USA Flag An official website of the United States government
Official websites use .mil
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization.
Secure .mil websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
US Department of Defense
BLAST INJURY RESEARCH
COORDINATING OFFICE
Advancing Blast Injury Research to Protect and Heal Those Who Serve

Blast Injury Research Program – Secured Area Guide

Accessing the Secured Area

Screenshot: Sign In link

Everything related to the secured area begins with the Sign In page.
Find the Sign In page access point at the top-right of every page on the site.

    Sign In to the Secured Area

  1. Click SIGN IN link.
  2. Review the DoD's standard disclaimer about accessing a U.S. Government information system, and click 'Agree' to acknowledge your consent.

Sign In Screen

Screenshot: Sign In screen

When you're ready to sign in, you have a few options depending on your situation.

A. You don't have a BIRCO website account:

B. You have a BIRCO website account, and use your email address and password to login:

  • Enter your email address and password, and click .
  • If your login attempt is successful, you're in; otherwise, you will be given a second and third attempt. If you fail on your third attempt (within an hour), your account will be locked and you will need to reach out to the BIRCO team to unlock your account.

C. You have a BIRCO website account, and use your CAC to login:

  • Click .
  • In some cases, you will be asked to select your CAC certificate and/or enter your CAC PIN.
  • You will be returned to the BIRCO website after your CAC is authenticated.

Requesting Access

Screenshot: Create Account screen

  • Complete the required fields – email address, first name and last name, and request justification – and click .

  • If your information is accepted, we'll send instructions for validating the new account to the email address you entered.
  • Once the account is validated, you can begin using the account.

Validating Your New Account

Screenshot: Validate Account screen

Instructions for validating your account are sent with the subject "Validate your DoD Blast Injury Research Program account" after your account is requested.

The new account will not work until it is validated by you.

The email will contain a validation URL, a temporary password (e.g., b24ZjH2icFY*Z$m2), and a validation code (e.g., 8G64Z2DA).

Follow the instructions to validate your account. At a high-level, you'll be doing the following:

  • visiting a validation URL contained in the email;
  • entering your account email address, temporary password, validation code;
  • entering a new password (and confirming the new password by typing it a second time); and
  • clicking to complete the validation.

Here are a few important things to watch out for:

  • If you copy-and-paste the password and/or validation code, be sure you haven't grabbed a space at the beginning or end of the copied string. You might be asking, "How would I know?" We'd suggest pasting the copied string into something like Notepad to visually confirm the first and last characters are not spaces.
  • A space will not be used in either the password or the validation code. If you have a space in what you've copied, you didn't grab the correct string.
  • Be sure to enter a valid password as your new password. There is a visual indicator to help you know when your password becomes valid.

Using Your CAC to Login

If you already have CAC access configured, simply follow the instructions to access the site using your CAC.

Otherwise, follow these instructions to request CAC access for your account:

  1. From the Sign In screen, click
  2. Next, you may be asked to select your CAC certificate and/or enter your CAC PIN.
  3. If your account isn't configured for CAC access and if you're eligible*, the next screen will offer CAC access enrollment.
    • Follow the instructions to login using your username and password.
    • If your login is successful, you will be enrolled in the CAC access option.
    • Important note: At this point, log out of the site and log back in using your CAC.

* Only @health.mil email addresses are eligible for our CAC access option.

Things To Know About Your Account

Here are a few things to know about your BIRCO site account:

  • If your account is ever locked, you will need to reach out to the BIRCO team to request that we unlock your account.
  • Your account password must be changed at least once every 60 days. You will receive reminder emails several times prior to the expiration date, but your account will lock if your password expires.
  • Your account must be accessed at least once every 35 days. You will receive reminder emails several times prior to the expiration date, but your account will lock if you fail to login during that window.
  • You can request to access your account using your CAC card. If you decide to do that, know that your username/password access will still work, unless you specifically disable the password.
  • If you disable your password, you won't have to change your password every 60 days, but you won't be able to access the secured area from a computer that doesn't have CAC reading capabilities.
Last modified: 31-Oct-2016