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Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#31

Post by carlosdp »

mindcrime wrote: post #19

Meh... am I supposed to hate the CIA and the rest of the military-industrial-espionage complex any less because of a cheery article about their Starbucks store? If anything, I now think less of Starbucks as a company, for knowing that they agreed to such a setup. I mean, yeah, maybe I'm being overly sensitive and care too much about torture, detention camps, pervasive surveillance, blatant disregard of the Constituti…

No, you're probably just supposed to be intrigued by the quirky juxtaposition of a common-place occurrence (Starbucks inside x) and one of the most secretive organizations in the world and how that works. You don't have to like the CIA to appreciate a unique implementation of a store we all know so well.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#32

Post by bane »

CoachRufus87 wrote: post #25
chrissnell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pure conjecture but I've served in the military and know how these things work in the more security-sensitive areas of that organization: My guess is that they are contractors, placed there by whatever corporation handles the rest of their foodservice. They could be former military servicemembers (cooks, quartermaster, etc) who have clean enough records and credit to obtain the security clearance. I'd be will…

they check your credit?

Bad credit could be an angle somebody could use to press you for secrets. So yeah, it seem reasonable.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#33

Post by carlosdp »

bane wrote: post #23
mindcrime wrote: post #19

Meh... am I supposed to hate the CIA and the rest of the military-industrial-espionage complex any less because of a cheery article about their Starbucks store? If anything, I now think less of Starbucks as a company, for knowing that they agreed to such a setup. I mean, yeah, maybe I'm being overly sensitive and care too much about torture, detention camps, pervasive surveillance, blatant disregard of the Constituti…

I don't think the CIA wants to give you the warm fuzzies. After all, their sole occupation at the end of the day is basically to destabilize and overthrow governments.

I'd say those are the most visible things they do, since those are pretty hard to hide. But I'd wager the lions share of the work CIA does is actually in the more boring intelligence for diplomatic operations.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#34

Post by rdtsc »

bane wrote: post #23
mindcrime wrote: post #19

Meh... am I supposed to hate the CIA and the rest of the military-industrial-espionage complex any less because of a cheery article about their Starbucks store? If anything, I now think less of Starbucks as a company, for knowing that they agreed to such a setup. I mean, yeah, maybe I'm being overly sensitive and care too much about torture, detention camps, pervasive surveillance, blatant disregard of the Constituti…

I don't think the CIA wants to give you the warm fuzzies. After all, their sole occupation at the end of the day is basically to destabilize and overthrow governments.

They care about PR quite a bit. It could affect funding and could affect appeal for new recruits.

No matter if they torture and assassinate people, it is important for them that they are seen as protecting American ideals and all that. That sounds too abstract sometimes, so a little story about "oh look they are cool people just like you, drinking Starbucks" does that very well.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#35

Post by justrudd »

CoachRufus87 wrote: post #25
chrissnell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pure conjecture but I've served in the military and know how these things work in the more security-sensitive areas of that organization: My guess is that they are contractors, placed there by whatever corporation handles the rest of their foodservice. They could be former military servicemembers (cooks, quartermaster, etc) who have clean enough records and credit to obtain the security clearance. I'd be will…

they check your credit?

Yep. If you have a lot of debt, it becomes a vector that a foreign intelligence agency could use as an approach on you. Become your friend, find out about that 20K in student loan debt you have, and then mention "Hey. You know. If you were tell me whenever you hear about XYZ, I could help you out with that debt".

edit: fixed spelling.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#36

Post by [deleted] »

CoachRufus87 wrote: post #25
chrissnell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pure conjecture but I've served in the military and know how these things work in the more security-sensitive areas of that organization: My guess is that they are contractors, placed there by whatever corporation handles the rest of their foodservice. They could be former military servicemembers (cooks, quartermaster, etc) who have clean enough records and credit to obtain the security clearance. I'd be will…

they check your credit?

[deleted]

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#37

Post by r0h1n »

>>“But giving any name at all was making people — you know, the undercover agents — feel very uncomfortable. It just didn’t work for this location.”

>> There are no frequent-customer award cards, because officials fear the data stored on the cards could be mined by marketers and fall into the wrong hands, outing secret agents.

What? CIA agents don't like a real-name policy or their coffee consumption being mined by marketers? Who'da thought.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#38

Post by peteretep »

rdtsc wrote: post #34
bane wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the CIA wants to give you the warm fuzzies. After all, their sole occupation at the end of the day is basically to destabilize and overthrow governments.

They care about PR quite a bit. It could affect funding and could affect appeal for new recruits. No matter if they torture and assassinate people, it is important for them that they are seen as protecting American ideals and all that. That sounds too abstract sometimes, so a little story about "oh look they are cool people just like you, drinking Starbucks" does that very well.

    > They care about PR quite a bit
As evidence by the fact that this story definitely went via the CIA's PR department

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#40

Post by [deleted] »

qewrffewqwfqew wrote: post #20

Not a spook, but it bugs me also when I'm asked to give my name to identify an order. I have an unusual name that people find difficult to pronounce and spell. Meanwhile, there are five Matts behind me who have each ordered different things. All six of us have to keep visual attention on the service area so we can identify our stuff when it comes out, because I won't know whose name they're trying to call and latte-M…

[deleted]
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