Academy to improve facility access with new Common Access Card proximity readers

  • Published
  • By David West
  • 10th Communications Squadron
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The 9/11 attack mandated increased security across the Defense Department. To help the 10th Security Forces Squadron here meet DOD directives, the 10th Communications Squadron has issued proximity cards and installed readers to control access to numerous Academy areas and facilities.

For the Academy to comply with these directives and maintain its current security posture, our current proximity card readers will be replaced with CAC-based readers.

Now that we've registered the vast majority of current proximity cards, we will start removing current card readers and installing new CAC-based readers across the installation, beginning Jan. 13. Our goal is to have this transition completed by April 1.

Along with registering your CAC into the new CAC-reader system, Academy personnel require explicit Cadet Area permissions in DBIDS, a Defense Manpower Data Center system designed to manage and protect personnel, property and installation access.

DBIDS allows access authorization through the use of technology already on your CAC. Those requiring Cadet Area access but who don't have a CAC must be issued a DBIDS identification card. This credential will be registered in the CAC reader system, allowing for facility and door access. Those without a CAC should be sponsored using the USAFA Form 127, Application for Defense Biometric Identification System Card.

There will also be procedural changes as we transition to the new CAC-based readers.
Academy personnel issued a new CAC requiring entry through a CAC-based controlled door or gate need to register their card in the reader database.

Non-CAC holders - volunteers, vendors or delivery personnel, for example - requiring temporary access to these areas can be issued a DBIDS card at the Academy's Pass and Registration Center. The DBIDS card works with the new readers and will replace the contractor access badges currently in use.

Once the new CAC-readers are installed, the current proximity card will only serve as a visual ID badge for the cadet and airfield areas. It will not open any gates or doors. The CAC or DBIDS card will be the only means to gain entry where the visual ID was used.
The 10th Communications Focal Point will send emails to remind Academy staff when and where they can register their CACs and when the new readers will be installed. We ask all current proximity card holders read these reminders to make this transition as seamless as possible.

(Brad Wilson of the 10th SFS contributed to this report)