Beckett Brown International

Beckett Brown International (BBI) was a private security firm that operated from headquarters in Easton, Maryland. It first began operations in August 1995, and closed in 2001. The firm's name was changed to "S2i" in 2000.

Clients
In April 2008, Mother Jones magazine reported that BBI undertook:
 * ongoing work for the firms of Ketchum PR, Nichols-Dezenhall and Mongoven, Biscoe & Duchin
 * "intelligence collection" for Allied Waste
 * background checks and performed due diligence for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm;
 * "protective services" for the National Rifle Association
 * "crisis management" for the Gallo wine company;
 * "crisis management" for Pirelli;
 * anti-bugging sweeps for the Louis Dreyfus Group, a commodities firm;
 * "information collection" for Wal-Mart;
 * background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser
 * "surveillance" for Mary Kay
 * unspecified work for Halliburton
 * unspecified work for Monsanto

Personnel
BBI was founded by Richard Beckett, who ran a "local executive recruiting and consulting business" with funding from John C. Dodd III. Dodd told Mother Jones magazine that shortly after their initial meeting, Beckett introduced him to Paul Rakowski, "a recently retired Secret Service agent" and later on to another Secret Service agent, Joseph A. Masonis and George Ferris, a "former naval special operations officer and an expert in demolitions."

Mother Jones reported that when the firm was launched in August 1995 Ferris, Rakowski and Masonis were "officials in the firm". (Rakowski's current occupation is unknown while Masonis currently works at Annapolis Group).

Other personnel, including staff, consultants and investors (and affiliations as of April 2008):
 * Richard Beckett, a founder of the firm who left in 2000 and is currently the CEO of Global Security Services)
 * David Bresett, vice-president
 * David Queen, senior vice president
 * Vincent Cannistraro told Mother Jones magazine that he "did due diligence on a couple of customers";
 * Phil Giraldi, a former CIA officer, left the firm in 1999;
 * Jay Bly (currently works at Chesapeake Strategies Group)
 * Tim Ward (current head of Chesapeake Strategies Group)
 * Jim Daron who Mother Jones describes as "a Washington police officer working for BBI;"
 * Mary Lou Sapone, who, according to Mother Jones, was retained by BBI and "recruited a paid operative in Louisiana to infiltrate an environmental group called CLEAN;"
 * John C. Dodd III, investor who later sued and, in 2005, lost a case against Rakowski, Bly, Ward and two others. After losing the case Dodd made internal documents from the firm available to a number of groups and companies.

SourceWatch resources

 * Annapolis Group
 * Chesapeake Strategies Group
 * Diplomatic Tactical Services
 * Global Security Services
 * Ketchum
 * Nichols-Dezenhall
 * Perceptions International
 * Mongoven, Biscoe & Duchin

Articles

 * James Ridgeway, "Cops and Former Secret Service Agents Ran Black Ops on Green Groups", Mother Jones, April 11, 2008. (Additional reporting by David Corn, Jennifer Wedekind, Daniel Schulman, and Nick Baumann).