BSAA (file)

Following the annihilation of Raccoon City, Umbrella

was hit hard with multiple lawsuits for their

involvement in the incident. But there was an

organization that was hit even harder by the fallout

of that incident: the Global Pharmaceutical

Consortium, an organization comprised of

pharmaceutical companies from around the world.

Umbrellas development of and experimentation with

Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W.), along with the sale of

those weapons on the black market, caused people to

distrust the Global Pharmaceutical Consortium, and

the fact that Umbrella was an executive board member

only deepened their misgivings.

If things had ended there, the consortium may have

just escaped with a tarnished reputation. But in

today's world, medicine is an integral part of almost

all medical procedures. The public is also quite

informed when it comes to which medications are

trusted and which are not. If the population looses

trust in the pharmaceutical company responsible for

creating certain medications, it can quickly bankrupt

said company.

The Umbrella trials took a turn for the worse for the

consortium when prosecutors presented evidence that

incriminated many other pharmaceutical companies.

Prosecutors showed that Umbrella acquired medicines

and techniques developed by other companies and

employed them in their own bioweapons research. They

commissioned each of the respective companies to only

partially develop certain medications so that they

could not be traced to what was ultimately being

developed. The responsible companies thus

unwittingly contributed to the development of

bioweapons.

Until this development in the case, the consortium

looked at the lawsuits as Umbrella's problem. Now the

problem was thrust into their laps as well.

The companies that were linked to Umbrella faced the

possibility of sharing blame for the deaths of

hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and if

Umbrella lost the lawsuits, they would face

bankruptcy as well. Even if Umbrella was found not

guilty of any wrongdoing, the negative publicity

would not only be disastrous for sales, but the

governments of the world would revoke the companies'

permits to sell their products.

Not having permission to distribute their products

worldwide would effectively dismantle their

businesses.

The pharmaceutical companies realized they had no

choice but to take drastic measures to counter their

dismal prospects.

The consortium decided to strike a deal with the

prosecutors. They would put all their efforts into

assisting with the case against Umbrella, even to the

point of turning over any internal company

documentation. The prosecutors in the case, being

obsessed with seeing Umbrella fall, agreed to accept

the help of the consortium's companies, and in return

they would not pursue legal action against them.

In 2003, Umbrella was found guilty on all charges.

With its fall, the scandal that rocked the

pharmaceutical industry to its core could finally be

put to rest.

But Umbrella's dismantlement led to an unforeseen

situation.

In the fallout of Umbrella's collapse, B.O.W.s

began to show up on the black market. The

weapons wound up in the hands of terrorists, guerilla

fighters, and unstable state governments. Soon the

threat of these B.O.W.s began to be felt around the

world.

Faced with a new Umbrella-like crisis, the Global

Pharmaceutical Consortium knew they would have to

take immediate action.

It was then that the Bioterrorism Security Assessment

Alliance (BSAA) was formed to fight threats from

B.O.W.s.

Upon its initial foundation, only eleven elite

individuals were made part of the BSAA. Their job was

limited to that of observers to armies and police

units around the world that conducted counter-

bioterrorism operations. Unfortunately, the world's

bioterrorism problem was much bigger than anyone had

anticipated, and so a new course of action was

required to handle the problem.

To that end, consideration was given to creating a

team that could react instantly to threats, but the

BSAA was still only a civilian-led organization.

They could not operate freely in sovereign nations,

and thus were unable to conduct investigations,

make pertinent arrests, or even use force when the

situation dictated it. It was clear now that the

threat of bioterrorism was now the entire world's

problem, and something would have to be done.

The BSAA was then reformed under the U.N.'s

jurisdiction.

As a U.N.-controlled special forces team, the BSAA's

acceptance by the U.N.'s member states was taken as a

given.

The truth of the matter was that only 70 percent of

the member states would approve of BSAA activities on

their soil, and the remainder of the states would only

approve BSAA activities in their countries on a

conditional basis.

That is how the current incarnation of the BSAA was

formed.

The BSAA's headquarters was located in England, but

any further details of the location were not released

to the public. Since a BSAA team had to be able to be

deployed within 12 hours, it was assumed that they

were located near airport hub or an air force base.

Some courses claimed that the BSAA had bases in the

area under their jurisdiction.

The following is a list of areas under the

jurisdiction of their respective BSAA branches.

European Headquarters: Europe and western Russia

Middle East Branch: The Middle of East and part of

Africa

North American Branch: The entire North American

continent (Chris Redfield is stationed here)

South American Branch: The entire South American

continent

West African Branch: The western part of the African

continent (Sheva Alomar is stationed here)

East African Branch: The eastern part of the African

continent

Far East Branch: Eastern Russia and the countries east

of India

Oceanian Branch: Australia is the center of operations

of Oceania

(Antarctica, where Umbrella's Antarctic Base was

located, falls under the jurisdiction of the Oceanian

Branch.)

Each BSAA branch had a considerable number of people

on their tactical teams, most of them coming from

police special forces and militaries around the world.

The support staff for the teams was also quite large,

and they came mainly from government organizations

in different countries. There were many groups of

experts on the staff that provided technical, medical,

physical, and mental support to the teams.

The BSAA deployment teams were divided into two

groups.

The first group was the Special Operations Unit (SOU).

The SOU were sanctioned to infiltrate an area, engage

in combat, and subdue offenders. Teams were usually

comprised of 12 members, and each team was divided

into three four-man cells.

A special feature of the SOU is the flexibility of its

personnel during operations. In order to match the

scale of an operation, cells from other teams are

brought in on a regular basis. For one specific joint

operation, there were 70 elite members working

together.

Dan DeChant is currently the leader of Alpha Team for

this operation. The team is comprised of his own

standard team along with cells from other teams. (The

designation Alpha Team will only be used for this

operation.)

Reports indicate that because unknown B.O.W.s are

involved, the efficacy of the tactical team's methods

for handling them may be low, and consideration has

to be given to the strong points that raise their

efficacy.

Another key part of the BSAA is the Special

Operations Agent (SOA). Usually they are referred to

as just "agents", and unlike the SOU, agents work

alone. The agents are primarily involved in

investigations and espionage activities, and as

such, they are considered the eyes and ears for the

BSAA. During certain operations, it may become

difficult for tactical teams to penetrate to the

front, so it is up to the agents to carry out the

missions.

During those types of missions, a two-man cell is the

basic deployment unit required to carry out the

mission.

Sometimes agents must go beyond the jurisdiction of a

BSAA branch to carry out their missions. Many of them

are dispatched to areas with unlawful activities. This

mission sees agent Chris Redfield in that role.

Agents who work alone are highly capable, and they

rank higher than SOU members; however, agents are

not chosen so much for their abilities or technical

prowess, but for the psychological state and aptitude

in handling situations. In actual skills and

abilities, they may be outperformed by SOU members.

The BSAA is a public organization with an

international staff, but owing to the logistics of

running such an organization, it is a well-known

fact that most of their funding comes from the Global

Pharmaceutical Consortium.

While this relationship has been the target of much

criticism, the consortium's funding removes the

financial burden from participatory nations, and as

such, any motivation to change the situation and

incur unwanted expenses. As for the consortium, their

sponsorship acts as much needed industry-wide PR

service. So far this partnership has been beneficial

to all parties involved.

On a final note, the eleven members who were part of

the BSAA from the beginning are highly respected

within the organization, and are known as the

Original Eleven. The name comes from the Original

Seven, who were the seven astronauts selects for

Project Mercury.

One of these Original Eleven is Chris Redfield. A

number of other members of the Original Eleven also

work alongside many of the tactical teams.