Tennessee Fusion Center Receives National Award

NASHVILLE --- Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn announced Thursday that the Tennessee Fusion Center has been named Fusion Center of the Year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

 

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano presented the award to the Tennessee Fusion Center (TFC) earlier this week at the National Fusion Center Conference in Denver. The TFC was singled out among the 72 fusion centers across the country for its progress in analyzing and sharing terrorism and criminal information among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies across Tennessee at both the tactical and strategic levels.

 

Secretary Napolitano also recognized TFC analyst Oxana Munson as State/Local Fusion Center Representative of the Year. Munson was honored for her support in building the analytic capabilities of the TFC. The Secretary also noted that Munson strengthened collaboration with partners all levels of government to develop joint analytic products.

 

“The dedicated team at the Tennessee Fusion Center analyzes information from various sources and ‘connects the dots’ to prevent potential criminal and terrorist activities in our state,” said Commissioner Gibbons. “The citizens of Tennessee are safer because of the Tennessee Fusion Center. The team is very deserving of this award,” Gibbons added.

 

“The recognition this award gives the Fusion Center is well deserved by the individuals who work daily to gather information on incidents across the state and have the ability to link those incidents on the local, state and federal levels,” said TBI Director Mark Gwyn. “The Fusion Center has revolutionized law enforcement in Tennessee.”

 

Housed within the TBI Headquarters in Nashville, the TFC was created in 2007. The collaborative effort of the partner agencies provides resources, expertise and information to the center with the goal of maximizing the ability to detect, prevent, apprehend and respond to criminal and terrorist activity. The TFC uses intelligence information with an ‘all crimes’ approach. It provides a central location for the collection and analysis of law enforcement related information and produces a continuous flow of that information to the law enforcement community. The TFC forecasts and identifies emerging crime trends and gives assistance to law enforcement in criminal investigations.

 

In addition to the TBI and Tennessee Department of Homeland Security, Tennessee Fusion Center partners include the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Tennessee Department of Correction, the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, the National Guard, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Regional Organized Crime Information Center, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

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