Categories: WartimeWorld War II

Simple Sabotage Field Manual, 1944

Background

Since World War II, US intelligence agencies have devised innovative ways to defeat their adversaries. In 1944, CIA’s precursor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), created the Simple Sabotage Field Manual.

This classified booklet described ways to sabotage the US’ World War II enemies. The OSS Director William J. Donovan recommended that the sabotage guidance be declassified and distributed to citizens of enemy states via pamphlets and targeted broadcasts.

Surprisingly Relevant Sabotage Instructions

Many of the sabotage instructions guide ordinary citizens, who may not have agree with their country’s wartime policies towards the US, to destabilize their governments by taking disruptive actions.  Some of the instructions seem outdated; others remain surprisingly relevant. Together they are a reminder of how easily productivity and order can be undermined.

Continue scrolling for more...

Here’s a list of five particularly timeless tips from the Simple Sabotage Field Manual

  1. Managers and Supervisors: To lower morale and production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.
  2. Employees: Work slowly. Think of ways to increase the number of movements needed to do your job: use a light hammer instead of a heavy one; try to make a small wrench do instead of a big one.
  3. Organizations and Conferences: When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large and bureaucratic as possible. Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.
  4. Telephone: At office, hotel and local telephone switchboards, delay putting calls through, give out wrong numbers, cut people off “accidentally,” or forget to disconnect them so that the line cannot be used again.
  5. Transportation: Make train travel as inconvenient as possible for enemy personnel. Issue two tickets for the same seat on a train in order to set up an “interesting” argument.

Download the Document

 Simple Sabotage Field Manual, 1944 [20 Pages, 2.9MB]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/cia/OSSSimpleSabotage_sm.pdf

Follow The Black Vault on Social Media:

This post was published on April 7, 2016 10:14 pm

John Greenewald

Recent Posts

The DoD Inspector General’s Evaluation of the DoD’s Actions Regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

This article was originally written in August 2024. However, additional document releases related to these…

July 15, 2025

Do Not Respond: Pentagon Staff Instructed to Ignore The Black Vault’s UAP Inquiry

The Department of Defense (DoD) has released 151 pages of internal records related to the…

July 15, 2025

U.S. Government Confirms Multiple Drone Incursions Over Pantex Nuclear Facility; Newly Released Documents Reveal Previously Unreported Security Events

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a series of previously undisclosed documents confirming…

July 12, 2025

Air Force Confirms Drone Swarms Over Wright-Patterson AFB Led to Airspace Shutdown; Videos and Reports Released

Newly released Air Force records confirm that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Ohio experienced…

July 11, 2025

Navy Withheld Nearly 500 Pages About UAP Video Release Decision, Records Show FOIA Pressure Drove Disclosure

Newly released documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal that the U.S.…

July 9, 2025

CIA Mishandles UFO Files Again: Intelligence on Soviet UFO Reports Lost Forever

The CIA’s history of losing or mismanaging UFO-related records continues with yet another example, this…

July 7, 2025