Robert A. Ricks (born October 14, 1944) — known as Bob Ricks and "Backdraft Bob" — is an American

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

agent and politician from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. He has worked for the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, the

Governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma Executive (government), executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The gover ...

and in local law enforcement. He is best known as the FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge during the 1993

Waco Siege The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by US federal government and Texas state law enforcement officials of a compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians, between February 28 and April 19, 1993 ...

or as FBI Special Agent in Charge during the 1995

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...

investigation. Following his retirement from federal service, Ricks served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Safety and Security under

Frank Keating Francis Anthony Keating II (born February 10, 1944, as David Rowland Keating) is an American attorney, politician and a former FBI special agent who served as the 25th governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003. , Keating is one of only five gover ...

. He was Secretary during the Keating's entire term as governor, from 1995 to 2003. Concurrent with his service as Secretary, he was also appointed by Keating as Commissioner of the

Oklahoma Department of Public Safety The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (ODPS) is a government agency, department of the government of Oklahoma. Under the supervision of the Oklahoma Secretary of Public Safety, DPS provides for the safety of Oklahomans and the administration o ...

Education

Ricks was born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and received his early education in

Del Rio, Texas Del Rio (in Spanish language, Spanish, ''Del Río'', "from the river") is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, Val Verde County in southwestern Texas, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020, Del Rio had a popul ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

from

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

in 1967 and his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Baylor Law School Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and has been a member of the Associa ...

in 1969, where he served as an Editor of the Baylor Law Review and was a member of

Phi Delta Phi Phi Delta Phi (), commonly known as Phid or PDP, is an international legal honor society and the oldest legal organization in continuous existence in the United States. Founded in 1869 at the University of Michigan as a professional fraternity, ...

.City of Edmond, Oklahoma Biography of Robert Ricks

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Ricks served 26 years in Federal law enforcement from 1969 to 1995, during which he rose from the position of

Special Agent In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...

with the

Special Agent In Charge In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...

of the FBI in

. He also served in various other positions of authority from Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Inspector, and Deputy Assistant Director.

Waco Siege

In 1993, Ricks was a

Special Agent in Charge In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...

of the FBI's

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

field office. Following a raid on the

Branch Davidian The Branch Davidians (or the General Association of Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, or the Branch Seventh-day Adventists) are a religious sect founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General A ...

church by the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention ...

on February 28, 1993, the FBI assumed command of the

. Ricks was named one of three Assistant Special Agents in Charge, under the direction of

Jeff Jamar Jeffrey John Jamar (born September 11, 1943, in Austin, Texas) is a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge (SAC), who was in charge of an FBI squad in the 1993 Waco siege. Jamar retired from the FBI in December 1994 ...

. The others were Richard Schwein and Richard Swensen. Ricks served as FBI spokesman during the Waco siege, often speaking for the government at press conferences. On April 16, Ricks told the media:

We are going to get them. . .to bring them before the bar of justice for the murder of our agents. They're going to answer for their crimes. That's the bottom line to this whole thing, they're going to come out.

Ricks told the media that operations were costing $2 million a day. However, a later Senate Appropriations Committee hearing revealed actual costs as of April 22, 1993, were $6,792,000, an average of $130,000 a day. At the direction of newly appointed

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer and public official who served as the 78th United States Attorney General, United States attorney general from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. A member of ...

, FBI agents mounted a final assault on the Davidian church on April 19. By the end of the day, 76 Branch Davidians were dead, including women and children, and federal agents had seized control over the compound. Ricks' negligence in handling the Waco siege led to reforms in training procedures for FBI agents. Six years after the Waco siege, Ricks was charged as a defendant in the 1999

civil suit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. T ...

''Andrade et al. vs Chojnacki et al.''

Oklahoma City bombing

Ricks was serving as the Special Agent in Charge for the FBI's Oklahoma City field office when, on April 19, 1995,

Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist who masterminded and perpetrated the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. The bombing itself killed 167 people (including 19 children), injured ...

destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) * Ruined (disambiguation) Ruins are the remains of man-m ...

the

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On April 19, 1995, the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McV ...

in downtown

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. It was the most significant act of terrorism on American soil until the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001, claiming the lives of 168 victims and injuring more than 680. As the Special Agent in Charge, Ricks worked with

and senior FBI and

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

officials in the response to, and later investigation of, the attack.

Other federal service

Ricks served as chairman for the Oklahoma Federal Executive Board, which had oversight responsibilities for all Federal agencies in the State of Oklahoma. Ricks also served three years with the

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

where he was the Chief Counsel for DEA.

Secretary of Safety and Security

After serving 26 years with the FBI, in 1995 Ricks retired from federal service as Special Agent in Charge of the Oklahoma City FBI Field Office. Following his retirement,

appointed him as his Secretary of Safety and Security. As Secretary, Ricks oversaw the

, the

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) is an independent state law enforcement agency of the government of Oklahoma. The OSBI assists the county sheriff offices and city police departments of the state, and works independent of the Ok ...

, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the

Oklahoma Department of Corrections The Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC or ODOC) is an government agency, agency of the state of Oklahoma. DOC is responsible for the administration of the List of Oklahoma state prisons, state prison system. It has its headquarters in Oklaho ...

and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Concurrently with his service as Secretary, Keating also appointed him Commissioner of Public Safety, giving Ricks direct control over the

Oklahoma Highway Patrol The Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) is a major state law enforcement agency of the government of Oklahoma. A division of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, the OHP has traffic enforcement jurisdiction throughout the state. OHP was legisla ...

.Governor Keating Names Ricks Cabinet Secretary for Safety and Security
, Oklahoma Governor's Office Press Release, August 9, 1995. In 2003 when

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Brad Henry Charles Bradford Henry (born July 10, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 26th governor of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011. A Democrat, he previously served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1992 to 2003. As of 2025, he is the last ...

was elected to succeed Keating, Ricks agreed to stay on as Secretary in the Henry Administration. He remained in that position until October 2003 when he resigned as Secretary to become the

Chief of Police A chief of police (COP) is the title given to an appointed official or an elected one in the command hierarchy, chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. A chief of police may also be known as a police chief or somet ...

for

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, located in Central Oklahoma. Its population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States census, a 16% increase from 2010. maki ...

. Henry appointed Kevin Ward, the deputy secretary under Ricks, to succeed him as Secretary.

Edmond Chief of Police

Ricks served as Chief of Police in

2003–2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricks, Bob A. 1944 births Living people Federal agents at Waco siege Waco siege Federal Bureau of Investigation agents American police chiefs Law enforcement officials from Oklahoma State cabinet secretaries of Oklahoma Oklahoma City bombing People from Houston Heads of Oklahoma state agencies People from Edmond, Oklahoma Baylor University alumni Oklahoma police officers