The Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance is a global task force assembled to investigate and prevent bio-terrorism following the fall of the Umbrella corporation. The organization holds eight branches worldwide and is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. Prominent members include Chris Redfield of the North American branch and Sheva Alomar of the West Africa branch.
Following the downfall of Umbrella, the Global Pharmaceutical Consortium was hit hard by the controversy and countless lawsuits that arose from the Raccoon City incident, due to Umbrella being an executive board member within the Consortium. This caused the public's trust in the consortium to waver, which only deepened when evidence presented by prosecuters during the Supreme Court trial against Umbrella showed that other members of the organization were aiding Umbrella indirectly. Umbrella had used medicines and techniques acquired from other members of the consortium and implemented them into their biological weapons research. With the prospect of bankruptcy now thrust into the consortium's hands, the organization struck a deal with the prosecution to turn over any evidence that would support the prosecutions case against Umbrella. With Umbrella's downfall in 2003, the consortium had come out relatively unscathed and began to regain the public's trust.
While Umbrella's downfall marked the end of the consortium's involvement in the whole affair, incidents of bioterrorism were on the rise. To combat this and to avoid another situation like the one following Raccoon City, the organization established the BSAA Only eleven individuals were originally inducted into the BSAA, two of whom being Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, and these elite members were referred to as the "Original Eleven". While their authority was highly limited due to the BSAA initially being a civilian-led organization, leading most it's members to act as observers and instructors to various other military and police units, the bioterror problem continued to escalate. They could not operate freely in sovereign nations, and thus were unable to conduct investigations, make pertinent arrests, or even use force when the situaton dictated it.
With immediate action required, the BSAA was reformed by the United Nations as a UN-controlled special forces team. Ensuring it's acceptance by the member states. However, only 70% of the member states allowed the BSAA to operate on their soil, while the remainder only allowed it to do so on a conditional basis. The current incarnation of the BSAA was established with these in mind, and BSAA units were kept at numerous locations throughout the globe such as air force bases. The BSAA HQ was located in England at an undisclosed location, but presumably close to a Royal Air Force station.
The branches established worldwide include North America, West Africa, East Africa, Oceania, Middle East, South America, Europe (where it's headquarters is based) and Far East. Their jurisdictions are listed below:
European Headquarters: Europe and western Russia
Middle East Branch: The Middle 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 for Oceania
(Antarctica, where the Umbrella Antarctic Base was located, falls under the jurisdiction of the Oceanian Branch.)
With the organization now firmly established, members were culled from the best the world at large had to offer. Such examples include Reynard Fisher, Dan Dechant and Josh Stone. Support staff were also primarily from government organizations in numerous countries. These support staff provided technical, medical, physical and mental support to field agents.
BSAA deployment teams were maintained in two seperate groups, the first being the Special Operations Unit (SOU), which were sanctioned to infiltrate areas, engage in direct combat and subdue any offenders. The SOU teams are normally comprised of 12 members, divided three four-man cells. The SOU's special feature lay in the flexibility of its personnel depending on the operation. Members from different units and cells are brought in to assist operations too big or difficult for a single SOU team to handle. Dan Dechant is a prominent member of the SOU.
The second group are the Special Operations Agents (SOA) that primarily work alone in investigation and espionage missions, or when a full team cannot penetrate a certain area. Under these conditions, a two-man cell may be used. Members of the SOA are typically higher ranked and more skilled in terms of technical prowess and abilities than SOU members, but only in terms of phsycological state and situation handling aptitude.
The BSAA is primarily funded by the Global Pharmaceuticals Consortium, with a prominent funder being Tricell. The consortium's involvement also acts as a world-wide PR service, benefiting both the consortium and the BSAA in the long run. The BSAA remains a public organization with international staff.