Common Access Card - Issuance

Issuance

The CAC is issued to all active duty military, Reserves, National Guard, DoD civilians; non-DoD/other government employees and State Employees of the National Guard and eligible DoD contractors who need access to DoD facilities or DoD computer network systems:

• Active-duty armed forces
• Reservists
• National Guard members
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• United States Public Health Service
• Emergency-Essential Employees
• Contingency Contractor Employees
• Deployed Overseas Civilians
• Non-Combatant Personnel
• DoD/Uniformed Service Civilians residing on military installation in CONUS, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or Guam
• DoD/Uniformed Service Civilians or Contracted Civilian residing in a foreign country for at least 365 days
• Presidential Appointees approved by the United States Senate
• DoD Civilian employees, and United States Military veterans with a Veterans Affairs Disability rating of 100% P&T
• Eligible Contractor Employees
• Non-DoD/other government and state employees of the National Guard

Future plans include the ability to store additional information through the incorporation of RFID chips or other contactless technology to allow seamless access to DoD facilities.

The program that is currently used to issue CAC IDs is called the Real-Time Automated Personnel Identification System (RAPIDS). RAPIDS interfaces with the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS), and uses this system to verify that the candidate has passed a background investigation and FBI fingerprint check. Applying for a CAC requires DoD form 1172-2 to be filled out and then filed with RAPIDS.

The system is secure and monitored by the DoD at all times. Different RAPIDS sites have been set up throughout military installations in and out of combat theater to issue new cards.