AGENT OF INFLUENCE

Individuals who act on behalf of the interests of a foreign power without openly declaring a political allegiance or affiliation, thereby increasing their power. Most commonly used as a term to describe covert supporters of the  Soviet Union during the Cold War, agents of influence were often in positions of trust and not instantly  recognized, through overt party membership as actively engaged in promoting the Communist cause. Until the United States joined World War II, Great Britain had succeeded in recruiting several significant agents of  influence in the U.S. media, among them some well-known newspaper columnists and radio commentators such  as Walter Winchell and Walter Lippman, who peddled anti-Nazi propaganda supplied for the purpose by British Security Coordination.