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Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) [pdf]
- johnea 9mo agoSure, just go fetch the sabotage manual from cia.gov! That absolutely will never ever get your IP on a watch list or anything 8-/
- windowpains 9mo agoCan’t they just watch everyone? I mean too much data is only a problem until you have AI.
- margalabargala 9mo agoIt's true. "Getting you on a list" is the outdated consequence, "having a flag set in your file" is the new way.
- fenwick67 9mo agoanother day another field effecting the "deviant" weight in the FBI's model
- windowpains 9mo agoSomeone here probably works for Alex Karp and can give us the low down. I’d imagine it’s a virtual clone of some sort which can be put into simulated environments and observed.
- cardamomo 9mo agoWe should create a committee to see if this actually has an effect. A minimum of 24 members should be sufficient. After we have a quorum, we can independently test your hypothesis and report back to the committee. Once we reach consensus, let's report back to this thread.
- NitpickLawyer 9mo agoAh! It's great that you've already set up the committee. Before we do any hypothesis testing, I would like us to discuss the resource consumption of a) this committee's gatherings (especially when we have a quorum) resource allocations as related to miscellaneous consumables (e.g. paper and pencils) and b) the overall energy usage of all our members (especially when using such tools as VPNs and dual monitors) when remote gathering and c) the proper removal and safe disposal of the plastic water bottles (including but not limited to their caps) after an in person meeting Barring these estimations and their precise tracing throughout the lifetime of one of our meetings, I'm afraid I'll insist on postponing any such meetings, until we'll have the possibility of performing such estimations, or a higher power decides to maybe wave some (if not all) of the above. In which case we should then proceed to propose alternative avenues towards the facilitation of such re-estimating, or re-analysis as needed.
- russfink 9mo agozOMG dying laughing here
- actionfromafar 9mo agoRegular HN discussion about wind vs nuclear.
- bmacho 9mo agoGet it from archive? https://web.archive.org/web/2026if_/https://www.cia.gov/static/5c875f3ec660e092cf893f60b4a288df/SimpleSabotage.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/2026if_/https://www.cia.gov/stat...
- jjkaczor 9mo agoIf you are that concerned, it's available from Anna's Archive and/or other shadow libraries. This thing has been floating around for decades... Heck - you can buy a physical copy from Amazon...
- baldgeek 9mo agoThat won't get you put on a watchlist. You have to a little more than access it. I bet that millions before this post was even created have accessed that document.
- GolfPopper 9mo agoI'm more concerned with the wisdom of downloading a document in a format known to be exploitable hosted by an intelligence agency of a government known for a recent uptick in aggressive domestic policing?
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- FuriouslyAdrift 9mo agoNah... it just adds another tag to your id in Gotham
- jansan 9mo agoI think I have downloaded it about ten times in the last fifteen years. Noone came knocking so far.
- impossiblefork 9mo agoThe CIA are probably for the most part reasonable people, or if they aren't, hopefully not that kind of crazy. They probably want people to look at their history stuff. Think "look, our predecessor organizations helped defeat the Nazis/Imperial Japan and did reasonable stuff". I'm not sure whether this text is propaganda to get people to work more effectively or an actual sabotage manual, but whatever it is, that's still the signal, I think. At best keeping this on your website is like trying to say "Our stuff taught people to resist Nazis and similarly bad people", at worst it's like trying to say "look, here's a really entertaining way to trick people into being productive".
- downrightmike 9mo agoWhere;s the Iran > Contra > Inner-City crack epidemic book? Maybe we can borrow the sackler's copy?
- DontchaKnowit 9mo ago"The CIA are probably for the most part reasonable people" What CIA are you talking about? Maybe we have diferent definitions of reasonable, but the CIA I know of are absolutely fucking wicked, morally bankrupt snakes.
- regentbowerbird 9mo agoTrue. Let's post the URL to a popular website to add noise to the data.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 9mo agoSpy agencies are presumably pretty good at learning which signal is signal and which is noise. Given how commonly this is referenced in corporate presentations to point out that the antipatterns from the sabotage manual are how many companies run nowadays, it's either going to be a meaninglessly big watchlist or no watchlist.
- shawn_w 9mo agoFor bonus watchlist points grab a copy of The Anarchists Cookbook at the same time.
- sneak 9mo agoEvery IP is being watched.
- FergusArgyll 9mo ago> Use the information as you see fit.
- trolleski 9mo agohttps://archive.org/details/simple-sabotage-field-menu https://archive.org/details/simple-sabotage-field-menu
- roadbuster 9mo ago> Forget to provide paper in toilets The world's greatest spy agency at work.
- mirabilis 9mo agoonly tangentially related, but it brought the O’Hare Shit-In to mind: https://thenonviolenceproject.wisc.edu/2024/03/11/news-flush-ohare-restrooms-occupied-in-the-greatest-protest-that-never-happened-2/ https://thenonviolenceproject.wisc.edu/2024/03/11/news-flush...
- nxobject 9mo agoBut think of the cumulative hours wasted trying to find some! Another thought: if bathrooms ran out of soap, how many extra illnesses would you get?
- Cthulhu_ 9mo agoI'm afraid there's enough people that don't wash their hands for this to make a difference :/
- int0x29 9mo agoThis document predates the CIA.
- axus 9mo agoReplace paper towels with hand dryers!
- dredmorbius 9mo agoA (minor) plot point in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash as well.
- danielvaughn 9mo agoThere's a bunch of really interesting declassified documents if you want to go down a historical rabbit hole. A long time ago I remember reading top secret messages that were sent back and forth between Kennedy and his military strategists in the days leading up to the Bay of Pigs. Feels like reading history from the source.
- Liquix 9mo agoThe remote viewing declassified documents available at the CIA reading room are mind blowing IMO. Keyword to search: "GRILL FLAME"
- dredmorbius 9mo ago<https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001000410001-6.pdf https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R0010004...> (PDF) Part of the larger Stargate Project: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_un...>
- mmaunder 9mo agoIt’s as if our country has trained millions of our citizens in the art of harming others and destroying their communities and societies. And then gamified it for our kids and created entertainment that glorifies and celebrates it. We’re so fucked.
- gverrilla 9mo ago"as if"
- rolph 9mo agoi believe the ACB devoted a chapter to similar topics. the cat has been out of the bag for some time, regarding what amounts to guerilla or grayman tactics.
- bluedino 9mo agoThe "Managers and Supervisors" section is like a reverse Joel test for many jobs.
- diyseguy 9mo agoI feel like so many people I've worked with have read this and use it like a guide. I now sort of wonder if they were plants put there by competitors...
- ntcho 9mo agoI think this should be on HN hall of fame: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=sabotage+manual https://hn.algolia.com/?q=sabotage+manual
- sublinear 9mo agoThe hall of fame of points-farming?
- junglistguy 9mo ago[dead]
- dang 9mo agoRelated. Others? Bureaucrat Mode - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41745750 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41745750 - Oct 2024 (49 comments) Simple sabotage for software (2023) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40695839 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40695839 - June 2024 (75 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual – How to Destroy Your Organizations - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36831946 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36831946 - July 2023 (95 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35448090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35448090 - April 2023 (129 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1945) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32356038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32356038 - Aug 2022 (3 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States Office of Strategic Services - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31676964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31676964 - June 2022 (55 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31070624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31070624 - April 2022 (8 comments) Excerpt from CIA's Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29597454 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29597454 - Dec 2021 (209 comments) 1944 OSS Manual on How to Sabotage Productivity - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28507930 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28507930 - Sept 2021 (5 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26293804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26293804 - Feb 2021 (1 comment) CIA's Declassified 1941 Simple Sabotage Field Manual - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23316292 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23316292 - May 2020 (1 comment) Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22322041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22322041 - Feb 2020 (89 comments) Spotting Field Sabotage in Meetings (2011) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16045073 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16045073 - Jan 2018 (36 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15109771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15109771 - Aug 2017 (32 comments) The CIA’s 1944 Simple Sabotage Field Manual (2015) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12253276 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12253276 - Aug 2016 (64 comments) Updating classic workplace sabotage techniques - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11702267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11702267 - May 2016 (280 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10493881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10493881 - Nov 2015 (68 comments) Declassified CIA documents detail how to sabotage employers, annoy bosses - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10490804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10490804 - Nov 2015 (21 comments) How to make sure nothing gets done at work - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10393485 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10393485 - Oct 2015 (3 comments) Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4831363 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4831363 - Nov 2012 (67 comments) From CIA: Timeless Tips for 'Simple Sabotage' - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4243649 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4243649 - July 2012 (3 comments) How We Beat the Nazis with Bureaucracy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1398103 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1398103 - June 2010 (22 comments) WW2 "Simple Sabotage Field Manual" declassified [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=905750 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=905750 - Oct 2009 (6 comments) OSS (pre-CIA) Simple Sabotage Field Manual - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=833443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=833443 - Sept 2009 (29 comments) (Reposts are fine after a year or so; links to past threads are just to satisfy extra-curious readers)
- Papazsazsa 9mo agoMy buddy is republishing this manual here if you want a nice copy: https://www.alephic.com/sabotage https://www.alephic.com/sabotage
- 0xTJ 9mo agoBe careful when you get down to "(11) General Interference with Organizations and Production", you might start thinking that your coworkers are CIA saboteurs.
- sunrunner 9mo agoI’ve long suspected that my company’s previous Head of Architecture was a double agent, actually working for a competitor. I’ve never seen anyone create so much process that likely looks good to the board while slowing every single person down, yet never actively preventing anyone from doing anything. I mean, it’s either that or they were just incompetent, and honestly the double-agent theory is more fun. Although, Hanlon’s Razor and all...
- ChrisMarshallNY 9mo agoIt could be the influence of Administratium: https://web.archive.org/web/19971012140932/http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/administ.htm https://web.archive.org/web/19971012140932/http://www.lhup.e...
- HotGarbage 9mo agoA version for modern times: https://specificsuggestions.com/ https://specificsuggestions.com/
- tunapizza 9mo agoIt's wild how many of these so-called sabotage techniques happen daily in the workspace without even realizing it. I can’t tell if this website is being serious or just having a laugh. I don't know whether I find it funny or sad.
- michaelt 9mo agoIs this a deep philosophical reflection on the nature of work and organisational behaviour? Or does it simply reflect the fact a good sabotage technique is something you can get away with - and therefore it has to be something that happens daily in the workplace?
- toomuchtodo 9mo agoWhy not both?
- ocdtrekkie 9mo agoThat is, in fact, the point. You don't want to get caught/fired for sabotaging your company. The site suggests introducing additional perfectly explainable events which happen all the time, and are hard to assign blame to direct incompetence, but slow progress and cost money.
- fooqux 9mo agoI guess it's nice to know getting logged out of my accounts in 5 minutes is just an act of sabotage. Strangely, I'm more okay with that.
- embedding-shape 9mo agoCrap, that "escape method" of "we'll redirect you away if you click too much" made it really hard to read the text.
- yowayb 9mo agoI worked at a now-defunct defense contractor with the typical inefficiencies of hyper-secrecy and government waste. A friend once asked, "aren't you conflicted that you're helping kill people?" At the time, that question put serious doubt in my head. But years after, I realized all the inefficiency slows the machine down. Combine this with negative public opinion, and you've got the perfect machine for creating work that results in busy-ness and reduces actual battlefield harm. The stories from this place are fun.
- ChrisMarshallNY 9mo agoI think Raytheon scored #1 on the Dilbert Index, at one time...
- psunavy03 9mo agoI frankly can't see how someone can look around at the world in 2026 and come to the conclusion that "military" == "automatically bad." There are bad actors in this world who would be more than happy to kill you and take your stuff because they feel like it, and these days some of them run countries.
- int_19h 9mo agoYes, but some of them run countries where we live in (and therefore working for military contractors in this country is literally helping kill people to take their stuff). This includes US where tech is so heavily concentrated.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- sneak 9mo agoA reminder: ICE is on a hiring spree with little/no background checking.
- drkravitz 9mo agoObligatory music video that should be playing during this topic: https://youtu.be/z5rRZdiu1UE https://youtu.be/z5rRZdiu1UE R.I.P. MCA
- eerikkivistik 9mo agoI once sent this as a reference to a government agency I was consulting, to illustrate to them, how they operated.