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Fact check: Federal agents in Portland are not mercenaries provided by Erik Prince

Chelsey Cox, USA TODAY
·7 min read

The claim: Federal agents quelling protests in Portland, Oregon, are mercenaries contracted by private security company 'ZTI'

Versions of the claim received substantial attention on social media after reports of unidentified federal law enforcement agents detaining protesters in Portland. The Oregon city has seen daily demonstrations since George Floyd's death in police custody on Memorial Day, USA TODAY has reported.

A July 23 Facebook post by user Sebastian Twardosz features a picture of a man in riot gear pointing a gun at something out of the frame. On the man's shoulder is a patch with letters "ZTI" or "ZT1." The picture is one of a series of images taken by freelance photographer Mathieu Lewis-Rolland.

Rolland posted it to his Twitter account on July 21 with the caption, "Please pay attention. Lives are going to be lost in Portland."

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Twardosz claimed the man pictured is an agent contracted with ZTI, a private security company, hired to arrest and detain protesters in Portland.

"ZTI is a private company that provides armed and other security-related personnel to their clients which include Homeland Security, the Dept. of Defense, and an alphabet soup of other US government agencies. It’s on their own website," Twardosz wrote.

There is a link in the caption to a website for ZTI.

Another Facebook post on July 23 by user Barbara Russell Maxwell claimed Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, confirmed on MSNBC that the unidentified officers were provided by Erik Prince.

Prince is a former Navy SEAL, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the founder of military contractor Blackwater, USA TODAY reported. Prince sold Blackwater years ago. The New York Times has described Prince as a "security contractor with close ties to the Trump administration" who "has at times served as an informal adviser to Trump administration officials."

More: Oregon governor, federal authorities reach agreement to begin withdrawing agents from Portland

Twardosz also mentioned Blackwater in his post. He said the company and ZTI usually hire private contractors to fight in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan despite international laws about conflict engagement.

More: Reporting on a deadly airstrike in Afghanistan

"But regardless, they are now operating here in the United States – and paid for with our own tax dollars," Twardosz claimed.

"So let’s be clear, these 'federal' agents are basically mercenaries, paid by the government to intimidate, threaten and even attack Americans on American soil," Twardosz wrote.

Neither Twardosz nor Maxwell replied to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

Did the U.S. government hire mercenaries to attack its own citizens?

First, on mercenaries: Saeed Mokbil, Chairperson-Rapporteur for the United Nations' Working Group on mercenaries and human rights violations, said mercenary-related activities undermine target 16.2 of U.N. Sustainable Goal Development 16. Target 16.2 aims to "end abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children, who are commonly the victims of torture, detention, sexual slavery and forcible recruitment as child soldiers," according to coverage of a 2018 meeting to discuss mercenaries and private contractors.

The identity of the anonymous federal officers was scrutinized in the media after violent encounters with protesters in Portland. The mystery of the coded patches on agents' shoulders received special attention on social media.

Mark A. Morgan, senior official performing the duties of the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said during a July 21 Department of Homeland Security briefing that he authorized and supported anonymity for officers acting in a federal capacity in Portland.

"There has been a tremendous amount of false information out there," Morgan said. "It is offensive to refer to these dedicated men and women that are out there as law enforcement professionals to make that reference," he continued, regarding references to "unidentified masked stormtroopers."

Morgan also referenced examples of the markings federal agents are wearing on their uniforms. One featured the letter and number combination "DZ1." This is a unique identifier associated with the agent's name, according to Morgan.

"Deputy Director (Richard "Kris") Cline said he doesn't have his officers wear name tags because they're being doxxed. That's exactly right. That's another thing that's absolutely disgusting. So, they're not only jeopardizing the lives of the agents, but they're jeopardizing the lives of their families as they're putting out their home information and they're suggesting that individuals go to their homes," said Morgan of protesters.

Morgan also addressed the markings in a July 17 tweet.

"Our personnel are clearly marked as federal LEOs & have unique identifiers. You will not see names on their uniforms b/c these same violent criminals use this information to target them & their families, putting both at risk. As Acting Commissioner, I will not let that happen!" Morgan wrote.

Other versions of the viral claim feature images of an officer with a patch that reads "SRT," according to Stephanie Dube Dwilson, writer for Heavy.com.

"Our SRT teams, it's the same thing ... different color uniforms, clearly identified," Morgan told reporters during the briefing.

"SRT" is an acronym for Special Response Team, according to a document released by the CBP.

Facebook user Twardosz edited his post with an update on July 23: "The patch may say ZT1 as a form of identification for whoever is wearing it. Regardless, we don't know who these people are. What all this shows is that we are our own worst enemy," he wrote.

Did Jeh Johnson implicate Erik Prince and Blackwater on MSNBC?

Johnson's interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was uploaded to the network's YouTube account on July 21. While responding to Maddow's question about whether people are overreacting to federal police presence in Portland, Johnson explained that most protection services agents are contractors.

"Interestingly, most members of the federal protection service are actually private contractors. And then, in addition to that, what the acting secretary has done is to also deploy components of Immigration (and) Customs Enforcement and Customs Border Protection that are specially trained for special operations. They do wear camouflage, but they're supposed to wear emblems; patches that indicate that they are federal law enforcement," Johnson said.

Johnson made no reference to Erik Prince or Blackwater during the interview.

Examples of emblems identifying agents in Portland as law enforcement are pictured in Morgan's July 17 tweet thread.

More: Federal agents, officers head to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee as Operation Legend expands

Our rating: False

The claim that federal law enforcement are mercenaries hired by the private security company ZTI is FALSE because it is not supported by our research. A senior CBP official authorized the use of unique identifiers – patches with letters and numbers — in lieu of names for federal agents in Portland to protect agents' privacy. It is also false to claim that former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson implicated Erik Prince or Blackwater in a televised interview.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Federal agents in Portland are not mercenaries for 'ZTI'