I think it's reasonable to assume that countries have 'assets' who they stay in touch with, but don't engage for riskier activities until down the track, it's probably just that during certain periods (counterrevolution, coup, terror) the foreign actor would seek to push them further along the informant/asset/agent pipeline at a faster rate that makes it look like they were 'sleeping' previously.

The material conditions may also lend themselves to pushing those assets through faster if they're willing to take on riskier activities for higher reward that they wouldn't normally ("We'll give you citizenship"/"We'll ensure your safety"/"We'll help you profit from the conflict")