How to contact your handler at the CIA

At Starbucks, apparently.

There’s a new policy at Starbucks starting this week that says you can’t hang out, or even pop in to use the bathroom, unless you buy something.

I used to write at Starbucks a lot. Heck, I wrote almost an entire book in a Starbucks.

It was funny when I’d look around and imagine what some of the other people were doing there.

Some were probably working remotely. Others were freelancing or job-searching.

Occasionally I’d see people on an especially uncreative first date. Of course, there were some just hanging out and drinking coffee.

Also, apparently, some of them might have been spying for the CIA.

I learned this after reading the account of former CIA spy Amaryllis Fox, who wrote a book about her time with the agency: Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA.

Fox served in the clandestine service "from 2003 to 2010" and "deployed to 16 countries to infiltrate terrorist networks in the post-Sept. 11 world," according to a summary on NPR.

She revealed that when she went through training, a CIA instructor taught her a pretty cool trick, using a Starbucks gift card, to let recruited assets signal that they needed to meet:

“He gives one [gift card] to each of his assets and tells them, 'If you need to see me, buy a coffee.' Then he checks the card numbers on a cybercafé computer each day, and if the balance on one is depleted, he knows he's got a meeting. ...

Saves him having to drive past a whole slew of different physical signal sites each day [to check for chalk marks and lowered window blinds]. And the card numbers aren't tied to identities, so the whole thing is pretty secure."

You might recognize the spy tradecraft from an earlier era -- "chalk marks and window blinds" -- if you've watched spy shows like The Americans.

(If you haven't watched The Americans, please finish this newsletter, and then delay whatever else you had planned for today or this evening. You’ve found your next binge-watch.)

Besides the Starbucks gift card idea, it seems like Fox spent a lot of time in the CIA meeting with her assets in cafes.

Cafes and restaurants are “the lifeblood of espionage," she writes, adding: "Mostly, [the meetings] are planned to look accidental."

Other advice:

• Sit with your back to the wall,

• Never use your real name (Seems obvious, but I’ll bet this advice is inspired by a CIA story about a spy who actually did use his real name),

• Scout everything out ahead of time (so you know where the security cameras and emergency exits are), and

• Most of all: Skip the trendy, independent venues, and meet your sources at chain restaurants when possible.

“Panda Express, Panera Bread, McDonald's and Starbucks, which have a standardized layout and are open late into the night, are handy operational sites,” Fox said.

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7 other things worth knowing today

• Forecasters are warning of extreme fire danger across Los Angeles, where firefighters are still working to contain the multiple blazes that have engulfed parts of the county for the past week. Winds are expected to peak before noon on Wednesday, with gusts of up to 60 and 70 miles per hour. The fires have placed hundreds of thousands of residents under evacuation orders and warnings. The LA County Medical Examiner is investigating a total of 24 fire-related deaths as of Monday afternoon, 16 from the Eaton Fire and eight from the Palisades Fire. (NPR)

• House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Republicans hope to put "conditions" on aid to California after the Los Angeles wildfires, likely requiring Democrats to vote for a debt limit increase to make it happen. “We’ll see where it goes,” Johnson told reporters. “That’s my personal view." (Politico)

• Special counsel Jack Smith defended his decision to bring charges against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, writing in a 174-page report made public early Tuesday that prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to convict him had they not been forced to drop the case after his re-election in November. (WSJ)

• Democrats’ hopes of defeating any of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees appear to be fizzling. On Tuesday Senate committees began reviewing the most controversial picks, such as Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to head the Pentagon. The lull in attention on the nominees over the winter holiday break, combined with the sheer deluge of confirmation proceedings in a short time frame, is giving Trump’s picks a lot of momentum, thanks to the comfortable 53-seat Republican majority in the Senate. (The Hill)

• Meta is deleting all links that uses post to Pixelfed, a decentralized Instagram competitor (think Bluesky is to Twitter/X as Pixelfed is to Instagram). On Facebook, the company is labeling links to Pixelfed.social as “spam” and deleting them immediately. (404 Media)

• About a million Americans a year are expected to develop dementia by 2060, roughly double today’s toll, researchers reported Monday. That estimate is based on a new study that found a higher lifetime risk than previously thought: After age 55, people have up to a 4 in 10 chance of eventually developing dementia -- if they live long enough. (AP)

• ‘I’m Going to Plot Your Demise for My Entire Workout.’ Gym Rats Can’t Wait for You to Quit Your Resolution: FaceTiming on the treadmill, infringing on personal space: breaches of basic etiquette pit regulars against ‘resolutionaries.’ (WSJ)