false flag

• false-flag

false flag (plural false flags)

1. (nautical) A ruse, in the days of sail, in which an attacking ship would fly the colours of its enemy until close enough to open fire.
2. (espionage, military, politics) A diversionary or propaganda tactic of deceiving an adversary into thinking that an operation was carried out by another party.
   • 1996 December, Johnston, David, “F.B.I. Supervisor Charged With Spying for Russians”, in The New York Times:

     Using what the bureau calls a "False Flag" operation, F.B.I. agents posing as Russian intelligence officers contacted Mr. Pitts in August 1995, long after it believed he had ceased his spying activities, and feigned interest in reactivating him as a means of confirming his spying activities and determining how much information he may have provided to Moscow.

   • 2017, Tim Carvell; Josh Gondelman; Dan Gurewitch; Jeff Maurer; Ben Silva; Will Tracy; Jill Twiss; Seena Vali; Julie Weiner, “Trump vs. Truth”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 1, HBO, Warner Bros. Television:

     Now, that is not just offensive, it’s stupid. If the government had actually hired child actors, there is no way their stage parents would have stopped talking about it. “Well, he didn’t get the Tide commercial, but he did book a leading role in a government-sponsored false-flag attack! It’s the same director who did the moon landing! We’re very excited!”

false flag (third-person singular simple present false flags, present participle false flagging, simple past and past participle false flagged)

1. To target with a false flag ruse.
   • 1992 Steven Hartov, The Heat of Ramadan, page 424

     He instinctively false-flagged Arthur's information. There was no reason to expose the CIA or one of its deep-cover agents.

   • 1996 John Laffin, Brassey's Book of Espionage, page 16:

     Some of its best agents have been Arabs false-flagged to believe that they were being paid by some other country or alliance.

   • 1997 James H. Cobb, Sea Strike, page 28

     We were false-flagged, sir. Obviously the Nationalists and the UDFC

   • 2010 Keith Thomson, Once a Spy: A Novel, page 182

     "Are you sure your orders came from Hen?"
     "You're suggesting I was false flagged?"
     "That 'Stop Duck Hunting!' ad could have been placed by anyone with a passing knowledge of our simple letter-drop cipher."

   • 2011 Mike Scott, Great American Youth: A True Saga, page 19

     Lil Jason said that they almost snagged them after he had false-flagged, using fraudulent hand signs. Centuries ago Blackbeard the pirate false-flagged to entice lootful vessels to draw closer.

   • 2013 Andrew Kaplan, Scorpion Deception, page 23

     Her family were Syrian Kurds from Aleppo, and Scale had false-flagged her by convincing her he was from the GSD, the Syrian internal security service.

• false flagger

• agent provocateur