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Starbucks doesn't write names on cups at the CIA

The Starbucks is located at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

By Thor Benson
The logo of a Starbucks Coffee shop in Washington, DC. (UPI/Billie Jean Shaw)
The logo of a Starbucks Coffee shop in Washington, DC. (UPI/Billie Jean Shaw)

LANGLEY, Va., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- You won't see names written on coffee cups at the Starbucks at the CIA headquarters, the Washington Post reports. A food service supervisor at the CIA told the Post he told agents they could make up names if they didn't want to use their real name, but just having any name on the cup was making agents uncomfortable.

Baristas have to go through a background check and many other screenings before they're allowed to work at the Starbucks, and there are no frequent customer cards allowed, to protect the agents' identities. Baristas are also regularly updated on security risks. The Post reports it's one of the busiest Starbucks locations in the country. "Urban myth says the CIA Starbucks is the busiest in the world, and to me that makes perfect sense. This is a population who have to be alert and spend hours poring through documents. If they miss a word, people can die," Vince Houghton, an intelligence expert and curator at the International Spy Museum, told the Post.

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