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Ex-USAID Officials Mobilize 'Simple Sabotage' Tactics to Oppose Trump Administration

DemocracyAID applies decades-old CIA sabotage techniques to train networks challenging the administration’s policies.

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Overview

  • After being purged in February, former USAID and State Department democracy-building experts have organized under the banner of DemocracyAID.
  • The group is hosting workshops on noncooperation, op-ed writing and strike planning drawn from the CIA’s Simple Sabotage manual.
  • DemocracyAID is advising state attorneys general on constitutional challenges to presidential authority and coordinating broader litigation efforts.
  • Members circulate digital briefings for journalists and provide consulting to grassroots organizations to scale their resistance network.
  • Observers say the abrupt dissolution of USAID threatens US soft power abroad and intensifies debate over executive power limits.