SECRETARY RUBIO: (Applause.) Well, first of all, thank you, guys, for coming. I know half of you are just here for the air conditioning. (Laughter.) But it’s crazy out there. You did a great job, Mora. She – her and your whole team, and I want thank you guys for putting this together. (Applause.)
And not just the passport but the changes we’re making. I want to talk about in just a moment. But first of all, it’s exciting to be a part of something that’s going to be commemorative, that’s going to remembered for a long time to honor the 250th anniversary of the founding of the single greatest nation in all of human history. (Cheers.)
And the passport is not just a travel document; it’s incredibly valuable in the sense of what it means. It’s a tremendous source of pride for many of us when we travel abroad to be able to present that American passport. It also is a lifeline for a lot of people. In fact, if you know and as you know from those that work here and perhaps from personal experience, probably one of the most frightening things that can happen to you if you’re abroad is you lose your passport, because it limits not just your ability to travel but your ability to come back home to the greatest nation on Earth. And we thought the passport needed to reflect that in general, and there will be more designs, and the folks over at the design studio here that work not for the State Department, for the whole of government, are doing a phenomenal job. But I wanted to walk you through some of the thinking behind it.
Obviously this is a commemorative one. It’s one that will be long remembered. We’re happy because a lot of people are applying to get it and want it, and so for us it’s an opportunity to reinvigorate our Passport Office and their efforts in terms of their funding and so forth. But beyond it, we think it’s something people will cherish and hold onto for a very long time because of what it signifies. Like all passports it will expire one day, but the meaning of it you’ll always remember, and we think it’s one that people will keep for a long time.
If I could walk you through a little bit, in the past when people would get something as valuable as a passport they basically – you apply, you go to CVS, they take a head shot, and then you put all the papers in the mail and at some point in next two or three months you’ll get a package from the U.S. Postal Service in an envelope that could be anything. It could be a demand letter or it could be a passport. You have no idea what it is. (Laughter.)
And you open it up and hopefully it hasn’t been rained on or run over by a truck, and there’s your passport. And thought for something as important, as dignified as the American passport, it really should have something more than that. And so every one from now on – it’s not just for the 250, but our goal moving forward is to make sure that everyone who applies for a passport and receives it in the mail will receive it in this box, which – (applause) – I know, fancy box. Which I think is indicative of how important the document inside is.
But wait, there’s more. (Laughter.) When you open it, and when you open this passport box, you will find that there is a certificate attached to it, which is like a certificate of authenticity like we do with watches and stuff like that and jewelry. (Laughter.) But again, it’s something that we think a lot of people will tremendously value.
And then of course, there’s the actual passport. If you’ll notice – I’m not good at any of the aesthetic things, just want you to know, but I value what this means. You see the redesign that I think more appropriately reflects our country and its stature. Whose passport is this? Because I’m about to open it. (Laughter.) Is this yours, Boulos? Oooh, there’s red marks all over this already, that’s not good. (Laughter.)
Well, let me skip that part for a moment. There some features in here that a lot of people haven’t picked up on yet but you’ll notice as you work through it. We have these – well, I don’t know if you guys are going to care about it or not, but when you flip the pages – when you – I can’t flip the pages. When you flip the pages, this image here will start to move, so you’ll see it’s like a moving image along the way. But here’s the coolest part. I know, isn’t that amazing? (Laughter.) Who invented that?
But the one thing that’s not a feature on this yet but will be a feature in the future – again, I’m giving away a lot of great secrets. But there’ll actually be like a QR code attached to it. So each one of these images that are on here – and they’ll be different for the permanent passports – will have a QR code. And when you go on that QR code, it will prompt you to like a video presentation of that moment in American history. And so what we’re thinking is that because flights are so often delayed, people are going to be bored out of their minds – (laughter) – and they can go on the QR code and it will pull up these key moments in American history, which obviously will continue to be replenished and added. And it’ll go through some pretty amazing moments, including the recent Artemis launch is one of them that we’re considering putting in there, and others. So we think it’ll be a great source of pride. (Applause.) So I’m excited because we’re launching this commemorative, but we’re also putting in place all the things you need to have an incredible passport program.
Now, beyond that I would say that we are also looking at some technological changes, which we’ll be more fully able to announce over the coming months, where it’s going to be a lot easier to get a passport in terms of the dynamics of it. You’ll actually be able to go online. You’ll be able to do almost all of it entirely online. One of the questions we had was most of the devices that people are using, be it a laptop or a standing computer or what have you, where you would fill out this application, they have cameras on them. I know, it’s shocking. But they have cameras. They have videos that people use.
You should be able to take that picture on that device as opposed to going somewhere. Now, the CVS people, of course, hate this, and the Walgreens and all those other places. (Laughter.) But you’ll be able to take your picture from that device and be able to have it in real time, through our security system, verify the facial ID. And it just saves you a lot of – you don’t have to go down somewhere now and get a head shot and get the little pictures that you have to cut and then submit three passport pictures. You’ll be able to do that. You’ll be able to do it online entirely, for the most part, with all the right numbers. They’ll be able to verify it for you, and you should be able to get it much sooner.
So we’re going to make it a much more customer-friendly – we’re not ready to do that yet, but that’s really what we want to be able to do. (Applause.) And it should cut down on the long waits, the long lines, the appointments, the making – some people may still decide to do it that way, but this way will be available to people. And we look forward to, like, really rolling that out in a few months when it’s ready. But we didn’t want to delay this commemorative edition.
Now, is everyone in this room going to get one or —
PARTICIPANT: Almost.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Almost everyone? (Applause.) Because I, like – I have, like, 10 extra here if you’d like – I mean, your name may be different, but the – (laughter) – so I’m – we’re excited. You are, I would guess, right, among the first people in the country.
PARTICIPANT: They are the first.
SECRETARY RUBIO: You are the first?
PARTICIPANT: They are the first.
SECRETARY RUBIO: I gave the President his this morning and he loved it. He absolutely loved it. And the people who designed this did a great job. And so we’re, like, sir, we need your passport back to hold it in a safe place. Like my passport, I don’t keep my own passport. They hold all – because you don’t lose it. He goes, “Well, can I hold onto this for a couple days? Because I want to show it to everybody that comes in the office.” So it just tells you how proud he is of the work all of you did and how happy he is with it.
So I am going to sell Ambassador Boulos’s for $50. (Laughter.) We’ll start at a $50 bid. Huh? And 75? Seventy-five? (Laughter.)
PARTICIPANT: A hundred fifty.
SECRETARY RUBIO: A hundred fifty. Anyone else want to be Massad Boulos? (Laughter.)
PARTICIPANT: Two hundred.
SECRETARY RUBIO: We sell identities here. Yeah, exactly. So this is great. This is exciting and you guys are among the – I don’t even – do I even have one of these yet? This is —
PARTICIPANT: Not yet. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY RUBIO: What kind of operation is this that we’re running around here? Well, I need to get one. I’m sure I’ll apply. I’ll probably – do I have to go to CVS and do all that? No? Okay.
PARTICIPANT: You just sign it now. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, I just have to sign it?
PARTICIPANT: Yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Is my signature on this thing? No?
PARTICIPANT: No, no.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Okay. I would say – hold on, let me check something. Just looking at Boulos’s picture just to make sure that it’s actually him. Yes, it’s him. (Laughter.) Okay, good, it is you.
Anyway, this is exciting. You guys are the first in the country to have it. I know there’s a lot of demand for it; everybody’s asking for one, and it’s great, and it’s a great one to hold. And they’ll be good for a while. So anyway, thank you all for being a part of this today and celebrating this with us. Great job, all of our team here. And congratulations on your new passports. Thank you. (Applause.)
Source link
