Although yesterday's ""Democrats have a message for Elon Musk: Watch out" (SPCX; TSLA)" wasn't about USAID specifically I exited with the most recent Inspector General's Report on why USAID couldn't be audited and the outro:
It is the cuts to USAID and its transfer to State Department oversight that kicked the hornets nest. Some of the very powerful "six ways from Sunday" constituencies have decided they want that money and they want that control.
That wasn't just rando opinion.
Here's AlterNet, July 7, 2025:
'They’ve done a very foolish thing': Fired Trump officials pledge to stop him
Officials recently fired by President Donald Trump from USAID and the State Department are now repurposing their years of experience battling authoritarian regimes abroad to resist what they see as growing authoritarianism in the United States.For years, these democracy-building experts — ousted earlier this year by the Trump administration — were dispatched to support opposition movements and civil-society actors in autocratic countries. Today, equipped with time and a vast network of former colleagues, they are redirecting that expertise to challenge what they see as an attack on democracy, NOTUS reported Monday.The purge began in February, when Trump abruptly fired USAID’s inspector general, Paul K. Martin, after his office reported on the impact of the administration’s aid freeze. Shortly thereafter, roughly 83% of programs were cancelled, 94% of personnel laid off, and USAID was folded into the State Department — a move observers called an “advance of authoritarianism."The dismantling sparked harsh rebukes from former presidents, international partners, and aid advocates.
“Take it from those of us who worked in authoritarian countries: We’ve become one,” a current federal official, who was not named, told NOTUS.“They were so quick to disband AID, the group that supposedly instigates color revolutions. But they’ve done a very foolish thing. You just released a bunch of well‑trained individuals into your population. If you kept our offices going and had us play solitaire in the office, it might have been safer to keep your regime," the source added.The fired experts are mobilizing rapidly, per the report. They are said to be hosting digital briefings for journalists, providing consulting to grassroots organizations, coordinating litigation strategies and advising state attorneys general on constitutional challenges to executive authority.Some within this informal network of Trump opponents have even begun circulating a decades‑old CIA pamphlet among allies still serving in government — titled “Simple Sabotage.”
The pamphlet says: “Widespread practice of simple sabotage will harass and demoralize enemy administrators and police."
"The saboteur may have to reverse his thinking… where he formerly thought of keeping his tools sharp, he should now let them grow dull; surfaces that formerly were lubricated now should be sanded; normally diligent, he should now be lazy and careless," it adds.According to the report, the group sharing this manual includes diplomats and human-rights professionals who once operated on U.S. government payrolls — supporting Latin American dissidents, aiding African independence movements and even contributing to a successful protest campaign in the Middle East.
We've linked to the 1944 OSS manual a few times:
"Timeless Tips for 'Simple Sabotage'"
It was a Featured Article at the CIA in 2012.
As is the case with so much of this stuff, from carbon trading to wind (GE got in the biz by buying ENE’s wind ops) to nat gas to enriching the lobbyist sector of the economy to fraud on the markets Enron was there first.
Mr. Styles mentions, en passant, Britain’s ‘Dash for Gas” in the early ’90’s to take advantage of the North Sea natural gas finds.
One hulking big example is the 1875 MW Teesside generating plant.
Enron owned it.
Because of it’s 1993 operational date vs.the 1997 Kyoto agreement to use 1990 as a baseline, that one plant cut Britain’s emissions 1% vs the baseline.
The U.S. Kyoto delegation agreed to the 1990 date only on condition that Europe would agree to back Enron’s carbon trading proposals.
Amazing stuff.
As John Palmisano said in his infamous email ”Implications of the Climate Change Agreement in Kyoto & What Transpired”:
“If implemented [the Kyoto Protocol] will do more to promote Enron’s business than will almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring of the [electricity] and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States….”
And:
“…This agreement will be good for Enron stock!!”
Amazing stuff.
Here’s the email:
http://www.politicalcapitalism.org/enron/121297.pdf [link rotted here's a capture at the Internet Archive]