What Makes a Good Informant (And How to Tell If You’re Accidentally Acting Like One)
Understanding how informant behaviors happen, and why good people fall into them.
Most people think of informants as seedy, weak, or desperate people who got leveraged or paid to knowingly betray their group. In some cases, that’s exactly what’s happening. More often, however, the most effective informants don’t even know they’re doing the job. They’re the talkers, the venters, the people who confuse group belonging with over-disclosure.
Understanding the behavior is crucial to preventing it. Even if you don’t have a paid confidential informant in your group, you might still have an unknowing volunteer doing just as good a job. What makes an informant isn’t whether he’s getting paid or leveraged. It’s whether they are providing information to someone who can harm your group.
What Makes a ‘Good’ Informant?
From a handler point of view, a “good” informant is someone who has specific behaviors or traits. In fact, logically speaking, in an activist space it would sometimes be easier to run an informant who has no idea he’s being used as such. It’s not like cop shows, where the detective pulls up to the curb and their CI comes to the window, exchanging information for cash. It’s more like building a relationship with someone over time, giving them space to vent, share, and let down their guard without ever realizing that their buddy isn’t who he says he is.
The specific traits a handler would look for include:
Craving connection or validation - I know it might sound like a broken record, but this is absolutely the #1 vector for leveraging people.
Talks easily with little pressure - The more someone talks without being pushed to talk, the less obvious the leveraging has to be.
Doesn’t know what not to say - In some of the past group case studies, we’ve seen examples of people who say things to the media without a real grasp of why it’s a bad idea, or what could be done with the information. That’s a group-level training failure.
Can appear trustworthy and blend in - When you have groups with weak or no vetting, the bar for this gets ridiculously low.
Is emotionally reactive and lacks healthy boundaries - Another thing that we talk about here repeatedly is emotional reactivity. If you’re ruled by your emotional needs, you will have negotiable boundaries, and that makes you much easier to manipulate.
The uncomfortable truth is that most informants are recruited through psychological and emotional weakness, whether they’re aware of their own recruitment or not.
Types of Informants
There are four basic types of informant models. As you read these, I want you to answer the following questions in your head:
What need is this person filling?
How can they be leveraged?
With those two answers in mind, what can you do to prevent the damage?
[Wait…did I just ask you to figure out how to leverage your own people? Absolutely. You’re not going to do it, but you need to be able to think like the opponent in order to prevent the problem. How do you stop something that you don’t understand? How do you protect your people when you don’t really understand how the threat approaches?]
With that said, let’s take a look.
1. The Unwitting Connector
This type talks to everyone. They’re the hub for drama, planning, and relational dynamics in the group. Groups of all kinds have a member like this, even families. If you’ve ever had an aunt or sibling that everyone called when something happened because they knew all the extra behind-the-scenes info and had already talked to everyone involved, you know what I’m talking about. They know the context, and have no problem looping anyone in who asks.
2. The Rescuer
This person will share sensitive information because they have a sincere belief that people need to know. They will, when confronted, justify the leaks because of whatever concerns they had. In short, they think they’re protecting the group. Because they’re operating from what they believe to be a higher calling, you won’t convert them to being anything different.
3. The Burnout
The burnout is the bitter ‘former member.’ Whether they left on their own or were (rarely) kicked out, they will spill the secrets for one of two reasons: a) they’re not members anymore so they don’t think it matters, or b) they WANT to harm the group because of whatever issues they hold. It can be malicious, but it’s often just option A: “It won’t affect me personally anymore so who cares?”
4. The Validation Seeker
Now we come to the one you probably expected to see. These folks overshare because they want to feel included, “in the know,” or even morally right. Discomfort makes them very uncomfortable so they use disclosure as an emotional release. You’ve seen several versions of this one in the wild, so to speak, even outside of your group.
The person who goes into the comment section of a controversial or dramatic post on social media and hints that they have more information than most.
The person who talks to fill silence, and you get a sense that they’re not even really paying attention to what they’re saying, they’re just talking (and disclosing).
The person who talks faster when they sense that you are somehow displeased or disapproving of them.
All of these types are leverageable, and quite frankly, it can be done in every case without the person even knowing that it’s happening.
Are You the Informant?
It’s possible that you’re seeing yourself in some of the above types. Here’s a list of questions to ask yourself first and foremost, before you ever ask anyone else in your group.
Do I share group details of any kind with people outside the group?
If yes, who?
What reasons do I give myself to rationalize it?
How do I feel right before and right after I do it?
Do I relay the details of private conversations within the group to other members under the banner of “peacekeeping” or even “just being honest and transparent”?
Have I become the person that everyone vents to?
Have I ever shared what Person A vented about with Person B without Person A’s knowledge?
Do I use phrases like, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but…”?
What about using information as a way to build relationships, like “I’ll tell you this because I know you’re trustworthy (thereby offering validation in return for loyalty)…?
Am I seeking clarity for myself, or am I seeking a bit more control of the group?
Do I catch myself venting to someone else within or outside the group, about the group?
Has that venting ever resulted in me saying something I didn’t mean to say, or didn’t intend?
What were the consequences of that conversation?
The bottom line is that you do not have to be evil to damage your group. You don’t even have to be intentional. You can simply be sloppy. Check yourself first, and then check your group.
Discretion. Be a sphinx. No one knows anything that does not need to know.