DD Form 1910 DoD Clearance Request: Filing, Lead Times, Review

DD Form 1910 is the cover sheet the Department of Defense uses to route material through prepublication review before it goes public. If you are a current or former DoD employee, service member, contractor, or student who wants to publish an article, deliver a speech, or release a manuscript touching on military or national security topics, you submit this form along with the finished material to the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR) under DoD Directive 5230.09.¹ The form is one page with seven numbered items. Getting the signature block right is what separates a submission that gets processed from one that gets returned.

Who Has to Submit It

Current DoD military and civilian personnel must submit proposed public-release material with a completed DD Form 1910 signed by someone in the author’s leadership chain. DOPSR will not accept a form signed by the author alone.²

Retired and separated service members, former DoD employees, former contractors, and non-active-duty reservists remain bound by their nondisclosure agreements and must also use the prepublication review process before publishing. Former members and current employees writing outside their official duties can submit with a cover letter or email in place of the DD Form 1910 itself, as long as the submission includes contact information and the publication plan.²

DoD students and faculty at academies, service schools, and DoD-affiliated universities must submit materials intended for public release or public library availability. Papers written only to meet an internal academic requirement are exempt.³

A boundary worth flagging: congressional testimony, contractor publications, official media releases, FOIA and Privacy Act responses, and litigation materials are governed by other directives and do not go through DD Form 1910.³

Filling Out the Form

The fillable PDF is on the Washington Headquarters Services website. Six of the seven items are straightforward description. The seventh is where submissions fail.¹

Items 1 Through 6

Item 1 (Document Description) has four sub-fields. In 1a, name the format: speech, article, manuscript, study or thesis, brochure, news release, advertisement, or radio/television script. In 1b, enter the exact title. In 1c, the page count. In 1d, the major subject area.
Item 2 (Author/Speaker) takes the author’s full name, rank if military, title, office, and agency.
Item 3 (Presentation/Publication Data) identifies where the material will appear: journal, conference, website, or publisher.
Item 4 (Point of Contact) is a name and office phone for DOPSR’s questions. It does not have to be the author.
Item 5 (Prior Coordination) lists any offices that have already reviewed the material.
Item 6 (Remarks) is for anything else DOPSR should know, including scheduling constraints.

Item 7: The Signature Block

By signing Item 7, an official certifies that the material has department, office, or agency approval for public release and that clearance is recommended under DoDD 5230.09. Three rules govern who can sign:¹

The signer must be a government employee, civilian or military. Contractors cannot sign Item 7 under any circumstances.
The signer cannot be the author. Someone in the author’s leadership chain has to sign.
The signer does not have to be a senior leader. Anyone in the chain who is authorized to sign general correspondence qualifies.²

Enter the requested clearance date in Item 7b using YYYYMMDD format. Make sure the printed name in Item 7c matches the person who actually signs in 7g, and put the signing date in 7h.

How to Submit

DOPSR accepts submissions by email, paper copy, or CD/DVD. Flash drives, thumb drives, and jump drives will not be processed.²

For unclassified material under 100 pages, email the signed DD Form 1910 and a soft copy of the material to whs.pentagon.esd.mbx.secrev@mail.mil. Attachments are capped at 25 MB. Anything larger goes by mail or disc.⁴

For paper submissions, send three hard copies of the final material with the signed form to:

Chief, Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review
1155 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1155

For UPS, FedEx, or DHL, use Room 2A534 at the same Pentagon zip code.²

Submit only the full, final text of what you plan to release. DOPSR does not review drafts, notes, outlines, or briefing charts as substitutes for a complete document.⁴

Minimum Lead Times

DoDI 5230.29 sets minimum windows before your release date. DOPSR does not accommodate publishers’ or editors’ deadlines, so miss these and your material may sit past when you need it.⁵

Speeches and briefings: at least 5 working days before the event.
Articles and papers: at least 10 working days before the date needed.
Technical papers: at least 15 working days before the date needed.
Manuscripts and books: at least 30 working days before the date needed, and before submission to a publisher.

These are floors. Actual review time depends on subject-matter complexity, document length, and how many DoD components have an equity stake in the content. Book-length manuscripts are running several months due to submission volume.⁴

After Review

DOPSR can clear the material in full, clear it with amendments (specific passages redacted), or deny clearance. Cleared documents receive Distribution Statement A: “Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited,” and that statement should appear on the document before publication.⁶

If your material is amended or denied, you have 60 days to appeal in writing to DOPSR. The appeal must explain the basis for releasing the information withheld during the initial review.⁴

What Happens If You Skip the Process

Publishing DoD information without going through prepublication review can trigger unauthorized-disclosure investigations and legal action, even when the disclosure was inadvertent.⁷ Administrative consequences can include loss of security clearance, reprimand, or termination. Criminal prosecution under federal statutes on unauthorized disclosure of classified information remains possible in serious cases, with penalties that can include fines and imprisonment.

For status questions on a pending submission, DOPSR’s customer support line is 703-614-5001, and the email address is whs.pentagon.esd.mbx.secrev@mail.mil.²

1
Washington Headquarters Services. DD Form 1910 Clearance Request for Public Release of Department of Defense Information
2
Washington Headquarters Services. Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review
3
Executive Services Directorate. DoDI 5230.09 Clearance of DoD Information for Public Release
4
Executive Services Directorate. DoDI 5230.29 Security and Policy Review of DoD Information for Public Release
5
Washington Headquarters Services. Frequently Asked Questions for Department of Defense Prepublication Security and Policy Reviews
6
Executive Services Directorate. DoDI 5230.24 Distribution Statements on DoD Technical Information
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Executive Services Directorate. DoDI 5230.09 Clearance of DoD Information for Public Release