Embassies or fortresses – America's global building programme

Police officers secure the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, central London. America is planning to move the embassy to a highly secure five-acre site on Nine Elms Lane in Wandsworth, south London Photograph: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images

Syrian security men stand guard in 2008 outside the US embassy in Damascus, Syria when it shut its doors as thousands marched through the city to protest at a deadly American raid on a village near the Iraqi border Photograph: Joseph Barrak/AFP

The US embassy in Berlin, Germany, which was officially inaugurated on 4 July 2008, US Independence Day, with a ceremony attended by George Bush and Angela Merkel Photograph: Barbara Sax/AFP

The US embassy in Beijing, China, opened in 2008. The 500,000 sq ft compound is the second-largest US embassy in the world after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad Photograph: Teh Eng Koon/AFP

An Italian security policeman checks the main entrance of the US embassy in Via Veneto, Rome, Italy in 2008, ahead of a visit by President George Bush Photograph: Angelo Carconi/AP

Security guards monitor the main entry gate at the US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2004 Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

US marines stand guard at the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan Photograph: Jimin Lai/AFP

A guard walks outside the US embassy building in Managua, Nicaragua in 2007. This embassy is being sold by the State Department as it moves employees to more secure locations and combines operations in multipurpose compounds Photograph: Esteban Felix/AP

Part of the new United States embassy under construction by the Tigris river in Baghdad, Iraq. The $592m (£358m) embassy occupies a chunk of prime Baghdad real estate, with desk space for about 1,000 people behind high, blast-resistant walls Photograph: AP

A Bolivian riot police squad stands guard outside the US embassy in La Paz during a protest against the US government's decision to give political asylum to Carlos Sanchez Berzain Photograph: Aizar Raldes/AFP

Indonesian bomb squad members patrol the surroundings of the US embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2007, following a bomb threat Photograph: Ahmad Zamroni/AFP