The DoD has established the External Certification Authority (ECA) program to support the issuance of DoD-approved certificates to industry partners and other external entities and organizations. The ECA program is designed to provide the mechanism for these entities to securely communicate with the DoD and authenticate to DoD Information Systems.

The DoD PKI Program Management Office (PMO) has designated the ECA External Liaison Officer (ELO) as the single point of contact to receive and coordinate all communications between the ECA community, DoD programs, and the DoD PKI PMO.

Note: In addition to the ECA PKI, DoD utilizes DoD-Approved External PKIs and commercial PKIs to support various use cases.

The DoD Cyber Exchange does NOT currently accept ECA certificates for entry into the PKI-protected area.