INFILTRATION

Agent Provocateurs

An agent provocateur (French for “inciting agent”) is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act. An agent provocateur may be acting out of their own sense of duty or may be employed by the police or other entity to discredit or harm another group (such as a peaceful protest or demonstration) by provoking them to commit a crime, thereby undermining the protest or demonstration as a whole.

An agent provocateur may be a police officer or a secret agent of police who encourages suspects to carry out a crime under conditions where evidence can be obtained; or who suggests the commission of a crime to another, in hopes they will go along with the suggestion and be convicted of the crime.

A political organization or government may use agents provocateurs against political opponents. The provocateurs try to incite the opponent to do counterproductive or ineffective acts to foster public disdain or provide a pretext for aggression against the opponent.

Entryism

Entryism is a political strategy in which a political party or group encourages its members or supporters to join another organisation in an attempt to expand influence, expand their ideas and program or to cause disruption. In situations where the organization being “entered” is hostile to entryism, the entrists may engage in a degree of subterfuge to hide the fact that they are an organisation in their own right.

Surveillance