In a move that has stunned both diplomats and tech ethicists, the United States has announced that President Donald Trump’s likeness will be embedded as a security feature in all new US passports issued for the nation’s 250th birthday. The decision, framed as a patriotic tribute, has raised urgent questions about the politicisation of identity documents and the creeping normalisation of facial recognition as a state branding tool.
The new passport design, unveiled by the US State Department, features a holographic overlay of Trump’s face that shifts between his classic campaign grin and a stern Oval Office gaze. According to officials, the image is “nearly impossible to replicate” using current forgery techniques, employing a quantum-dot technology originally developed for military identification. “We wanted a symbol of American resilience,” said a spokesperson. “And who better represents that than our 45th and 47th president?”
But critics are calling it a worrying precedent. “This is not just a security feature; it’s a loyalty test,” warns Dr. Elena Vasquez, a digital identity researcher at MIT. “By encoding a political figure into a document that every citizen must carry, you are weaponising national identity. What happens when the next administration decides to swap in their own face? The passport becomes a tool of partisan branding, not neutral verification.”
The move has also reignited a long-standing rivalry: the battle of the world’s most secure passport. For years, Britain’s burgundy passport has been the gold standard, protected by a polycarbonate data page, laser-engraved microtext, and a transparent window that changes colour under UV light. In 2023, the UK introduced a “ghost image” hologram that reveals a second photograph of the holder when tilted. Not once has a British passport featured a prime minister’s face. “Our passport design remains apolitical because that’s how trust is built,” said a Home Office source, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It should say ‘this is who you are’, not ‘this is who we want you to follow’.”
The security gap is real. While Trump’s face may deter basic forgers, experts argue it introduces a new vulnerability: algorithms trained to recognise that specific face could be exploited by deepfake generators. “If the US is embedding a highly publicised face into a security document, they are essentially publishing the template for attacks,” explained Julian Vane, technology and innovation lead. “You could imagine a scenario where a sophisticated actor creates a fake passport by simply overlaying a Trump mask on their own image. The verification system is wired to expect that face, so it might overlook subtle discrepancies elsewhere.”
This is not the first time a nation has used a leader’s image on identity documents. Venezuela, North Korea, and Turkmenistan have all placed their supreme leaders on passports, but those designs are often met with international scepticism. The US move, however, carries global weight. The passport is not just a travel document; it is a cryptographic key to cross-border data flows. Since the US passport is required for visa-free access to 186 countries, any weakening of its security baseline could have cascading effects.
The British design, by contrast, is built on mathematical invariants: you cannot brute-force the complex permutations of microchips, layered filters, and biometric data that form its security envelope. It is a system that trusts the physics of light and the uniqueness of each holder’s biology, not the cult of personality. “The strongest security is invisible,” said Vane. “When you make it about a person, you make it about ego. And ego can be hacked.”
As the 250th birthday celebrations approach, the US faces a choice: treat the passport as a canvas for nationalism or as a cryptographic key for the 21st century. The British passport, for now, remains the gold standard, not because of when it was made, but because it never put politics above security.
