Someone in the loop back then said that at the height of their popularity in the early/mid 70’s, two of every three members of the hard leftwing group SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) was an FBI informant.
A friend in college was a leader in Fordham’s SDS Chapter. A funny and intelligent guy. We shared a love for Old Bushmills and conversation. He was hardcore but we still were friends. He was a few years older. He explained he’d had to work after HS. Never saw him again after graduation. Another very good friend and classmate had become, in the 90s,a regional director of Social Security. He looked up some of our classmates to see what they were doing. Our SDS friend was working for what was then INS. Problem, his pension status indicated he’d been a federal employee when all of us were undergrads at Fordham. Hence a agent provacateur.
Another college pal who worked with what was then BNDD had told me over some beers that in the early 70s he had been called in by his supervisor. With the boss were two FBI agents. They proceeded to show him pix of Fordham SDS members with their names at demonstrations or just walking to class. They asked what he knew of them and his relationships. Pix likely taken by my friend in his role as infiltrator.