Gerald W. Becknell, FBI (Ret)

Former Special Agent Jerry Becknell began his law enforcement career in March 1973 as an undercover narcotics officer with the Columbus Georgia Police Department. After graduating from Columbus State University in 1976 with a B.S. in Business Administration and an A.S. in Criminal Justice, he served seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps/Military Police. Captain Becknell formed and trained the first Marine Corps SWAT teams at Camp Pendleton, California and authored the Standard Operating Procedures for Military Police. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for his work in building the facilities and curriculum for the USMC Military Police School, San Antonio, Texas.

Upon joining the FBI in 1983 Mr. Becknell served 18 months in Western Kansas and 13 years in Chicago working at various times Terrorism, Foreign Drug Cartels, Street Gangs and Foreign Counter Intelligence. He completed his Masters course work in Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Joining the Southeast Bomb Task Force in 1997 he conceived, organized and trained the Cave and Mine Search Team, serving as the Team Leader during the Eric Rudolph manhunt. Upon returning from the mountains of North Carolina Mr. Becknell was assigned Civil Rights/Hate Crime investigations. In that assignment he trained over 4,500 Georgia peace officers in how to balance Civil Rights concerns with officer survival. During this same period he served as a member of the Atlanta Arson Task Force. In November 2001 Mr. Becknell was appointed the FBI Infragard Coordinator and served on the FBI Regional Computer Crimes Squad.

Mr. Becknell retired from the FBI on December 1, 2003 and is currently President and CEO of Security Matters, Inc., a team of retired FBI agents and other professionals providing a wide range of security related services to corporate America. He is the Vice President of InfraGard Atlanta.