Anti-war organizers in Portland are demanding city leaders investigate a local artificial intelligence company accused of supplying targeting software to the Israeli military, raising questions about whether the firm receives municipal support or tax incentives.
Sightline Intelligence manufactures AI video processing systems designed to be integrated into drones, where the software identifies targets, classifies threats, and tracks movement in real time. Cargo documents reviewed by Movement Research Unit, a London-based research organization, indicate the company has shipped its technology to Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense contractor that manufactures approximately 85 percent of drones used by the Israeli military.
The shipments occurred on four separate dates: December 28, 2024; March 14, 2025; September 4, 2025; and October 20, 2025, according to the cargo records. Elbit Systems is a major global arms exporter and has supplied armed drones used in surveillance and operations in Gaza.
Sightline's promotional materials showcase its technology in action, displaying triangular markers overlaid on military vehicles, boats, and people in fields, identifying target types and assessment accuracy in real time. The company markets these capabilities as useful for search and rescue, disaster response, infrastructure monitoring, and counter-drone operations.
Olivia Katbi, a Portland political organizer leading the push for investigation, views the technology through a different lens. "It is showing images of people to kill," Katbi said. "And that is what these drones do. They kill people." She argues that the software fits the definition of weapons components under international law and that if the federal government will not block such sales, Portland should use its authority to disrupt them.
Last year, half of Portland's city council signed a symbolic pledge to investigate weapons manufacturing and transport within city limits. Councilor Angelita Morillo, one of the signatories, called the Sightline situation exactly what the pledge intended to address. "AI target recognition technologies might be built and tested abroad, but they always end up at our doorstep," Morillo said. "The same class of tools implicated in human rights violations against civilians in Gaza and protesters can be turned on Portlanders."
That concern intensified when Sightline's promotional material featured footage shot at an aerial tramway at Oregon Health and Science University without permission. The hospital and city transportation bureau both denied authorizing the filming. After roughly 50 people demonstrated outside Sightline's office, the company removed the footage.
Sightline spokesperson Makayla Thomas said the company complies with all applicable laws and regulations, does not comment on specific customer relationships, and that the OHSU footage was simply intended to demonstrate video processing capabilities, not represent an actual deployment. Thomas also stated the company does not conduct targeted video collection from specific communities to develop its AI models.
The effort in Portland mirrors similar pressure campaigns elsewhere. In late 2024, Alameda County in California sold $32 million in bonds held in Caterpillar, which supplies bulldozers to the Israeli military, and subsequently approved an ethical investment policy designed to divest from such companies.
Elbit Systems reported $7.9 billion in revenue in 2025, a 16 percent increase from 2024, with more than $28 billion in pending orders. Israel accounts for 28 percent of those orders. Company president and CEO Bezhalel Machlis told investors this March that the firm expects continued growth. "As in the Middle East, as one conflict ends, another begins," Machlis said.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who sits on the Senate intelligence committee, acknowledged concerns about surveillance tools designed overseas potentially returning to violate American privacy rights. "As a privacy hawk, I'm always concerned about the prospect of surveillance tools designed for use overseas, AI or otherwise, boomeranging back to violate Americans' constitutional privacy rights here at home," Wyden said in a statement.
Morillo outlined specific actions Portland could take, including using its authority to regulate AI companies' use of public right of way, enforcing remote aircraft laws, and tightening city purchasing standards to exclude contractors with ties to military operations abroad.
Author James Rodriguez: "Portland is discovering what many cities will soon face: the question of whether local power can check what federal policy enables."
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