"The Tactful Saboteur" is a novelette

Novelette

A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...

 by the science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 author Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert

Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...

 which first appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...

magazine in 1964. It is notable for establishing the setting for Herbert's ConSentiency universe, one of his three elaborate universes or franchises spanning multiple volumes (the others being the Dune universe

Dune universe

Dune is a science fiction franchise which originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Dune is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history...

 and the Destination: Void universe developed with co-author Bill Ransom).

The three chapter story "The Tactful Saboteur", written in a brisk, economical style, proved to be one of Herbert's most popular works. It was subsequently republished in The Worlds of Frank Herbert in 1971 and again in Herbert's 1985 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 collection Eye

Eye (Frank Herbert)

Eye is a collection of thirteen short stories written by science fiction author Frank Herbert. All of the works had been previously published in magazine or book form, except for "The Road to Dune."-Introduction:...

after interest was renewed in the wake of the film adaptation

Dune (film)

Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco...

 of Herbert's novel Dune

Dune (novel)

Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...

.

Plot

The protagonist of "The Tactful Saboteur" is saboteur extraordinary Jorj X. McKie, an employee of the Bureau of Sabotage

Bureau of Sabotage

The Bureau of Sabotage is a fictional government entity set in two of Frank Herbert's science fiction novels, Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment, and first introduced in his 1964 short story "The Tactful Saboteur". It is colloquially known as BuSab. Jorj X...

 (or BuSab). BuSab is a government agency responsible for conducting dirty tricks "in lieu of red tape" to help slow down and regulate the vast galaxy-spanning bureaucracy of the ConSentiency (under BuSab rules the Secretary of the agency retains his position until he himself is sabotaged). Tasked with finding missing saboteur Napoleon Bildoon, McKie attempts to penetrate the secrets of the Pan-Spechi, a race divided into groups of five members, only one of whom possess ego-awareness at a time. In so doing he runs afoul of the "Tax Watchers" which is adamantly opposed to the existence of BuSab.

Sources

• Herbert, Frank. "A Matter of Traces" (short story) Fantastic Universe
  Fantastic Universe
  Fantastic Universe was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishing in the 1950s in the United States, and was moderately...
  
  , 1958
• Herbert, Frank. "The Tactful Saboteur" (short story) Galaxy Science Fiction
  Galaxy Science Fiction
  Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
  
  , 1964
• Herbert, Frank. Whipping Star (novel) G. P. Putnam's Sons
  G. P. Putnam's Sons
  G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
  
  , 1970
• Herbert, Frank. The Dosadi Experiment (novel) G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1977