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You are here: Home / Politics / America / It’s Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland

It’s Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland

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Last night a picture started circulating on social media with the claim that ZTI, which is a defense contractor, has its tactical personnel deployed to support the Federal Protective Service (FPS) in Portland alongside Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) BORTAC and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Investigation personnel.

Here’s a better look at the original post embedded in the tweet above:

It's Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland

You’ll notice that the Z and the T are close together, there’s no space between the Z and the T, and then there’s a full space and then the I. If you embiggen the picture you can see that it doesn’t look quite right. And the visual disparity that implies that the patch is photoshopped becomes even clearer based on this picture that was tweeted out by Molly Jong-Fast with attribution to Nathan Howard, the original photographer:

Here’s just the picture, which Howard posted as part of a four image montage in a tweet last night:

It's Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland 1

If you embiggen this picture you can clearly see the Z, then the equivalent of two full spaces, then two numbers. The first of those numbers is clearly a 2. The second appears to be a 6. We know the provenance of the photograph taken by Nathan Howard and we know he hasn’t photoshopped the patch. While it is clear that Howard’s photo is of a different Federal officer from the photoshopped one, we can clearly see what the patch is supposed to be: a Z, two spaces, then two numbers. Not a Z and T right next to each other, then a space, an I.

Since the original post last night, ZTI’s corporate website has been down because it has been flooded with traffic that appears to have overwhelmed its servers. The company’s official name is ZTI Solutions LLC and specializes in modifying computer software and packaging. Their description at their profile page at ClearanceJobs states:

About ZTI Solutions, LLC

ZTI Solutions, LLC specializes in providing cleared consulting and staffing solutions for Government agencies, along with highly skilled network engineering and architecture resources for all markets and industry verticals. Our highly trained and experienced professionals help customers take their IT visions from dreams to reality, in a secure manner, because our architects have both networking and security backgrounds.

They currently have seven job announcements posted at clearances jobs: 3 Secret, 2 Top Secret, 1 Unspecified, and 1 Top Secret/Sensitive Compartment Information (SCI). All seven involve computing, IT, network security, and/or network development. This is not the second coming of using Blackwater, or other private security contractors, to provide tactical operational personnel in Portland. I know everyone is concerned about this. And it is a legitimate concern given the semi-sterile to sterile combat uniforms being used by the Federal personnel in Portland. However, while having a sufficient level of paranoia is always good, knee jerk responses based on social media posts that when tracked backed don’t actually provide the real, original photograph with a reference to the photographer are not actually helping, In fact they just serve to provide fodder to those who want to discredit those condemning this clear Federal overreach, which is unconstitutional.

Update at 10:28 PM EDT

I just heard back from a friend who after he got out of the military was in Federal and then state law enforcement. He has informed me that he remembers that the C&BP BORTAC units use Z followed by numbers as their call signs. So the patches are most likely to identify the BORTAC officers to each other and to Federal Protective Services personnel.

Update at 11:2o PM EDT

Thanks to Cheryl posting this tweet from Wesley Morgan, you can clearly see that the patch from the first picture posted above, and which appeared to be photoshopped, may not be photoshopped. Morgan tweeted out a much better resolution picture, with a much better angle and you can clearly see the ZT is followed not by an I, but by a 1. And that it is stitch on the patch as if it was done by a stencil so that the little leftward facing hook of the 1 is separate from the body of the one. So it appears like a small dash.

Here’s the photo by itself:

It's Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland 4

You can also make out the unit patch as United States Marshal.

Thanks Cheryl!

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

81Comments

  1. 1.

    AJ

    Thanks, Adam

    As always, appreciate your clarity, perspective and analysis

    I trust you are staying hydrated

  2. 2.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Perhaps I’m reading too much into the picture, but that federal officer’s eyes almost look fearful based on how wide they look. Probably because they don’t have a lot of training for this kind of shit and don’t know what they’re doin

    I worry another Kent State State might happen at these protests. I don’t think these goons are carrying live ammo, are they? I hope not

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    @AJ: I had 1/2 a liter of coconut water with a splash of pineapple just before I started drafting the post. And I have a full 40 ounce RTIC tumbler filled with ice water sitting right here next to the computer. And it’ll be the third tumbler for me for the day. So I think so…//

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    I’m quite glad it’s not true although I hadn’t heard about this. What worries me more is that we could even think about the possibility. But Congress (by which I mean the House) should still be raising budgetary Cain here.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yutsano: Part of the issue is that FPS was put on the carpet about five years ago for contracting at the lowest dollar for service to companies to supplement their personnel at Federal buildings and security. So they have used contractors, but they have no history of using contractors for something like this.

  8. 8.

    wvng

    Thank you, Adam. This makes things very marginally less frightening than it seemed. I agree entirely that this sort of faked “information” is extremely unhelpful.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @wvng: I wouldn’t put it past them if they start running short of bodies, but in this case it does not appear that they’ve done what we’re all worried about.

  12. 12.

    Emma

    Hi, Adam! Wondering if you have any insight into the data breach at various NGOs, including the ACLU, that targeted donor info. Their cybersecurity firm, Blackbaud, says that the hackers failed to get truly sensitive data like SSNs and credit card info, but that they paid a ransom for unspecified data that the hackers apparently did get. I got an email from the ACLU about this that added that they’re pissed off at Blackbaud and may “revisit” their relationship with them. Considering that the other NGO that emailed me about this was the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (also extremely anti-Trump, surprise), could there be more to the attack that meets the eye, or do you think it is probably just a purely financial ransomware attack? Edit: Blackbaud’s explanation.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    So the building that housed the AZ and Maricopa County Democratic Party organizations in midtown Phoenix was burned down last night. Being investigated as arson. I’m sure I will be shocked if it turns out to be a right wing nut job.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    @Emma: I got that email as well from the ACLU. ‘Confirmation that the stolen data was destroyed’ seems questionable to me; how can they confirm that the crooks didn’t keep a copy?

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Emma: This is the first I’ve heard of it. It would not surprise me that these civil rights NGOs would be targeted. Or that there would be attempts to exfiltrate personally identifying information, as well as other information.

  17. 17.

    Ascap_scab

    Is Herman Cain dead yet? He was hospitalized with Covid after attending Trump’s Tulsa Cov-ention. Someone should ask.

  20. 20.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Why are these “federal officers” wearing generic military gear, anyway? I know the official reasons by DHS are doxxing of officers but why not wear agency uniforms?

  21. 21.

    Aleta

    Some of the confusion also came from Gen. Honore’ on twitter.   I don’t think of him as a dupe.   A number of others had different interpretations of the photos of the patches.

    Russel L. Honore’ @ltgrusselhonore

    See this ZTI and@DHSgov relationship.   (Posted a link to info he had googled.)

    Notice to all we need the media to document these pics I got these watching stories and looking at pics on the internet, as I reflect the Russians do shit like the alter pics , so media need to investigate w @DHSgov and ZTI .

    But I did see several pics with ZTI on left shoulder

    I have been told by some these are call signs used by Marshall’s waiting for @DHSgov  to confirm. I apologize is if I am wrong . Another reason the police need to stop using military uniforms.

    el hombre esponja @blutjaeger

    @ltgrusselhonore @DHSgov
    … please talk about how people are mistaking callsign patches of federal offices for PMCs. ZT1 is not ZTI lol

     

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    I just put this up top as an update:

    I just heard back from a friend who after he got out of the military was in Federal and then state law enforcement. He has informed me that he remembers that the C&BP BORTAC units use Z followed by numbers as their call signs. So the patches are most likely to identify the BORTAC officers to each other and to Federal Protective Services personnel.

  26. 26.

    Anne Laurie

    @Adam L Silverman: In case any readers take you too seriously… WaterGirl has scheduled ‘On The Road’ posts for 5am EDT and 10pm EDT every weekday.  She’s collected such a backlog, she doesn’t want jackals to have to wait weeks to see their contributions!

    (That, incidentally, is why my daily coronavirus update post is often ‘timed’ to appear at 4:55am, even if I haven’t quite finished putting it together then.  I finish the post, then change the ‘schedule’ time to adapt.  Because I have the impression that people coming to Balloon Juice for their first read of the day would rather see pretty pictures than pandemic news… and anybody who *does* want to see that news, knows where to look for it.)

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Why are these “federal officers” wearing generic military gear, anyway? I know the official reasons by DHS are doxxing of officers but why not wear agency uniforms?

    Because they’re playing an acting role in Donald Trump’s reality tv show presidency.
    The number or protesters have quadrupled since they’ve been there, just as all the local officials who told them not to come predicted.
    They’re making things worse.
    They know they’re making things worse- they can count- but still they won’t leave. This is not being done to benefit the public. It is solely for the benefit of Donald Trump.
    I can’t wait to find out what it cost. They’ll try to hide it or bury it but eventually we’ll find out just what they billed the public for this Trump campaign event. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wasted.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ll do a proper post on this tomorrow, but if you’re in the greater Washington, DC area, don’t have plans for Sunday, and are interested in doing an appropriately socially distanced rally, we’ve got you covered!

    https://www.citizensagainstintolerance.org/rally-to-honor-heroes-live

    https://lulac.org/heroes/rsvp/

    It's Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland 2

    And before anyone asks, yes, I am aware that that poster says 2 AUG, not 26 JUL. I am checking now because I either missed something on one of the Zoom planning meetings or someone screwed up the signage.

  34. 34.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Iron Man of Seattle had the same comment about them.  Scared out numbered guys with guns and any angry mob, bad mix. This needs to be deescalated what ever the Toddler in Chief wants.

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): @Kay: It’s also because these units, especially the C&BP BORTAC units, wear a southwest desert pattern combat uniform as part of their regular issue. Not the green polos or button downs and the green or khaki pants of the normal Border Protection and Border Patrol personnel.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    You would think the bloated, ineffective Department of Homeland Security would have their hands full continuing to utterly fail at the pandemic response or getting ready to fail at another hurricane response, but no- they have plenty of funding and manpower to take what was a small protest and turn it into a 2 week made-for-campaign commercials battle.

    What a complete and utter waste of desperately needed funding. They can’t manage to get money out the door to public schools but they can LAVISH funding on arresting 19 year olds for refusing to let go of a fence.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    How many phone calls do you think Erik Prince has placed to William Barr and Chad Wolf by now?

    //

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay: I just can’t help think the reason why the GOP convention collapsed was because they used the money for it to pay for this escalation in Seattle.

  39. 39.

    ThresherK

    Okay, I’m not gonna say I ever heard of ZTI before this very minute, but:

    Kolliopolous spelled it as Black Water, not Blackwater, and that makes me wonder about some rando I’ve never heard of as a base source. My penny-ante college newshound skills are still useful.

  41. 41.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    Because they’re playing an acting role in Donald Trump’s reality tv show presidency.
    The number or protesters have quadrupled since they’ve been there, just as all the local officials who told them not to come predicted.
    They’re making things worse.
    They know they’re making things worse- they can count- but still they won’t leave. This is not being done to benefit the public. It is solely for the benefit of Donald Trump.
    I can’t wait to find out what it cost. They’ll try to hide it or bury it but eventually we’ll find out just what they billed the public for this Trump campaign event. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wasted.

    Oh absolutely. They are making things worse. I hope the public will see it that way.

  42. 42.

    Lyrebird

    @AJ:

    Thanks, Adam

    As always, appreciate your clarity, perspective and analysis

     

    ditto here.

     

    Plus, I am thankful that BJ as a whole exists.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It collapsed because the local sheriff in Jacksonville, as well as the sheriffs in the surrounding counties who would normally provide deputies to plus up the Jax personnel for an event have indicated they can’t provide the bodies because of the pandemic. The local mayor also came out and said the city couldn’t support it.

    As for funding, that comes usually from wealthy donors, often from the state and city where the convention is held. The RNC and the President’s campaign burned them bad when they pulled out of Charlotte and as a result few if any where willing to provide funding for Jacksonville.

  44. 44.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It’s also because these units, especially the C&BP BORTAC units, wear a southwest desert pattern combat uniform as part of their regular issue. Not the green polos or button downs and the green or khaki pants of the normal Border Protection and Border Patrol personnel.

    Thanks. Wouldn’t uniforms like that clash with an urban environment, though? Not effective camo, but I suppose that it isn’t the point.

    I do wonder how these guys might react to a protester wearing a gas mask and body armor. The tear gas and pepper spray won’t work and the armor would provide protection from direct physical force

  46. 46.

    Audrey

    Thank you for clarifying what ZTI company does. But that patch looks clear in other pictures as ZT 1

  47. 47.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    You would think the bloated, ineffective Department of Homeland Security would have their hands full continuing to utterly fail at the pandemic response or getting ready to fail at another hurricane response, but no- they have plenty of funding and manpower to take what was a small protest and turn it into a 2 week made-for-campaign commercials battle.

    Of course! DHS has decided culture war statue bullshit is higher priority because that’s what Trump wants.

    What a complete and utter waste of desperately needed funding. They can’t manage to get money out the door to public schools but they can LAVISH funding on arresting 19 year olds for refusing to let go of a fence.

    Right-wingers hate public schools, so that’s not a surprise.

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ThresherK: She’s a social worker at a VA facility in Austin. I checked. You’d be amazed at what autocorrect can do. Last week I was texting with BettyC and the autocorrect on my iPad changed Ivanka to Ivana Karen. Which is both hilarious and accurate.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @opiejeanne: From looking at the images posted by Wesley Morgan, it doesn’t appear to be shopped, but it is clearly a patch similar to the Z 26 patch. In the pictures that Morgan texted out you can see that the final letter is a 1, like it was done in a stencil pattern.

    It's Photoshopped: Contractors From ZTI Are Not Deployed In Portland 3

  56. 56.

    opiejeanne

    @Adam L Silverman: Yes, it is. Thanks.
    I posted my naive whine before I had read through to your earlier clarification.

    I say naive because this is the sort of shit Russian trolls would do, if this had been a troll job.

  60. 60.

    Benw

    The point here is that federal agents are terrorizing Americans, and planning to escalate, whatever the hell their unis say?

  67. 67.

    Jay

    Sinclair's local TV stations across the country are set to air the discredited "Plandemic" researcher's conspiracy theory about Dr. Fauci this weekend. The segment that is set to air suggests Fauci is responsible for the creation of the coronavirus. https://t.co/fehw3e5ogZ— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 25, 2020

    "The states were told to deal with COVID themselves, and individuals were left to sort through the confusion and contradictions of statements from the White House. But when statues are threatened, then exceptional action is called for." @TimothyDSnyder https://t.co/4Kii8IMSHQ— ella dawson (@brosandprose) July 25, 2020

  69. 69.

    Jay Noble

    There is a bright spot in the speed at which dubious photos hit the newscycles these days – the speed at which they need to appear to be relevant also cuts down on the time to do a really thorough job of Photoshopping. I worked in catalogs and given enough time you can put out stuff that no one can tell has been retouched.

  70. 70.

    Mary G

    Nathan Howard deserves a Pulitzer for capturing the photo of the terrified protester’s face. She looks like a white soccer mom and this manhandling of her will backfire badly against the administration, because no way is she a scary radical.

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    @Nikita Banana:

    Is Embiggen a real word?

    “Embiggen” has been added to a US dictionary – a word first heard on The Simpsons in 1996. … It is from the motto of The Simpsons’ fictional town of Springfield: “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.” It means to “make bigger or more expansive”, says Merriam-Webster.

  76. 76.

    Bill Arnold

    Way late, but just wanted to mention that reverse image lookup is often helpful for finding original photos. I use tineye.com usually; it has a sort by date (oldest first). It sees through many transformations and edits somehow. It found this from July 21 2020:
    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/portland-photographer-takes-picture-officer-pointing-weapon
    Where it’s clearly ZT1 not ZTI

    There are other such tools too.

    And this looked odd soon as I looked up ZTI (as Adam did); they did not appear to be a company that puts armed anti-protester contractors on the street.

  78. 78.

    Dyna-Mo Chen

    The headline is very misleading. After your update, it should be amended.

    The ZT1 is clearly seen in the pic. Some misreading it as ZTI is on them.

  79. 79.

    AS7

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He’s probably scared of hurting innocent civilians, which is literally anathema to everything he has ever worked & aspired to in his career. [Especially considering it’s a woman. Males have a very special, instinct I’ll call it [or prerogative] against hurting females.] Even more so a warrior & soldier. I can empathize & relate.

     

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

  80. 80.

    Joan

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): We’re pretty worried about that here. Some agents are carrying M4/AR15 variants which appear to have suppressors attached. US Marshals have been seen brandishing (read pointing an unholstered weapon at protestors) what appears to be their Special Operations Group issue 9mm.

    I’m fairly familiar with firearms, but certainly not an expert. I don’t know of any wax, marker or less lethal rounds that will cycle (fire, eject and reload another cartridge) in those weapons under normal conditions. Not saying they aren’t possibly modified or potentially have rounds that will, but it seems a chunk of them are at least pointing live weapons at protestors, at least from time to time.

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