a recent proposal by Palantir Technologies during Thursday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience during a conversation with guitarist Marcus King.

“I would fail on that too, so they couldn’t draft me,” Rogan said of military fitness standards. “These motherf***ers are talking about drafting people…Palantir thinks that we should reintroduce conscription, conscription, that kids should start getting drafted again into military, and they should have mandatory military experience for kids.”

Rogan, 58, said he couldn’t understand “why anybody” would support Palantir’s pitch last month to have the federal government adopt a system of universal national service. In an X post, Palantir wrote: “National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.”

“That sounds crazy,” Rogan said. “Especially after this Iran war, where everybody’s like, why the f*** are we in Iran? And if you signed up for that, that sounds nuts.”

“Why the f*** would a tech company be saying that we need to move towards a universal national military service?” he said. “How about f*** you? How about f*** you, you go? Because you know, none of these tech dorks that are running these companies-they’re not doing it. Like, what are you talking about? Throwing meat into the machine, right? Throwing people’s children into these unnecessary wars. F*** you.

King said he found the proposal “scary,” and Rogan concurred.

“It’s very scary,” Rogan continued. “It’s scary that they would-like, how about let’s figure out a way to use your technology so there’s no more wars? Wouldn’t that be a better goal?”

None of the US-involved conflicts since World War II has made any “f****** sense at all,” Rogan said.

“And they’re like, I think the solution is we need more people to be forced into it,” he said.

What Is Palantir?

Palantir is a data analytics and software company that has won major Pentagon contracts, including work on Project Maven, an AI‑driven targeting and surveillance program. Its platforms are used for battlefield decision‑making, logistics, and targeting support in multiple conflict zones:

• Palantir Gotham: used by U.S. intelligence and defense agencies for counterterrorism, battlefield intelligence, and real‑time operational analysis.
• Palantir Foundry: used by corporations for supply‑chain management, logistics, and large‑scale data integration.
• Palantir Apollo: a system that deploys and maintains Palantir's software across secure and distributed networks.

The company’s call amid the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked immediate backlash online, as well as debate about the role of private defense‑tech firms in shaping national policy.

Is There a US Military Draft?

While the United States does not use conscription and has operated as an all-volunteer force since 1973, the government does maintain a Selective Service System. The SSS has moved toward automatically registering most draft-eligible men by December 2026 after submitting a proposed role for review in March, a step that followed Congress authorizing the change in the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 1:40 PM.