All Starbucks Are Different

I noticed a review of a local Starbucks that claimed they are all the same. This opinion is common on the internet but nothing could be further from the truth. No two Starbucks are the same. All of them are different and usually in many ways. Even the same Starbucks can differ from day to day or from morning to night.

The Staff

Some baristas are pleasant to interact with, others not. I won’t order a special drink if I see someone I don’t trust back there at the syrups. I learn which baristas are where and when each time of each day, and plan my order accordingly. Some locations don’t have any customer-friendly employees. But then, a lot of that depends on who you are and whether they want to provide you with good service or not. I see that a lot in a diverse place like Washington, DC.

The Coffee

I don’t think I’m imagining it when the same coffee takes different from one day to the next. The preparation of the coffee can make it taste like I ordered Pike instead of Blonde. I’ve stopped ordering Blonde coffee at one particular location because the minority baristas won’t give it to me. They pretend I wanted Bold. This happened every day until I stopped going there. I finally told them they didn’t pour the right coffee into my cup and made them try and try again.

Furniture

I prefer a Starbucks with plenty of small round tables. I’ve learned to avoid the long wooden community benches, such as you would expect to see in a soup kitchen for the homeless. In front of the benches are several tables with chairs on the opposite side. Perhaps the idea is to save money by buying one bench instead of several chairs. Or more likely, it is considered “furniture diversity.” You are often at the mercy of the others sitting on the bench. People getting up and back down cause shock waves from one end to the other. Then you have people who take your space with their bags and whatnot.

The upholstered easy chairs can be a good deal, unless you need a table for your laptop. And the easy chairs are often reserved quickly by the homeless who use them as beds. To sit in a cushioned chair isn’t the same as sitting on a wooden stool.

Artwork

I used to see a lot of 3- or 16-panel artwork on the walls. It seemed to be a current fad, but what artistic point is made by chopping a painting into 3 panels or 16 squares--as if separating them somehow makes a more profound statement.

Some cafes display a higher grade of art (relatively) and I wonder how it’s decided which locations get what. Now the trend is a collection of art focusing on what I assume are coffee fields in South America and the people who work them. I imagine it is to educate first-world customers on “the real people behind the coffee in your cup.” I’d prefer a return to the banal 3-panel stuff.

Customers

What kind of people does a cafe attract? And how many? Is there an active social scene or is it a ghost cafe everyone avoids?

The regulars can be professionals on their way to work in the morning, students using the free wifi before school, homemakers with their screaming children, job interviewers and interviewees, taxi drivers speaking to each other in unintelligible languages, and the aforementioned homeless bums.

Many regular groups are obnoxious. They confiscate their favorite chairs and tables and talk too loudly. Many seem retired, or should be. I typically avoid these groups because they worry me for a lot of reasons, and I don’t agree that it would be an extreme honor for me to have them near.

I try to spend most of my time alongside pleasant people, although you just can’t predict who will walk in the door and sit down next to you. I’ve been surprised many times. Anything can happen in a public place and there is a certain amount of vulnerability in spending time in one.

Neighborhood

I like to be able to see what’s going on outside my cafes, so I like a view of the windows. Who goes by the door without walking in? What other businesses are nearby? Is it a dangerous place? Or can you feel you are safe enough so you won’t get killed or attacked?

Lighting

Ernest Hemingway famously wrote about “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” but too much light kills a good cafe. Harsh light has no place in a cafe because it is a refuge from such things. And bright lights are the bane of laptop and mobile device users. Some cafes have too many lights shining down on the customers. And the best cafes have curtains at the windows that can be drawn when the sun is too bright, making it impossible to see the screen of an iPhone. I equate bright light with the doctor or the dentist.

Music

I avoid a certain cafe because the sound system emits loud static over the music. There is a short-circuit with the speakers. Apparently the staff doesn’t believe it’s a problem. A change in the songs from day to day is a good thing. It’s not pleasant to hear the same songs every day.

Staffs change. A few good customers come in and replace a few bad ones and vice versa. The furniture changes. The artwork. The ambiance shifts from day to night. At the same cafe. And all the others.

Nothing is the same anywhere.

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Who Killed the Spy Gareth Williams?

Gareth Williams was a British spy who worked for MI6. He was found dead in his London apartment on August 23, 2010. Williams’ body was discovered naked inside a locked North Face bag placed in his bathtub. Many news stories have speculated on how he died, and the exact cause is still hotly debated.

3 plausible explanations:

1. Killed Himself Accidentally
2. Killed by a Personal Friend
3. Killed by a Foreign Intelligence Agency

Theory 1: Killed Himself Accidentally

It has been proven that Williams could have locked himself in the bag, despite contrary beliefs expressed by escapology experts. Williams supposedly attended an Escapology presentation at a conference shortly before his death. Was he testing his skills?

We know that he previously tied himself to his bed and couldn't escape. His landlord had to free him. But in that case, he survived because suffocation wasn't a possibility. Did he know he would suffocate in the closed bag and not be able to breathe through the material? Wouldn't the average person assume that breathing through the enclosed bag would be possible?

Why would he do this in the bathtub? It may have been part of a sex game, rather than an Escapology test. And he may have needed the sides of the bathtub to help him enclose himself. The coroner said he would have left hand and footprints if he had entered the bag while it was in the bath, but not if he had used the bag to walk himself into the tub. Anyone could demonstrate that, I'm sure. The word "impossible" is being thrown around in this case far too frequently.

His landlord said Williams never had anyone in his flat, so it seems improbable that he wasn't alone when he died. But why would he turn the flat's heater up all the way in August?

Theory 2: Killed by a Personal Friend

Williams was said to be passionate about cycling. He also took a fashion class. Did he invite a friend up to his flat who then took part in a game and abandoned him to die? Did a "friend" kill him on purpose? But according to his landlord, he wasn't really friendly with anyone and a close friendship would have been noticed. The Psycho Theory can't be dismissed: an acquaintance just wanted to kill him on a lark.

Theory 3: Killed by an Intelligence Agency

The MI6 Mole Theory: is there a mole inside MI6 secretly working for a foreign power, such as Russia? The role of the mole wouldn't be to pass along classified documents to Moscow, because he could get caught in a number of ways. His job would be to take note of who inside MI6 was in a critical position on a project aimed against Russia or Iran and the elimination of that one critical person would significantly damage the project. Was Williams that person? Only MI6 knows the answer to the question if he held that kind of position.

And if the mole existed and his DNA was taken, to possibly match up with DNA found in the flat, wouldn't the mole need to run away to avoid capture and life in prison? If no one runs away, therefore there is no mole and the entire theory is discredited. Only MI6 knows if anyone has "run away" lately.

It is possible the foreign agent could be another kind of person, not a mole in MI6. Perhaps a cycling or fashion buddy.

The Dead Spy Equation can never be discounted:

Dead Spy + London = Russia

This equation oftentimes comes in handy, but it isn't foolproof.

It's within the realm of possibility that MI6 decided to snuff out one of their own agents, but we are in Robert Ludlum territory with this theory.

The North Face Bag

The bag is an extremely unlikely means for murdering Williams, or anyone else. Would a killer know for sure that a person would suffocate in the bag? The killer would have to know about the existence of the bag, as it is implausible that he would use it "on the spot" as a part of his murder plot. A similar bag was found at Williams' workplace, which seems to tie the killer to MI6 or to Williams himself, a reason against a non-work solution. The coroner said a "third party" must have placed the bag in the bathtub, but that seems highly debatable. But consider how unlikely it is that the bag would be used in any kind of a murder plot!

Conclusion

My conclusion is that Gareth Williams' death was accidental, caused by himself. He locked himself in the bag either to test his Escapology skills or as part of a sex game. That is the likeliest explanation. He tried to escape but couldn't, just like he couldn't escape from being tied to his bed.

Without question, mistakes have been made by the authorities during the investigation, and some of the actions of MI6 personnel are rather odd, but despite all that I don't see how we can get away from the solution I suggest here.

The MI6 Mole Theory is the most sensationalistic, but the more I think about this case, the less I am convinced of it. It is too wildly improbable. Nothing will surprise me more than if the DNA results point an accusing finger at someone in MI6. I eagerly await more details of the ongoing investigation as they are revealed.

The Best Spy Nonfiction of 2012

Recent spy stories in the news:

The Gareth Williams Case

Revelations about British spy Gareth Williams, who died in 2010, keep dribbling out:

• His iPhone was wiped clean of data hours before his death
• A secret meeting between MI6 and Scotland Yard hours after the discovery of Williams’ body
• He was being followed in the weeks before his death
• Police still believe his death was linked to his personal life
• The “Mediterranean couple” has been deemed irrelevant to the case
• Williams had once been found tied to his bed, calling for help
• His death was probably not linked to bondage or a sex game
• The coroner ruled that Williams was likely killed in a criminal act by a "third party" possibly a trusted colleague
• Williams may well have been poisoned and was still alive when placed in the bag
• Police are collecting DNA from his spy colleagues to match up with that found in his apartment, results expected in a couple weeks
• It is unlikely the complete truth will ever be known
• But an amateur has demonstrated it is possible to lock oneself inside the bag, despite the inability of experts to do so.

New Pentagon Agency

The Pentagon has launched the Defense Clandestine Service. Spy troops could pose as businessmen, thereby protecting military assets. Officers would work alongside CIA agents anywhere in the world, as needed.

The Pollard Case

Did Jonathan Pollard have an accomplice and is that why he is still jailed? Bad health is cited as a reason why Pollard may be released early. Reading the news reports of pro-Pollard activists, one might think he were a human rights activist rather than a treasonous spy.

European Mosque Trap

MI6 and Muammar Gaddafi’s spy service set up a radical mosque in an unnamed European city to lure in Al Qaeda terrorists.

The Delisle Case

In Canada, Lt. Jeffrey Delisle sent a large amount of sensitive military data to Russia and was arrested earlier this year. The amount of intelligence data sent by Delisle is considered equivalent to the volume of US data given to Wikileaks by Bradley Manning.

New Books of Interest:

Aid, Matthew M. Intel Wars: The Secret History of the Fight Against Terror.
Despite huge post-9/11 intelligence budgets, the war on Islamist terrorism has floundered and Aid attempts to explain why. Based on interviews and Wikileaks documents. Aid is the author of the highly-regarded book The Secret Sentry, a history of the NSA.

Birstein, Vadim. SMERSH: Stalin’s Secret Weapon, Soviet Military Counterintelligence in WWII.
James Bond aficionados know about SMERSH as a sinister opponent in the Ian Fleming novels, but it was a real organization under Joseph Stalin in WWII. Information about SMERSH became available after the fall of the Soviet Union. A biography of its director, Viktor Abakumov, is presented for the first time.

Peritz, Aki and Eric Rosenbach. Find, Fix, Finish: Inside the Counterterrorism Campaigns that Killed Osama Bin Laden and Devastated Al Qaeda.
A decade after 9/11 the US finally learned how to combat terrorists. No major attacks have occurred on the homeland. The Find, Fix, and Finish policy articulated by Donald Rumsfeld has been responsible for many successes, the authors say.

Sharp, David H. The CIA’s Greatest Covert Operation: Inside the Daring Mission to Recover a Nuclear-Armed Soviet Sub.
Several books have been written about the Azorian mission, but author Sharp, the Azorian Director of Recovery Systems, feels those accounts have gotten the facts wrong, while the CIA has continued to keep details of the recovery project shrouded in secrecy.

Read The Best Spy Nonfiction of 2011

The Best Spy Fiction of 2012

Updated 5/7/12

Here is a selection of noteworthy spy novels published in 2012:

Caplan, Thomas M. The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen.
Ty Hunter is a former military intelligence officer who becomes Hollywood’s top leading man (bet there haven’t been many of those). The president recruits him to save the world from nuclear disaster. Reviews have been positive; Library Journal compares Caplan to Ian Fleming, wow! The WaPo highlights Bill Clinton’s intro, as you would expect from them. Required reading, sez the NY Post. Kirkus splashes some cold water with their usual ho-hum verdict, and the Chicago Sun-Times thinks it awful, killed by leaden prose! That’s critics for you.

Berenson, Alex. The Shadow Patrol.
John Wells is recruited to find out what’s the problem with the CIA station in Kabul, Afghanistan. Nothing but failure since a suicide bomber blew himself up there in 2009. All the pundits seem to like this one.

Flynn, Vince. Kill Shot.
Flynn has emerged as one of the most popular thrillerists going today, receiving plaudits from presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Rush Limbaugh. Nine dead bodies are found in a Paris hotel and Flynn’s superhero Mitch Rapp is thought to have been responsible. Maybe Rapp, who has caused an international crisis, would be better off dead to avoid any further embarrassment.

Garrison, Paul. Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Command.
Look at the front cover of this book. What’s the biggest thing you see? The name Robert Ludlum. Now find the author’s name. Get the idea? Ludlum died over a decade ago, yet his name dominates the covers of new books written by others. Paul Janson, a character from Ludlum’s own The Janson Directive, is brought to life again by Garrison. African intrigue with rebels and pirates. The idea seems to be that you are getting a whiff of the legendary thriller writer Ludlum, and this novel, by association, is a cut above the others on the marketplace. A new Bourne book written by Lustbader is coming soon, as well. I have to believe people know what they are buying and these Ludlum-branded books penned by others seem to be popular.

Henshaw, Mark. Red Cell.
China plans an invasion of Taiwan. The US enters the action and China unleashes a secret weapon. Henshaw is a CIA analyst.

Johansen, Iris. What Doesn’t Kill You.
Gorgeous CIA agent Catherine Ling must find the master herbalist who created the world’s most deadly poison. A rare female author on the list.

Pavone, Chris. The Expats.
Kate Moore is a working mom, a former covert CIA agent, and now an expat in Europe, her husband having taken a job in Luxembourg. Are her neighbors what they appear? And what about hubby? Wildly positive reviews, even from Kirkus.

Steinhauer, Olen. An American Spy.
CIA agent Milo Weaver is in the middle of Chinese intrigue. Vengeance is planned against a Chinese spymaster who crippled Weaver’s Tourism Department in Steinhauer’s previous book. The third installment of a trilogy. Steinhauer is highly-regarded for a spy novelist, even the NY Times deigns to review this guy.

Read The Best Spy Fiction of 2011

Read The Best Spy Fiction of 2010

The Top 10 Spy News Stories of 2011

The Killing of Osama Bin Laden
The top spy news story of 2011 was the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden. Ten years of intelligence provided tantalizing clues that finally led to the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden had apparently been living there for years, probably with the knowledge of some elements within Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

Several high-value terrorists had been waterboarded in the years after 9/11, resulting in the discovery of the name of a bin Laden courier. Later, the National Security Agency was made aware of a SIM card from a cell phone associated with the courier, which allowed it to monitor a conversation between the courier & an associate. His location was pinpointed and he was eventually tracked to bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.

But more evidence was needed that bin Laden was actually living there, so the CIA concocted a phony vaccination program for locals in that area. The DNA of bin Laden’s children was thereby collected, and that provided enough evidence that the CIA had finally discovered bin Laden’s whereabouts. A Navy SEAL team swept in and ended bin Laden’s reign of terror on May 2.

Cyberespionage Rising
Cyberspying is the fastest growing type of espionage. Hackers are targeting military, government, business, educational, and personal computer systems. Often, they are acting on behalf of a foreign government. The Pentagon has taken notice and formulated policies for the first time in dealing with the threat. “Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace” is the first ever reports by the Pentagon to protect from potentially devastating attacks. The “Department of Defense Cyberspace Policy Report” includes guidelines for a military response to a cyberattack.

The Secret War on Iran’s Nuclear Program
In Iran, things fall apart—by way of unexplained explosions. Gas pipelines, oil installations, and military facilities have all suffered from this mysterious illness. Nuclear physicists have been assassinated and nuclear facilities sabotaged. Who knows why? Many speculate the Mossad, CIA, and other western intelligence services are engaged in a secret campaign to inhibit Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions, and all this chaos is the result.

The Raymond Davis Affair
Relations between Pakistan and the US became exceptionally strained during the Raymond Davis Affair. Davis was a CIA contractor working at the US consulate in Lahore, Pakistan. On January 27, he shot and killed two Pakistani men who had approached his vehicle while in traffic. Davis said they were trying to rob him. The Pakistani public was outraged, feeling that CIA agents were running around their country killing people with no accountability or respect for innocent lives. After two months of diplomatic negotiations, it was decided that the Islamic practice of accepting “blood money” by the victims’ relatives would solve the matter in a way acceptable to all parties, and Davis was released from jail and flown out of the country.

China is Crowned King of Cyberespionage
China has become “the bad guy” in terms of cyberespionage. Fair? All countries spy, all countries try to discover military and governmental secrets from both enemies and friends. But critics assert that China’s espionage has gone far beyond stealing those kinds of secrets, and it is waging a massive trade war by targeting private American companies. Most countries steal what they need, while China steals everything it can get its hands on, they say. The US doesn’t steal on behalf of private industry, but that isn’t a problem for China or other countries. We are playing by different rules. “Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace” was issued by the National Counterintelligence Executive accusing China of being the most active perpetrator of economic espionage.

Iran Captures US Spy Drone
In early December, Iran somehow came into possession of an unmanned US spy plane, an RQ-170 Sentinel drone. It was apparently spying on Iran’s nuclear facilities. What caused the plane to fall out of the sky is disputed. The US believes it suffered a technical malfunction and crashed; Iran collected the pieces, then reassembled and painted them before placing the vehicle on display for the public. Iranian authorities, on the other hand, claim they jammed the plane’s navigation technology, allowing them to gain control and force it to land. This particular drone is considered highly advanced, but has no self-destruct mechanism. Prominent figures on the political right berated President Obama for not ordering a strike team to fly in and destroy the vehicle before it could be captured. Obama was left in the humiliating position of begging an adversarial foreign power to give it back, which Iran rejected. How much Iran can learn from the plane is debated as well, but it is feared Iran will allow China or Russia to see the drone and learn what they can from it.

The Lebanon Espionage War
In early December, the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon revealed the names of the CIA station chief in Beirut as well as other CIA staffers, which seriously compromised the ability of the US to conduct intelligence operations. Hezbollah also announced it had arrested several Lebanese spies working for the CIA. The spy network was discovered with telephone data mining equipment originally provided to Lebanon by the US. Sloppy CIA tradecraft made the exposure easier. Alleged spies for Israel continue to be arrested. Hezbollah discovered an Israeli tapping device attached to a private fiber-optic communication network, which Lebanon then complained about to the UN. The Pentagon said Hezbollah receives millions in aid from Iran yearly.

Crackdown on Spies in Iran
Throughout the year, Iran claimed to have arrested dozens of CIA spies engaged in espionage and sabotage of their nuclear facilities. The spies were apparently Iranians persuaded to work for the US. Otherwise, Iran has provided few details on those arrested. But it is clear than an ongoing intelligence war is underway in Iran and the major players are Israel and the US. The point of all the espionage activity seems to be to avoid, if possible, airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, except as a last resort. In the absence of any successful diplomatic initiatives, the shadow war will continue unless it no longer shows results.

Zatuliveter Exonerated of Espionage Charge
Katia Zatuliveter, a Russian national who was also a researcher for UK MP Mike Hancock, was accused of spying for Russia, but in November was finally cleared of the accusations of espionage and is permitted to stay in the UK. MI5 and the British Home Office believed the young Russian woman had targeted the middle-aged Hancock due to his place on the Defence committee. There were “grounds for suspicion” but nothing concrete against her in terms of spying. She plans to write a book about the entire affair.

Looming Budget Cuts
The US intelligence and defense budgets are facing dramatic cuts of a magnitude not seen since the early 1990s, in the days after the fall of the Soviet Union. For the first time since 9/11, spending for non-military intelligence will decrease. Will our spying capabilities suffer, as they did 20 years ago, when many feel the deep cutbacks eventually resulted in 9/11, which no one foresaw. Any deep cuts are likely to increase security risks, making another 9/11 a greater possibility. The Pentagon and DNI are already issuing warnings that the risk of attacks will increase.

Didn’t Quite Make the Top 10

India’s Chewing Gum Spy Scandal
Wads of chewing gum were found placed strategically under the desks of the Prime Minister of India’s top staff members. The implication, in terms of espionage, was that the innocent-looking gum was used as an adhesive to hold electronic surveillance bugs in place and out of sight. The intelligence bureau decided nothing sinister was involved in Bubblegumgate, although nothing could be ruled out.

Top UK Minister Dumps Secret Papers in the Trash
Oliver Letwin, policy adviser to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, was observed and photographed dumping private government papers in trash cans in a public park where anyone could have retrieved them. A damage-control spokesman claimed none of the documents were of a sensitive nature.

German Spy HQ Blueprints Stolen
A new headquarters for Germany’s spy agency is being built in Berlin. The blueprints were stolen, which included sensitive information about the security of the building.

Saudis Arrest Israeli Spy Vulture
Saudi Arabian security services detained a vulture that had flown into their territory. Suspiciously, the bird carried a GPS transmitter from Tel Aviv University, prompting accusations of a Zionist plot. Israeli officials said the tracking device stored data about the bird’s travels, altitude, and speed to better understand its behavior.

See Also: The Best Spy Nonfiction of 2011

See Also: The Best Spy Fiction of 2011

CIA Contractor Raymond Davis Freed from Pakistani Jail

Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor charged with murder in Pakistan, has been freed, according to news reports.

Families of the two Pakistanis he killed were given "blood money," who then forgave Davis, and the case was dropped, as is permitted by Pakistani law.

Davis is en route on a special flight to London.