Agent of influence is a controversial term used to describe people who are said to use their position to influence public opinion in one country or decision making to produce results beneficial to another.[1]
The term is used both to describe conscious agents operating under the control of an intelligence service and political opponents who may be classed as "useful idiots" that is, someone, completely 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 anyone whose political views are disliked by the user.[2]
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) 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.[3]