Oklahoma City FBI shares mission with community leaders during annual Citizens' Academy

The Oklahoma City FBI field office hosted business and community leaders last week for its 22nd Citizens' Academy.

It followed a visit the week before from FBI director Kash Patel.

Patel, members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation, and law enforcement leaders also visited Oklahoma City's real-time information center during the trip.

"What my message, about the work for the FBI in Oklahoma, was that we have a fantastic team," said Special Agent In Charge Doug Goodwater about his recent conversation with the director. "The team works very hard to focus on the mission, having impact for the people of Oklahoma, and that, he can and should be, and I am, proud of the work that they do."

For three days, FBI agents and employees shared insights on their jobs relating to cyber, financial, and violent crime, plus counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and SWAT.

The outreach program carries special meaning during the same year Oklahoma City remembers 30 years since the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing.

"The office has signs that hang throughout the office that talk about the Oklahoma Standard that came from that: service, honor, and kindness," Goodwater said. "And, as we go forward, the partnerships were shown to be extremely important in the aftermath of that event. And the partnerships among law enforcement have persevered, if not improved, in the 30 years since that happened. And then in the meantime, we've added partnerships with private sector and with the community, which is part of what the Citizen's Academy is about."

Participants in this year's academy represented backgrounds in education, banking, cybersecurity, local law enforcement, nonprofit leadership, public service, and religion.

Macy McIntire, a preschool teacher, said she realized her career aspirations might align with the FBI's mission.

"I think really just helping people and hearing people's stories," she said, reflecting on what she enjoys in her job. "And this has always been something — I'm very empathetic, and that's always something that I've wanted to do. And I think that's what the FBI does."

The FBI's mission in Oklahoma is unique, and part of the academy experience included learning about the agency's work in Eastern Oklahoma following the 2020 McGirt decision from the Supreme Court.

"On our Indian Country work, there was a significant increase following the Supreme Court decision, a few years ago," Goodwater explained. "Initially, that mission was met with temporary resources, rotating through Oklahoma, to respond to crime in Indian Country, as we proceed now. And now that I'm in this role, the surge from that change has been absorbed, and the field office does a fantastic job of addressing the work we have for offices in cities in the Eastern half of the state, which is where most of the Indian Country work comes from."

Goodwater said last year his agents secured more than 200 convictions from their case work in tribal jurisdictions, including more than 40 with sentences longer than 30 years.