Our inferiority complex

Seems that USA will move very quickly into electronic passports.
Why is it that we made such a point about how essential they were and now - in the face of practical demonstrations of the threat - have backed off. The Yanks are far more litigatious than we are and they see no privacy issues in The Land of The Free. I suspect it may have a lot to do with their degree of computer literacy amongst the law-makers than we have where anything new encounters latter-day versions of union Luddites.
It seems that it will work like this

The U.S. Electronic Passport
The proposed U.S. Electronic Passport is the same as a regular passport with the addition of a small contactless integrated circuit (computer chip) embedded in the back cover. The chip will securely store the same data visually displayed on the photo page of the passport, and will additionally include a digital photograph. The inclusion of the digital photograph will enable biometric comparison, through the use of facial recognition technology at international borders. The U.S. “e-passport” will also have a new look, incorporating additional anti-fraud and security features.

Gets round the stolen and forged and straight false passports. Still, it will only be a matter of time before the baddies learn how to make and embed chips.
"What man invents - man circumvents"
Woods first law of crime prevention.