Embassy Consular Accountability
Front-line embassy officials who determine whether stranded Americans receive assistance, whether veterans get help coming home, or whether citizens are dismissed and abandoned abroad.
Embassy Consular Accountability: The Front Line
Embassy consular accountability begins with the officials who Americans abroad contact first when they need help. These consular officers determine whether a stranded veteran receives emergency assistance or gets dismissed as a scam. Their decisions can mean the difference between an American coming home safely or being abandoned in a foreign country for years.
The Office of American Citizens Services exists to help Americans in distress abroad. Embassy consular accountability breaks down when officials ignore documented military service, dismiss verified U.S. citizens, and abandon those who served our country. The Bureau of Consular Affairs sets standards that front-line officials routinely violate without consequence.
The profiles below document embassy officials who have failed their duty to American citizens. Every dismissive email, ignored assistance request, and baseless “scam” accusation represents a choice to abandon Americans who trusted their government to help them in crisis.
Embassy Consular Accountability: Embassy Officials
Eric W. Stromayer
Former U.S. Ambassador to Togo (2019-2022)
Career Member, Senior Foreign Service
Former Ambassador to Togo who allegedly told Army Sgt. Kelvin Blas “Americans aren’t Black” during his first visit to the embassy seeking assistance in March 2020. Reportedly threatened to call security to have the Black American veteran removed from the embassy. This alleged discriminatory conduct set the tone for years of abandonment by U.S. Embassy Lomé during Stromayer’s tenure as the highest-ranking U.S. official in the country.
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Elizabeth Anne Noseworthy Fitzsimmons
Former United States Ambassador to the Togolese Republic (2022–2024) | Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Minister-Counselor Class
Ambassador Fitzsimmons succeeded Eric Stromayer in April 2022, inheriting the case of Army Sgt. Kelvin Blas—a Black American veteran allegedly told “Americans aren’t Black” by her predecessor. For two full years, she had the authority, knowledge, and duty to correct this injustice. She chose inaction. No investigation. No consular services. No emergency assistance. Then in August 2024, she was promoted to lead conflict and crisis prevention efforts. The irony is devastating: abandoning a citizen in crisis, then being rewarded with a crisis response role.
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Richard C. Michaels
Current Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., United States Embassy Lomé, Togo (June 2025–Present) | Career Member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service
Chargé Michaels assumed his post in June 2025 after serving as Director of West African Affairs—a position that gave him oversight of Embassy Lomé where Army Sgt. Kelvin Blas was being abandoned. He inherited “The File” from his predecessor: a comprehensive dossier justifying years of service denials based on unverified character assassination from Blas’s former commanding officer. Four months after arriving, on Veterans Day 2025, security guard Abdulai Majeed physically assaulted Blas on embassy grounds and told him “You are not welcome here.” This happened six weeks after a FOIA was filed seeking “The File.” Michaels is currently serving—the abandonment is ongoing under his watch right now.
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Ronald E. Hawkins Jr.
Former Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., U.S. Embassy Lomé, Togo (May 2024–June 2025) | Former Deputy Chief of Mission | Senior Foreign Service Officer
Ronald E. Hawkins Jr. served as Chargé d’Affaires at Embassy Lomé from May 2024 to June 2025. A Public Diplomacy specialist with 20+ years in the Foreign Service, Hawkins was renowned for humanitarian coordination—but when Captain Michael Burleson contacted him to badmouth Kelvin Blas six years after abandoning him, Hawkins accepted the claims without investigation. He created “The File”: a comprehensive dossier justifying continued service denials based on unverified character assassination. When he departed in June 2025, he handed it to his successor as official transition material. Hawkins transformed informal abandonment into documented institutional policy. Though he’s no longer at Embassy Lomé, “The File” he created continues to justify the ongoing abandonment.
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Kim McClure
Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Lomé, Togo (2024–Present) | Stanford/Harvard Graduate | Pickering Fellow | 21 Years U.S. Foreign Service
Kim McClure is Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Lomé – the operational manager who runs day-to-day embassy functions. A Stanford/Harvard graduate and Pickering Fellow (State Department’s flagship diversity pipeline), she has 21 years in the Foreign Service with expertise in crisis response and served as an OIG senior inspector. She sits on the AFSA Governing Board advocating for workforce issues. On November 11, 2025, under her operational authority, security guard Abdulai Majeed physically assaulted Army Sgt. Kelvin Blas and told him “You are not welcome here.” As operational manager responsible for security protocols and consular services, McClure has the direct authority to provide services to Blas. She’s currently serving – the abandonment continues under her operational management right now.
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Brian Sells
Former Consular Section Chief, U.S. Embassy Lomé, Togo (circa 2020) | Career Foreign Service Officer | Aviation Safety Expert | JD, Master of Public Policy
Brian Sells served as Consular Section Chief at Embassy Lomé in 2020 when Army Sgt. Kelvin Blas sought consular services. A University of Chicago MPP/JD, former Fulbright Scholar, and Peace Corps volunteer, Sells later became the State Department’s aviation safety expert—investigating PS752 Iran shootdown, Belarus Ryanair hijacking, and 737 MAX crashes. Yet when a veteran needed help, Sells designated him as “romance scam” based on grammar errors and word choice, without investigating his military service or actual circumstances. Every official who came after—Stromayer, Fitzsimmons, Hernandez, Hawkins, Michaels, McClure—cited Sells’s determination as justification for five years of abandonment. He created the bureaucratic foundation that everyone else hid behind.
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Daniel Neptune
Former Acting Consular Chief, U.S. Embassy Lomé, Togo (Late 2020) | Former Peace Corps Volunteer | Currently Supervisory Passport Specialist, Los Angeles
Daniel Neptune served as Acting Consular Chief at Embassy Lomé in late 2020—just months after Brian Sells created the “romance scam” designation based on grammar errors. A former Peace Corps volunteer (Burkina Faso 2010-2012) who led entrepreneurship, health, gender equality, HIV/AIDS prevention, and malaria campaigns, Neptune was bilingual French/English with no language barrier excuse in West Africa. As Acting Chief, he had the FIRST chance with authority to review and reverse Sells’s flawed determination. He didn’t. Neptune rubber-stamped the abandonment, transforming Sells’s individual failure into confirmed institutional policy. From serving vulnerable communities in Burkina Faso to abandoning a veteran in Togo. Now serves as Supervisory Passport Specialist in Los Angeles—supervising fraud detection after failing to detect fraudulent determinations when it mattered.
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William “Bill” Torrance
Country Officer, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Overseas Citizens Services (2024–Present) | 16+ Years Foreign Service | American Citizen Services Expert
William “Bill” Torrance serves as Country Officer, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Overseas Citizens Services at State Department headquarters in Washington DC. A 16-year Foreign Service veteran and ACS expert who led consular services to military families at Guantanamo Bay, Torrance’s portfolio covers seven African countries—but NOT Togo. In June/July 2025, he was filling in for the regular Togo Country Officer who was on leave—making him TEMPORARILY RESPONSIBLE for Togo cases. Just weeks after Chargé Michaels inherited “The File” from Hawkins, Torrance dismissed Kelvin as “just a scam” via email without investigation. He had temporary authority to review, question, and correct five years of abandonment. He chose bureaucratic dismissal instead. Like Daniel Neptune rubber-stamping Sells’s determination, Torrance rubber-stamped the entire institutional abandonment from Washington headquarters. Then he handed it back to the regular officer when they returned.
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More Embassy Officials Coming
Embassy & Consular Officials
U.S. Department of State
Additional embassy and consular officials who dismiss American citizens, ignore assistance requests, or abandon stranded veterans will be documented here. Every act of consular negligence leaves Americans trapped abroad without the help they deserve.
Coming SoonProfiles Under Development