How to sabotage a business or organization

Do you have anti-American saboteurs in your workplace? According to a number of websites the following instructions came from a 1944 CIA manual on how to sabotage a business. Have you encountered anyone who seems to be following these instructions?

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.

When I have encountered people doing those things I was always baffled by their behavior. Now that I have this information I will know how to categorize their behavior. Forewarned is forearmed.