Editing False flag (section)

==Espionage==
{{Main|Clandestine human intelligence#False Flag Penetrator|l1=False flag penetrator}}
In [[espionage]], the term "false flag" describes the recruiting of agents by operatives posing as representatives of a cause the prospective agents are sympathetic to, or even the agents' own government. For example, during the [[Cold War]], several female [[West Germany|West German]] civil servants were tricked into stealing classified documents by agents of the [[East Germany|East German]] ''[[Stasi]]'' intelligence service pretending to be members of West German peace advocacy groups (the ''Stasi'' agents were also described as "[[Romeo and Juliet|Romeos]]", indicating that they also used their sex appeal to manipulate their targets, making this operation a combination of the false flag and "[[recruitment of spies#Love, honeypots, and recruitment|honey trap]]" techniques).<ref>{{cite news |last=Crawford |first=Angus |title=Victims of Cold War 'Romeo spies' |work=[[BBC Online]] |date=20 March 2009 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7953523.stm |access-date=10 April 2009}}</ref>

According to ex-KGB defector [[Jack Barsky]], "Many a right-wing radical had given information to the Soviets under a 'false flag', thinking they were working with a Western ally, such as Israel, when in fact their contact was a KGB operative."<ref>{{cite book |last=Barsky |first=Jack |title=Deep undercover: my secret life and tangled allegiances as a KGB spy in America |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-4964-1686-5 |publisher=Tyndale House |location=Carol Stream, IL |oclc=979545331 |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/979545331}}</ref>