confidential informant

[ kon-fi-den-shuhl in-fawr-muhnt ]

noun

1. a person who works undercover for law enforcement to gather information about felonious criminal activities: some confidential informants are criminals themselves, hired to work undercover in exchange for leniency or exoneration: : CI

   We’re told that this elusive drug lord was finally taken down thanks largely to a confidential informant, whose identity remains fiercely protected.

Word History and Origins

Origin of confidential informant¹

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

Police used a confidential informant to buy nine handguns, six semi-automatic rifles, nine large-capacity magazines and a silencer, according to one of the men’s arrest affidavits.

From FiveThirtyEight

A confidential informant voluntarily sent his FBI contact dozens of exchanges the next day between self-described members of the Three Percenters.

From Washington Post

Unfortunately for him, the investigator was a confidential informant for the FBI.

From ProPublica

The hacking group claimed it had files containing information about gangs and the identities of confidential informants.

From Washington Post

It was the first time she spoke about working as a confidential informant with anyone other than her OSI agents.

From The Daily Beast

It may be great enough to warrant techniques like the confidential informant program.

From The Daily Beast

She left the office, she says, as a confidential informant recruited to spy and report on her peers.

From The Daily Beast

But it does not appear to have used an undercover agent or confidential informant to gather “human intelligence” about him.

From The Daily Beast

The bureau, however, dropped the confidential informant, Emad Salem, who had insinuated himself into the plot.

From The Daily Beast