Okay, so we agree on compromised agency as a concept and the only point of disagreement (e: that I'm getting from this post) is whether it was a distinct operation.
Fair enough.
Pretty sure I started at "involved three letter agencies", and used documented FBI operations as examples for how they involve themselves though, not asserting it was explicitly an operation. That might be a bitch distinction but I assume involvement, not necessarily an operation.
Think about how they handle pedos, they've got agents on computers all day sending out feelers looking to find people they can sting, those agents are involved even if they never get to the point of a distinct operation, so I don't see it as far fetched that similar agents are also constantly fishing around extremist circles, and maybe the subject just pops before they ever get to the point of making it an operation.