The Common Access Card is a United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 (DoD) smart card

Smart card

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

 issued as standard identification for active-duty military personnel, reserve personnel, civilian employees, other non-DoD government employees, state employees of the National Guard, and eligible contractor personnel.

The CAC is used as a general identification card as well as for authentication to enable access to DoD computers, networks, and certain DoD facilities.