Yeah this whole GE card program was pretty poorly thought-through before it was implemented. Poorly planned, poorly tested, and the agents have been poorly trained.
It has all the hallmarks of a program invented by some executive who orders the underlings to carry it out "no matter what".
I'm sure the pictures on our cards were originally taken only for internal use.... We pass through a checkpoint, for some reason a CBP officer wants to look up your trusted traveler account.... up pops a quick webcam photo so they can verify it is you.
Some higher-up boss said "Okay, now let's start mailing these people cards" and that was the only photo they had in their system, so they made it work.
Having said all that, it could be a lot worse.
I like having the card and I hope the
allegedly-upcoming trusted traveler benefits are successful and permanent. I bet $1 that every member of the Global Entry program gets a much more professional photo taken next time they have to renew their membership.