Do You Need A Security Clearance To Work At The Pentagon's Starbucks?

Starbucks is one of the 14 food chains with locations inside of the Pentagon, raising the question of whether a barista requires a security clearance in order to serve coffee there. Security clearance refers to any one person's eligibility to access classified information, which is generally broken down into three categories: classified, secret, and top secret. But while Starbucks baristas do regularly handle secret menu drinks, sensitive information regarding things like national security hardly comes across the cafe's counter. While it would be really cool, it's very unlikely an employee of the Pentagon's Starbucks — or any other fast food chain in the Department of Defense headquarters — would require that kind of clearance.

With that being said, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that Starbucks Pentagon employees undergo more extensive hiring processes than those at other non-government-affiliated locations. At the Pentagon, there are a number of positions that don't require security clearance but do require criminal and credit checks, drug testing, and other employment verification processes. These include positions of public trust, those that fall under various Homeland Security Policy Directives, or those that involve Personal Identity Verification credentials. What's more interesting, however, is how differently these locations operate in order to serve those who do work under security clearance.

While Starbucks Pentagon and CIA employees might not require security clearance, they do serve a special role: caffeinating, and humanizing the people that do. In turn, they serve the country in their own unique way.

Any first-hand information on experiences at or within the Starbucks Pentagon location is hard to come by, given its proximity to the Department of Defense headquarters and the fact that — despite not requiring security clearance for its employees — it serves federal government professionals that do. But one visitor on Reddit did confirm that the Starbucks inside of the Pentagon has "the most brilliant thing": one line for drip coffee and another line for other coffee drinks. This was no doubt enacted for similar reasons experienced at other high-security locations, such as the CIA Starbucks. Here, the morning and mid-afternoon lines stretch down the hallway, and the Pentagon likely implemented a similar process in an effort to save employees' time.

Much like Starbucks Pentagon employees, baristas at the CIA Starbucks go through rigorous interviews and background checks — with some reports claiming they require escorts in order to leave their work area. Starbucks CIA also doesn't write names on cups or offer rewards for fear of data mining by marketers, which could be used to out secret agents. While different from the reason why you can't use your Starbucks rewards at Disney or Barnes & Noble Cafés, it wouldn't be surprising if the Starbucks Pentagon location didn't accept rewards for a similar purpose. Baristas at the CIA location are also regularly briefed about potential security risks, and the most they're able to tell people about where they work is that it's in a federal building.