308: Barry Black – Accountant to Master Bomb Tech

Subscribe! Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

In this episode, retired agent Barry Black, an FBI accountant turned bomb tech, reviews an investment fraud and the initial investigative steps he took when responding to the Oklahoma City Bombing.

He investigated the medical supply investment fraud case as a special agent accountant, arresting two men who were found guilty of operating a scam that duped investors nationwide out of more than $1.43 million. The case was highlighted on an episode of the TV show Unsolved Mysteries.

Barry was also part of the task force that investigated the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where the lives of 168 people, including 19 children, were senselessly taken. He reviews the initial investigative steps he took when responding to the OKBOMB crime scene, his first as a newly certified bomb tech. He knew many of the victims and his wife, who worked in the building and had been parked in the basement, had driven out just two minutes before the blast. Barry shares how that tragic event shaped the rest of his career as a bomb tech.

Special Agent (Retired)

Barry Black

1988 – 2019

“The transition from white collar to SWAT to explosives was just a strange timing event. I got in the Bureau pretty young because of my accounting background. Tried out for the SWAT team, was able to get selected for that. Somehow made it to sniper school, which was sort of my dream, what I wanted to do. So I worked white collar and did the SWAT part. I asked the bomb tech, Jim Norman, who was a good friend of mine, what do you do? He said, well, we train, we travel the world, we blow stuff up. I thought that sounds like something I want to do.”—Retired Agent Barry Black

Barry Black served in the FBI for 31 years. He was assigned to the Oklahoma City Division where he primarily investigated complex financial crimes for the first half of his Bureau career and was a sniper on the SWAT team for several years before being certified as a Special Agent Bomb Technician (SABT) at the FBI’s Hazardous Devices School.

Barry was later assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, where he worked with international partners in the global war on terror and trained highly specialized military and counterterrorism units in hostile regions around the world.

Domestically, Mr. Black responded to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing, the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, the 2005 bombing at the University of Oklahoma, the bombing of a U.S. Air Force recruiting station, and in a complex undercover operation, helped thwart a 2017 truck bomb attack targeting a financial center in Oklahoma City. He has provided expert testimony in criminal and civil matters, technical support for numerous National Special Security Events, and received a U.S. patent as co-inventor of a specialized counter-IED tool.

Barry received the FBI’s Master Police Instructor Award and was recognized as a Master Bomb Technician. In 2014, state and local law enforcement inducted him into the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame and presented him with the Bill Tilghman Public Service Award. In 2019, he was awarded the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Group Achievement Award.

He was named as an Honorary U.S. Air Force Commander in 2022 for his work with Security Forces, military working dogs, and other specialized units. During his 31-year career, Mr. Black served as an Adjunct Faculty Member at the FBI Academy, a subject matter expert for the U.S. State Department, and an instructor for NATO “Centres of Excellence.” He has been a guest lecturer at FBI headquarters, Scotland Yard, the Department of Justice National Advocacy Center, numerous universities, as well as police and military academies around the world.

After retiring in 2019, Barry became an adjunct faculty member at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Forensic Science Institute. He has served as a consultant and provided commentary on national and international events for media outlets such as the BBC, The History Channel, FOX News, CNN, Oliver North’s Real American Heroes, and True FBI.