Career officials in the federal government circulated a CIA manual on how to be a bad bureaucrat and subvert institutions from within.
Posted by The Joe Rogan Experience, Checked
- Sources
- 3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 40%
The Joe Rogan ExperienceNov 6, 2026
The existence of the CIA's Simple Sabotage Field Manual is well documented, but no source independently confirms that career officials circulated it inside government. The only account of circulation is Calley Means's own claim, reported in source 5, so the central assertion cannot be graded either way.
What was said
… He's surrounded by demons who want him out and want him just destroyed. That's his staff? Really? Yeah. Yeah. And Trump's sitting at 2 million. His staff is all completely compromised, for the most, especially the whole infrastructure. They were sending around a memo, a CIA manual, about how to be a bad bureaucrat and subvert an institution from within. That's, like, sent around by all the career officials. They hate President Trump. Yeah, about how to be a bad bureaucrat and subvert from within by being incompetent. Wow. …
The Joe Rogan Experience · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Context. The CIA's primary publication confirms the Simple Sabotage Field Manual is a real 1944 OSS document describing ways to make organizations less effective through deliberate bureaucratic obstruction.[1]
Context. A University Press of Colorado article notes the CIA declassified the manual in 2008 and that it has been widely shared online, which establishes the manual's availability but not who is distributing it inside the federal government.[2]
Context. American Partisan reports that Calley Means made the allegation on the Joe Rogan Experience that career officials were circulating the manual. This is the claimant's allegation, not independent corroboration, and it names no verified recipients or distribution.[3]
Context. No source in the set addresses whether federal career officials are circulating the manual now, and no fact-checker or authority has examined or dismissed this allegation.
Sources
3 sources: 1 primary, 1 not rated, 1 rated low
- 1The Art of Simple Sabotage - CIAcia.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 2University Press of Colorado - Why It Is Worth Reconsidering the Common Sense about Bureaucracyupcolorado.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 3Sinister Trouble From Within Could Ruin Trump Admin’s Final Two Years, Former Adviser Says - American Partisanamericanpartisan.org · rated low for factual reporting by Iffy.news and Media Bias/Fact Check · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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