Gavin de Becker


Gavin de Becker is an American author and security specialist, primarily for governments, large corporations, and public figures. He is the founder and chairman of Gavin de Becker and Associates.

Career

Together with the United States Marshals Service, he co-designed the MOSAIC Threat Assessment Systems, which is used to screen threats to Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, members of United States Congress, and senior officials of the Central Intelligence Agency. Los Angeles County Law enforcement agencies adopted MOSAIC in 1997 to help police manage and reduce spousal abuse cases that might escalate to homicide.
He was twice appointed to the President's Advisory Board at the United States Department of Justice, and he served two terms on the Governor's Advisory Board at the California Department of Mental Health.
De Becker has shared his philosophies about prevention of violence in several appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, Larry King Live, 20/20, The Jordan Harbinger Show and Sam Harris's podcast Waking Up. He has also been profiled in Time and Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and others. De Becker's first book, The Gift of Fear, was a US number 1 bestseller on The New York Times Bestseller List.
In 2008, Oprah Winfrey dedicated a show to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the publication of the book. In the last year of her show, she dedicated two hour-long shows to de Becker's work in domestic violence.
His latest book, Just 2 Seconds, has been described as a guide for protectors of at-risk people and includes 5 lessons for people charged with protecting others. It also includes summaries of incidents from the last several decades for training and analysis. Co-authors of the book are Tom Taylor and Jeff Marquart.
In 1997, his firm was hired by Bill Cosby to investigate the murder of his son, Ennis.
De Becker served as an expert advisor to the Los Angeles County District Attorney on the criminal prosecution of O.J. Simpson, and served as an advisor on the successful civil case against Simpson. His role is described in several books on the Simpson case, including those written by Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden, Jeffrey Toobin, and Daniel Petrocelli.
De Becker has served as an adviser for the anti-bullying resource, Bystander Revolution.
In March 2019, De Becker, who has worked for The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, accused the Saudi Arabian government of hacking Bezos' phone. According to the BBC, de Becker, as Bezos' top security staffer, "linked the hack to The Washington Post coverage of the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul." The Daily Beast ran an op-Ed in which De Becker explained the matter of the Saudi hack in detail.

Expert witness testimony

Gavin de Becker has provided expert witness testimony in many cases, including the successful prosecution of Arthur Richard Jackson, the assailant of actress Theresa Saldaña. He later led a national campaign to keep Jackson incarcerated. He also testified in the civil case against the employer of murderer Rodney Garmanian.
De Becker testified in the successful 1994 civil case arising when The Globe tabloid accused an uninvolved man of being the actual assassin of Senator Robert Kennedy. Globe tried to get de Becker's testimony thrown out by a higher court; however, it was ultimately upheld by the California Court of Appeals.
De Becker advised the Los Angeles County District Attorney in the successful prosecution of Robert Bardo, the murderer of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and was a consultant on the unsuccessful prosecution of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, and the successful civil action against O.J. Simpson.

Writings