There Are Not Really 55 Million Foreigners Living in the USA

It's NIV holders only, and much more good info in this thread. Simmer down now. https://t.co/7nPdmZRGKl

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) August 22, 2025

Before responding to news media stories about the recent DOS announcement that it will review all existing visa holders for possible ineligibility, please be advised that all visa holders do not reside here.

Get it straight, news media. The State Department said visas will be revoked if there are indications of "overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization." Nothing more or less.

Object to that initiative if you wish, but try not to fan the flames of public ignorance while you're doing that.

Egypt's NYC Consulate Shows One Way to Control Visitor Access

Behind those security doors no one can hear you scream. https://t.co/zXC0yvjk5z

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) August 21, 2025

Some security types call it a sally port, others some call it a Compound Access Control facility. By whatever name, it's the protected space where people who walk off the street seeking access to a secured facility can be identified and inspected before they are either admitted or turned away.

Egypt showed us an unusually kinetic access denial when it put the boots to those protestors at its New York City consulate. If I may say so, that reception exceeded even what NYC once accepted when the city was cleaned up during Giuliani Time.  

Egypt can get away with that kind of thing because a declared diplomatic premise such as its consulate is not subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the host country. For all you private sector entities who have to deal with your own unruly protestors, Don't Try This at Home.

  

FSO Confesses to Being a Romantic Fool

 

\Well, well, well. What he did for love? Where have we heard those lyrics before? 

Kiss your job goodbye 

Your last day is tomorrow

Wish her luck, but none to you 

Now you've got the shove

So we're rid of, what you did for love 

Oh, dammit, now I've got that song stuck in my head. 

As is more than obvious from the video above, yet another male FSO has shown extremely poor judgement in the serious matter of his obligation to report continuing contacts with persons from criteria countries. 

Not like that's never happened before, but this one keeps talking about it to women he's just met who are wearing wires. That's a double whammmy. First he compromises himself via-a-vis the Chi-Coms, and then he falls right into a trap set by one of the sillier anti-government activist groups. 

This sad news makes me wonder yet again whether the State Department wouldn't be better served if it went to exclusively female embassy staffing in those hostile countries where the local intelligence services like to run sexual entrapment games on western diplomats. 

Women FSOs have not been 100 percent immune to that approach, it must be admitted, but they nevertheless seem nowhere near as foolish as their male counterparts. 

Until the day comes that we raise an order of celibate monks to do diplomatic work in places like China, female FSOs might be our safest bet.

China Plans to Build a Fortress Embassy in London, To Which Security-Based Objections Are Raised

Allowing the Chinese to build this in the heart of London is complete and utter madness https://t.co/EaG4S3uTh2

— Camilla Tominey (@CamillaTominey) August 7, 2025

BBC has more on this, including a regular Chinese laundry list of security concerns:

The plan itself involves a cultural centre and housing for 200 staff, but in the basement, behind security doors, there are also rooms with no identified use on the plans. 

There is another fear, held by some opponents, that the Royal Mint Court site could allow China to infiltrate the UK's financial system by tapping into fibre optic cables carrying sensitive data for firms in the City of London. 

The site once housed Barclays Bank's trading floor, so it was wired directly into the UK's financial infrastructure. Nearby, a tunnel has, since 1985, carried fibre optic cables under the Thames serving hundreds of City firms. 

And in the grounds of the Court, is a five-storey brick building - the Wapping Telephone Exchange that serves the City of London. 

According to Prof Periklis Petropoulos, an optoelectronics researcher at Southampton University, direct access to a working telephone exchange could allow people to glean information.

Against all that, if there are any good arguments in favor of this Great Diplomatic Wall of China, I didn't catch them.

DSS Doing Immigration Enforcement, Not a Big Stretch From Visa/Passport Fraud

“Similarly, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) has assigned approximately 600 special agents, or about 24% of its workforce, to assist in these operations, despite their usual focus on passport fraud and the protection of diplomats.” https://t.co/Hx0ccCEp2g

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) August 8, 2025

 

Vice Consul Monterrey Fatal Vehicle Crash: According to Local News a Tire May Have Been Damaged

I fully assume we'll learn more about the possible cause of that fatal accident when - if? - an internal investigation is completed, but for now it seems the host government suspects the cause may have been a damaged tire. 

Here's a local news story that mentions an initial Mexican police report:

Although initial reports suggest that one of the vehicle's tires may have been damaged, the investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the accident. 

As previously reported, the incident that killed Brian Matthew Faughnan, Vice Consul of the United States in Monterrey, Nuevo León, occurred around 5:31 p.m. on Wednesday, July 9, on the stretch known as La Cuchilla - Matamoros, at kilometer 36+000, near the Matamoros municipal landfill. 

Faughnan was driving a white, armored 2018 Toyota pickup truck [camioneta] when he lost control of the vehicle, rolling over onto the side of the road and sustaining serious injuries. The truck was completely destroyed. 

The key sentence in the original Spanish is: "Aunque los primeros informes sugieren que pudo haberse dañado una de las llantas del vehículo."

Vice Consul Monterrey Killed in Car Accident, Cause Unknown For the Present

Muere Brian Matthew Faughan, alto funcionario de la embajada de Estados Unidos en carretera a Torreón - this local report describes his car as an armored vehicle, but I’d wait for USG confirmation on that. https://t.co/eGtQzTbitU

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) July 10, 2025

The fatal accident happened two weeks ago, but the first photos I'd seen are in a Daily Mail report here.  

Something I haven't seen so far is an official State Department account of the accident. There is no reason to believe it was due to an attack, or was anything other than a motor vehicle accident. 

The use of an armored vehicle may, possibly, suggest that the unusual driving dynamics of armored vehicles played a part. 

There is surely an official investigation going on into this accident, so I assume we'll eventually learn more.