So what is DD Form 2024? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD Form 2024, DoD Security Classification Guide Data Elements, July 1986, used to DoD Security Classification Guide Data Elements. Anything else you need follows from that.
Is there a version specific to your service? No. A DD number is issued at Department level, which is the whole point of the prefix — every military department and defense agency works from one identical document. Looking for a branch variant wastes time you do not have.
Who decides this form exists? not stated owns it; not stated directs its use. If someone told you to file this, the authority traces back to those.
Is this the right edition? The current one is dated not stated, and the publisher carries it as not stated. Check that against whatever copy you already have before going further.
What the form asks for
- 1. Reason for submission. Press space bar to mark X in first box if new guide, second box if revision, third box if reissuance, fourth box if biennial review, fifth box if cancellation, or sixth box if correction.
- Report Control Symbol.
- 2. Promulgating document. (Include type of document, activity, symbol or serial number and date. Do not include the subject of the document. If no promulgating document, state "none." Do not exceed 46 characters.).
- 3. Classification Guide Title. (Include the full title (if unclassified) and any short title. Do not exceed 134 characters.)
- 4. Classification guide date (2 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day. Do not exceed 6 characters).
- 5. Classification guide originator. (Activity which issued guide. Do not exceed 25 characters.)
- 6. Available through DTIC. X first box if B, second box if C, third box if D, fourth box if E, fifth box if F, sixth box if X, or seventh box if No.
- 7. Biennial review date (2 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day. Do not exceed 6 characters.)
- 8. Number of revisions and date of latest. (Show number of revisions first, then the date of latest revision as a 2 digit year followed by 2 digit month and 2 digit day. If no revisions have been made, so state. A reissued guide would have no revisions. Do not exceed 8 characters.)
- 9.a. Subject Matter Index Terms, line 1 (do not exceed 34 characters per line).
- 9.b. Subject Matter Index Terms.
- 9.c. Subject Matter Index Terms.
- 10. Classification of guide document. X first box if Top secret, second box if secret, third box if confidential, fourth box if unclassified, or fifth box if special access required (including if guide itself is classified).
- 11. Index source number. Enter existing number if guide is listed in Index.
- 12. Highest classification prescribed by guide: X first box if top secret, second box if secret, or third box if confidential.
- 13. The guide prescribes classification of information controlled within a Special Access Program. X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 14. Remarks.
- 15. Originator. a. Typed name (last, first, middle initial).
- 15.b. Title.
- 15.e. Date signed.
- 15.c. Office/agency department.
- 15.d. Signature.
- 16. Action Officer. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 16.b. Telephone number (DSN if outside DC metropolitan area).
Download the form
Which files are here? These: PDF. How much work is involved? 2 pages, about 25 entry fields.
Fillable or printable — which do you have? Click inside a box. If it accepts a cursor and typed text, the file is fillable and your entries save with it. If nothing happens, the pdf is flat, and the only way forward is printing it and writing on paper.
Does typing matter? It does. Your completed form will probably be scanned, forwarded and filed, and typed text comes through each of those steps unchanged while handwriting degrades. If pen is your only option, block capitals give the receiving clerk a fighting chance.
Why will not the xfdl file open? Because it is not a pdf. Xfdl belongs to IBM Lotus Forms, long the Department's electronic form format, and it needs IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or an equivalent reader installed first.
Do you pay for these? No. Free download, every format. What should you avoid? Filling the form inside a browser tab; the fields frequently do not save.
Can you skip around the form? Better not to. The layout runs identification, then content, then certification, and entries near the bottom frequently take their meaning from what sits above them.
What is the first thing to check? The edition date on the face of the form. Does it read not stated? If not, the copy is superseded, and a superseded DD form is a real problem: Department-level revisions replace the blank for every service at once, so an old file on a shared drive is stale everywhere, not just in your office.
What if a specific field still puzzles you? Read the instructions printed on the form, then not stated. Which wins if they differ? The directive.
Where does the completed form go? To the office named in not stated or in your organization's local procedure. Should you keep a copy? Always — a scan or a saved file costs nothing and spares you the whole exercise if the original disappears.
Do you need to know which branch issued a related form? No. DD numbering is Department-wide and unified, which means the number on its own is a complete address for the document.
Why do some instructions cite both a DA and a DD form? Because the procedure touches both systems, not because the forms are related. Service forms answer to a service proponent; DD forms answer to not stated or another Department office. The sequences were never aligned.
How often does a form like this change? Unpredictably — revision follows directive changes, altered collection requirements and updated notice language. What is the practical defence? Verifying not stated every time you download rather than trusting a saved copy.
What does this page actually provide? The blank form and a description of it. What does it not provide? Legal guidance, procedural rulings, or any assurance about a particular filing. Who answers those? not stated, the administrative office that serves you, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2024?
- DD Form 2024, DoD Security Classification Guide Data Elements, July 1986
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?