From left, SBI Director Gene Wiggins, FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Matthew Lehman and Alabama’s Secretary of Law Enforcement Hal Taylor
REDSTONE ARSENAL-Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) representatives Monday, July 17, addressed attendees of the inaugural FBI Analytical Writing Course at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.
Alabama’s Secretary of Law Enforcement Hal Taylor, State Bureau of Investigation Director Gene Wiggins and Alabama Fusion Center Director Jay Moseley spoke about the value of the analytical products to the intelligence and law enforcement communities and the importance of the two-week training, which concludes today, July 21. They also expressed thanks to the FBI for providing this training to fusion center intelligence analysts from across the nation.
Fusion centers were created by state and local public safety executives in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and given the mission of assisting in the identification, prevention, mitigation, response and recovery of terrorist acts and other major criminal activity. Every day across the 79 fusion centers in 50 states and three U.S. territories, personnel assigned to lead and work in fusion centers from state and local law enforcement, homeland security, fire, public health and emergency management agencies, working alongside federal law enforcement and homeland security partners, are accomplishing that mission. They work to identify behavior that is reasonably indicative of pre-operational planning associated with terrorism or other criminal activity. Fusion center staff are also accomplishing their public safety mission with the protection of privacy, civil rights and civil liberties as a core function of their analytical activities.
At the heart of every fusion center is the highly trained intelligence analyst that has the task of developing data into the intelligence products that drive the decisions within our government that are used to identify and prevent threats to our communities and that aid in the mitigation, response and recovery when our public safety resources are unable to stop the threat. The National Network of Fusion Centers (NFCA) has more than 1,000 analysts and the National Fusion Center Association strives to support those analysts through the development of training courses with their federal partners. The Analytical Writing Course being held at Redstone Arsenal is one example of training that will enhance the capabilities of these intelligence analysts.
The NFCA is proud to have partnered with the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement (OPE) and Directorate of Intelligence (DI) to develop this training course. Developing and expanding the relationship between fusion center analysts and FBI analysts will reduce potential duplication of effort, improve effectiveness and increase the collaboration necessary to protect America from terrorism and other major criminal threats. The NFCA and ALEA look forward to many more FBI-hosted analytical training courses in the future and appreciate the FBI’s commitment to the National Network of Fusion Centers.
Media Release/ALEA/Jesse Thornton
