xanthuos

Yeah, but at least in the case of the $5, it's moving to a more colorful currency which I would like to see...

It does not invalidate the passport. If the RFID chip is no longer functional, the passport will be processed in the conventional way - which is what pisses me off most about the RFID initiative because we all know that it won't end up speeding up the process in the end.

Yeah, I wouldn't go the microwave route. I think there's some information out there on how to use an electrical current to short out the chip or something, I'm not sure. Time to google it!

ilgoldstein

I just got my first passport in anticipation of a family trip to Europe this summer. I compared it to my wife's older passport, and was amazed to find that the statement "The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection." does not appear on the same page with the identifying information.

I suppose I'm being a stickler to form over function, but shouldn't these operative words of international protocol be on the same page of the picture and name of the citizen to whom courtesy of passage and protection is being requested? Shouldn't the type font be a little bigger?

bzbdewd

Lately having an American passport is embarassing............. I love my country, I really do. Sure wish I know where she went.

birdstrike

There is a 4th iteration of the passport coming out.

It replaces "The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection."

with the simple:

"Remember Saddam!, fools". The RFID chip is replaced with a GPS using the 'Galileo' and 'GLONASS' systems but reporting back to NSA HQ in realtime via EVDO. The Passport hardware is linked back to the DHS database so any failure of the system results in automatic revocation of citizenship.

mechteach

Thanks for the pictures - that thing is hideous! I'm in good shape with an expiration date and extra pages that might let me ride out this iteration (/aberration), but my daughter's passport expires in ~6 months, so it looks like we'll be getting one of these as well. Bleah. Then again, as an almost five year old, that might be the target audience for these sorts of graphics

Watchful

Though I clearly live in a red state (though maybe edging toward purple as time goes by), I am true blue myself.

That being said, maybe there is something wrong with me, as I don't see anything wrong with the passports. (Just got my new one a couple of months ago.)

AusEuroFlyer

There is a benefit to the unattractive new US passport. It makes other people feel better!

I have always been rather disappointed with my rather shoddy-looking (the cover started fraying during my 2nd overseas trip - not even a long trip) Australian passport with the rather hideous national coat of arms with emu and kangaroo (the passport version looks even worse than the 'official' version). But now there is an even worse-looking passport.

grouse

For what it's worth, as an expat, I have to hand my passport over for various purposes every once in a while, and have always received compliments on the new passport.

peachfront

I actually think they look terrific -- much better with the digitized photo a real part of the book instead of looking like some random glued in. And I liked the new design also. The only thing that made me sad was the last page being the moon landing. That was in 1969! It makes me sad to think that America has no more recent "Glory Days" to boast of.

peachfront

In your package for the new passport, they assure you not to worry if for some reason your RFID is damaged in transit. You will still be able to travel. It will be handled just like any passport that has no RFID. Or so they say, and I guess I have no reason to doubt it.

soitgoes

In an "Ask the State Dept" forum, Maura Harty, Asst Secretary for Consular Affairs responded to a similar question:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/71055.htm

Punki

If you are lucky enough to have a decent picture to put in the passport, don't worry too much about the rest of it.

civicmon

Same, it's a passport. It gets opened, it gets stamped. Unless you're going to some really far off country and trying to get a visa in that country for another one, everyone who matters will have seen the passport before you submit it.

It sure beats the bland white pages that some other country's passports have.

It's really just geographical/landscape scenes vs. historical items. I think the moon one is one of the only ones that boast of an achievement. Most of the other pics are of the plains, palm trees, rockies etc. but a couple are historical sites.

wiredboy10003

Both of these bothered me the first time I saw my new passport also. My thinking was that if all these principles were so important, then why was the administration trying to quash and manipulate them?

peachfront

I guess it looked historical to me because our wild doesn't look that wild these days. Bison in the wild is certainly historical unless we're just kidding ourselves -- there's only a few hundred left to my knowledge and I've seen less than two dozen (at Land Between the Lakes in the 1970s). I've only seen working cowboys on horses rather than trucks at Magdalena, New Mexico in the 21st century. So there's the whiff of faded days in it to me...

I didn't read the quotes the other people object to. Maybe I should look again.