Barrow joined the Tennessee Army National Guard in 2001 and was commissioned as an officer in 2008. He was mobilised for deployment in 2003 during the Iraq War, but his unit never ended up deploying. During his time in the National Guard he served as a suicide prevention officer, an illicit drugs prevention officer, a public affairs office, and a career counselor. In January 2014, he left the military, and joined REGAL-BELOIT as an account manager.[1][2]
Barrow also worked as an investigator and security consultant in the private sector in the United States, as a justice advocate with the Nashville Juvenile Justice Center, and as an instructor at Vanderbilt University Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).[2]
Barrow played a key role in the 2014 Gambian coup d'état attempt. He purchased at least eight weapons prior to the coup attempt, including three Smith & Wesson rifles from a gun shop near where he lived. In late October 2014, he flew to Dakar to act as an advance man. While in Dakar, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had called Barrow's phone to ask him where he was, but he refused to answer. When the rebel group attacked the State House on 30 December, Barrow was one of three who stayed behind at a safe house. Learning of the failure of the coup attempt, Barrow and the two others left the Gambia and returned to Senegal. After returning to the United States, Barrow was arrested by the FBI and charged under the Neutrality Act of 1794, to which he pleaded guilty.[3] He was sentenced to six months.[4]
In August 2018, Barrow was appointed as the director of research at the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) by its secretary, Baba Galleh Jallow. Some objected to his appointment on the grounds that a convicted felon should not hold the role.[5]