Agent of influence


Agent of influence is a term describing people who use their position to influence the decision making or public opinion in one country to produce results beneficial to another.
The term is used both to describe conscious agents operating under the control of an intelligence service and people who may be classed as "useful idiots" that is, someone unaware of how their actions further the interests of a foreign power. A related concept is that of a front organization.
Critics have argued that the term can be applied to people who simply act according to their political views.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act was enacted in 1938, and 22 U.S.Code § 611 et seq provides detailed definitions of what constitutes an agent of influence under US Law.

Characteristics

As described by users of the concept the primary characteristic that distinguishes agents of influence from spies is the absence of involvement in espionage or other criminal activities. Thus, the term may be applied to political actors whose views are seen as supporting another country.
According to Angelo Codevilla, using these agents is an act of war "in the same sense that armies crashing across border or airplanes dropping bombs are acts of war because their results can be as intrusive or conclusive as the results of armies or bombs."

Criticism

Criticising the concept, John Girling writes
'Agents of Influence' is an intriguing conception, whose meaning is as mysterious as its origins, and whose attribution reflects as much on the user as on the 'used'. With its vague and rather sinister undertones of manipulation and deceit such a hybrid expression lends itself easily to innuendo and abuse. It is not surprising, therefore, that the prejudiced or the merely careless should characterise those whose political views they dislike, not as agents of a foreign power, but as 'agents of influence' working wittingly or unwittingly either for the American CIA or the Soviet KGB

Alleged agents of influence