Simple Sabotage Field Guide

·1 hr 9 min·5 clips

Brandon reveals the CIA's Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a real WWII guide teaching citizens to undermine enemies through everyday annoyance.

Brandon Valentine, host of NWCZradio's Down The Rabbit Hole, introduces an episode focused on the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a document he found on the CIA's website. He explains it was published in 1944 by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the CIA's precursor, to instruct everyday citizens in occupied territories on how to sabotage enemy efforts through simple, non-violent means. Brandon plans to read through the manual and comment on its relevance today. He begins by summarizing five 'timeless tips' from the CIA's own overview, including delaying phone calls, releasing moths in movie theaters, and being a terrible manager. Brandon notes the manual is dated in its technology references but suggests its psychological tactics remain applicable. He reads the manual's introduction, which defines simple sabotage as acts requiring no special tools, using everyday items or deliberate inefficiency. Brandon immediately connects this to modern events, citing examples like the 2020 protests and social media behavior. The manual discusses motivating saboteurs by promising the removal of specific leaders, which Brandon compares to contemporary political impeachment rhetoric. It also advises using media to disseminate false successes to encourage more sabotage, which he likens to modern misinformation on social media. Brandon reads extensive sections on specific sabotage techniques, such as starting fires with candles and paper, ruining machinery with emery dust or sugar in fuel tanks, and clogging systems with sponges or hair. He skips some detailed sections due to time but highlights the 'Organizations and Production' section, which advises bureaucratic obstruction like insisting on committees, delaying decisions, and multiplying paperwork. Brandon repeatedly draws parallels to current events, such as political gridlock, workplace inefficiency, and cancel culture. He concludes by encouraging listeners to read the manual themselves via the link he'll provide, noting how much of its advice seems to be playing out in today's world.

As heard by us

A CIA manual becomes a blunt tour of sabotage, misinformation, and consequence.

Brandon spends much of the hour reading from the CIA's Simple Sabotage Field Manual and tying its warnings to present-day talk about false information, radio, official leaflets, and narrative shaping.

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Why you'd press play

If you like spy manuals and online nonsense, this one goes down the CIA rabbit hole with a skeptical read tonight.

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