Quoting Wikipedia...
"In July 1919 he was appointed Verbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of an Aufklärungskommando (reconnaissance commando) of the Reichswehr, assigned to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the German Workers' Party (DAP)."
That always struck me as odd.
No, is the short answer. The German Workers Party was one of about fifty parties of the right and left the intelligence division of Bavarian Reichswehr was keeping an eye on. There were dozens of small parties like it and it, and when Hitler joined in September 1919 it was no great prize. His membership number was '555', but for reasons of image, party membership numbers began at '500'.
Hitler was instructed to survey the party, and by his initial accounts he wasn't impressed with it, but when by chance a speaker at the meeting he attended spoke up for Bavarian separatism, Hitler couldn't help getting up to denounce him, and in doing so made an impression on Anton Drexler, the party founder. He was invited to join, and Hitler's patron in the Reichswehr, Captain Karl Mayr later claimed to have instructed him to join in order to assist the party's growth, but there's no evidence that suggests he meant anything other than adding Hitler's rhetorical talents to the group. At this point in his career Hitler was an impressive public speaker on far right topics, but probably not even he saw himself as leadership material.
Source: Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, 1998