A saboteur was an individual who interfered with or disrupted the operation of a physical mechanism. Such acts of sabotage sometimes occurred in a military capacity, with spies and double agents like Clone Sergeant "Slick" and astromech droid R3-S6 performing acts of sabotage within Galactic Republic operations during the Clone Wars. Anti-Jedi activist Letta Turmond was considered a saboteur for her role in the bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar, as was former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano after Barriss Offee framed her for the bombing and other crimes.
Galen Erso, a scientist pressed into service by the Empire to help design and construct the Death Star, worked out a long-term plan to do so with the station. Feigning full cooperation in the project, Erso subtly installed a two-meter wide thermal exhaust port in the station's design that led directly to the station's power core. Given that the port was ray shielded from energy weapon attacks, Erso took advantage of his colleagues' complacency to create a critical vulnerability that had a chance of being exploited by an opposing force if a bombing craft could penetrate the station's defenses and successfully strike the small target. Erso was successful in his plan, although the target proved so difficult in the Battle of Yavin that fighter pilot and Jedi Knight apprentice, Luke Skywalker, had to call upon the Force to successfully hit the target. Regardless, Erso's sabotage gave Skywalker that one chance to destroy the station.