Agent Provocateur Definition
The term "agent provocateur" is French and means someone who instigates. In European history, agents provocateur have been used frequently during numerous political revolutions. At its most effective, the work of the agent provocateur is essentially an act of false flag terrorism, a frame up that makes other parties look responsible for a terrorist act they didn't commit.
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Identification
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An agent provocateur is someone who infiltrates a group with the express purpose of instigating behavior or activities that will tend to discredit the organization or make it subject to forceful police action. Usually, the agent provocateur is directed by a law enforcement agency and, like an undercover agent, gets on the inside of a group that is on the fringe of the law. The difference between an undercover agent and an agent provocateur is that an undercover agent will gain evidence of ongoing illegal activity to make an arrest, while an agent provocateur attempts to incite illegal activity.
Features
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The essential feature of an effective agent provocateur is that he blends into the group he's infiltrating. Thus, he can take on any of the attributes of the group, which for him are a disguise, to prevent being identified as an agent. The provocateur, however, will tend to exaggerate a feature or commit acts intended to set off a chain reaction. For example, in a crowd, a single thrown punch can lead to an all-out brawl. A single thrown rock, even a hurled epithet, can quickly escalate.
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History
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In the United States, agents provocateur have been used to infiltrate labor movements such as unions and political opposition. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the FBI conducted a counterintelligence program called COINTELPRO that specifically targeted domestic groups and used agent provocateurs to discredit and disrupt their operations. Targeted groups ranged from the potentially violent Black Panther Party, to the essentially nonviolent Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The activities of the federal agents went well beyond intelligence gathering, with documented cases of political repression, the planting of false media stories, perjured testimony and, as some believe, the assassination of prominent Black Panther members.
Significance
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In 1970, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wrote, "Purpose of counterintelligence action is to disrupt the BPP [Black Panther Party] and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge." The emergence of details about the program led to a Congressional investigation and the official end of COINTELPRO in the late 1970s. Yet, there is considerable evidence that the use of agent provocateurs continues. In 2008, members of the Denver police force used pepper spray on rambunctious protesters at the Democratic Party Convention, only to find the victims of the spray were undercover police agent provocateurs. The use of agent provocateurs by London police during otherwise nonviolent protests of the G20 in 2009 have also been documented.
Considerations
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The agent provocateur is a tool of government intelligence agencies and terrorist groups. The fact that agent provocateurs continue to be used well into the 21st century by local and federal law enforcement, and other countries supposed to be "free," is alarming. Not only does such activity falsely associate nonviolent protesters with violent action, it undermines free speech by discouraging public demonstration. Ironically, terrorism, the supposed greatest threat to modern liberty, is defined as violent acts intended to influence public opinion or legislation. Though the agent provocateur is hardly ever labeled a terrorist when he works for law enforcement, in effect, he is precisely that.
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