Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Spy's simple sabotage manual

This is quite funny. A section of the Simple Sabotage Field Manual for US spies, declassified on 16 June 1976, reads:

"(11) General Interference with Organizations and Production
(a) Organizations and Conferences
(1) Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
(2) Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate "patriotic" comments.
(3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.
(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
(5) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
(6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
(7) Advocate "caution." Be "reasonable" and urge your fellow-conferees to be "reasonable" and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.
(8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon."

I do also like these bits:

"(9) Communications
(a)
Telephone
(1)
At office, hotel and exchange switchboards
delay putting enemy calls through, give them wrong numbers, cut them off "accidentally," or forget to disconnect them so that the line cannot be used again."

"(11) General Interference with Organizations and Production...

(b)
Managers and Supervisors
(1)
Demand written orders.
(2)
"Misunderstand" orders. Ask endless questions or engage in long correspondence about such orders. Quibble over them when you can...

(11) Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.

(12)
Multiply paper work in plausible ways. Start duplicate files...

(13)
Multiply the procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, pay checks, and so on. See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.
(14)
Apply all regulations to the last letter.
(c)
Office Workers (^L) Make mistakes in quantities of material
when you are copying orders. Confuse similar names. Use wrong addresses.
(2)
Prolong correspondence with government
bureaus.
(3)
Misfile essential documents.

(d)
Employees
(1)
Work slowly...

(2)
Contrive as many interruptions to your work as you can...

(4)
Pretend that instructions are hard to understand, and ask to have them repeated more than once...

(7)
Snarl up administration in every possible
way. Fill out forms illegibly so that they will have to be done over; make mistakes or omit requested information in forms.
(8)
If possible, join or help organize a group for presenting employee problems to the management.
See that the procedures adopted are as inconvenient as possible for the management, involving the presence of a large number of employees at each presentation, entailing more than one meeting for each grievance, bringing up problems which are largely imaginary, and so on...

(12) General Devices for Lowering Morale and Creating
Confusion
(a)
Give lengthy and incomprehensible explanations
when questioned.
(b)
Report imaginary spies or danger to the Gestapo or police.
(c) Act stupid...
(i)
Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks."

Thanks for the link Tony.

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