After receiving his doctorate, Smith joined the State Department Foreign Service, and has served in Bern, Switzerland; Istanbul, Turkey; Ottawa, Canada; and Stockholm, Sweden. He has also served as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs; Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for European and Canadian Affairs; and Country Officer for Czechoslovakia. From 1993 to 1995 he taught Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Smith served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs from 2002 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007, he served as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Smith was the Executive Secretary of the State Department’s Executive Secretariat from August 2007 to June 2010.  The Executive Secretariat, comprised of the Executive Secretary and four Deputy Executive Secretaries, is responsible for coordination of the work of the Department internally, serving as the liaison between the Department's bureaus and the offices of the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Under Secretaries. It also handles the Department’s relations with the White House, National Security Council, and other Cabinet agencies. When Barack Obama was elected president of the United State, Smith served as the coordinator of the State Department transition team.

 

Smith and his wife, Diane, have three sons, Andrew, Erik, and Troy. Smith speaks German, Turkish and Swedish. 

 

Official Biography

Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (confirmation hearing statement) (pdf)

Testimony before the House International Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations

Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims