The State Department has ordered embassy security reviews at every U.S. embassy and consular post worldwide, directing missions to assess their security posture and report back to Washington without delay.
The order cites the war in the Middle East and the risk of spillover, and it was issued under the authority of Undersecretary of Management Jason Evans and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The directive comes as attacks tied to the conflict have targeted U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel across multiple countries.
In the Middle East, U.S. posts have faced drones and rockets, while in Europe, investigators have examined an explosion near the U.S. Embassy in Oslo that police said may have been deliberate and linked to the current security situation.
Embassy security reviews ordered amid spillover concerns
The cable instructs posts to convene Emergency Action Committees, review local security practices, and send their findings to Washington as soon as possible.
The message explicitly ties the step to the conflict environment created after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, 2026, a campaign the U.S. government has referred to as Operation Epic Fury.
The order was framed as a global posture check, not limited to the Middle East. That matters because U.S. facilities outside the region can still face copycat threats, lone-actor attacks, or disruption tied to foreign policy crises, even when the most direct violence is concentrated elsewhere.
A State Department spokesperson described Emergency Action Committee meetings as a standard part of risk management, emphasizing that the department routinely directs posts to convene them and that timing can reflect operational considerations rather than a single, newly identified threat.
That context is important: the instruction is urgent, but officials are also signaling that these mechanisms exist precisely for moments like this, when threat conditions are moving quickly and differ by country.
