Declassified Simple Sabotage Field Manual (OSS, WWII — Declassified)
The OSS manual on how ordinary citizens can disrupt enemy operations through simple acts of sabotage — bureaucratic obstruction, workplace slowdowns, infrastructure interference, and communication disruption. Declassified by the CIA and now a widely studied document on organizational resistance.
Key Takeaways
- Written by the OSS — precursor to the CIA — during WWII
- Designed for civilian resistance behind enemy lines
- Covers bureaucratic sabotage, workplace slowdowns, and institutional disruption
- Famously describes how to make organizations dysfunctional from within
- Declassified — hosted on CIA.gov as public domain
This is the most quoted resistance document of the 20th century for a reason: it teaches ordinary people how to resist occupying forces without weapons. The bureaucratic sabotage section is legendary — it reads like a satire of modern corporate management, but it was written as a weapon. If you've ever been in a meeting that felt like sabotage, the OSS wrote the manual.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the U.S. wartime intelligence agency that preceded the CIA. This manual was produced in 1944 for distribution to civilian resistance networks in occupied Europe. It was declassified in its entirety and is now hosted on the CIA's own website as a public domain document.
Resistance and sabotage operations:
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