ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES 49 Figure 1. Techniques of citizenship deprivation and deformation. “in terrorism-related activity or other serious or organised criminal activity”, the policy specifically referred to “individuals who seek to engage in fighting, extremist activity or terrorist training outside the United Kingdom” (May 2013) who might subsequently return to Britain. In practice, our research indicates, passport removals have been used against individuals resident in Britain who become marked as suspect, though Government reports indicate that a number of British citizens abroad have also had their passports cancelled in 2017 (Shipman, Kerbaj, and Gadher 2017). The operational responsibility for assessing the application criteria rests with HM Passport Office (formerly the Identity and Passport Service) who are obliged, at the point of granting passports, to check the identity and nationality of applicants, as well as verify that there are no reasons to exempt on other grounds including public interest criteria. The exact process via which the Passport Office establishes whether an applicant is deemed to be suspicious by the Home Secretary is shrouded in secrecy and remains unclear but from the interviews we carried out, it seems both the Passport Office and the Home Secretary rely on knowledge and requests from the intelligence services for refusing or withdrawing passports. When the Home Affair’s Committee subsequently discussed use of the power in 2014, it noted that because passport removals operated as a Royal Prerogative power there was no obligation for the Home Secretary to report its use to