Papers carried by current head of state (9)
I believe the answer is:
president
'head of state' is the definition.
(president is a type of head of state)
'papers carried by current' is the wordplay.
'papers' becomes 'ID' (identification papers).
'carried by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'current' becomes 'present' (similar in meaning).
'id' placed within 'present' is 'PRESIDENT'.
(Other definitions for president that I've seen before include "Head of state has an odd red instep" , "Country's leader" , "2's official title" , "Head, of a republic say" , "Head of college" .)