Sixty-four years ago, U.S. intelligence issued a "Simple Sabotage Field Manual" for "citizen-saboteurs" in Europe, showing how small acts could cause big headaches for the Nazis.

The section of the 36-page manual that explains "general interference with organizations and production" provoked some laughs, however, when observers spotted parallels between 1944 sabotage techniques and 2008 corporate culture.

Some examples:

> Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit shortcuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.

> Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.

> 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.

> Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.

> 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.

The manual, declassified long ago, came up last week at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston during a presentation by the CIA, said conference general manager Steve Wylie.

Sean Dennehy, the CIA's "evangelist for Intellipedia and Enterprise 2.0," and Don Burke, "Intellipedia Doyen," were describing efforts to share information among agencies in the wake of the intelligence failures before 9/11. Intellipedia uses the same software as Wikipedia to connect analysts in one agency with those in another.

The conference Web site posted a link to the "Simple Sabotage" manual, which quickly became a bit of a sensation online. The headline on Boingboing.net, for example, noted: "Sabotage manual from 1944 advises acting like an average 2008 manager."

But if that part was for managers, the manual seemed also to have a part for contemporary workers. To wit:

> Give lengthy and incomprehensible explanations when questioned.

> Act stupid.

> Be as irritable and quarrelsome as possible without getting yourself into trouble.

> Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.