Daniel Bennett Smith
Director of Foreign Service Institute
In office
October 26, 2018 – May 19, 2022
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byNancy McEldowney
Succeeded byJoan A. Polaschik
U.S. Chargé d'affaires to India
In office
April 30, 2021 – June 29, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byDonald Heflin
Succeeded byAtul Keshap
United States Secretary of State
Acting
In office
January 20, 2021 – January 26, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byMike Pompeo
Succeeded byAntony Blinken
Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
In office
February 14, 2014 – October 23, 2018
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Preceded byPhilip Goldberg
Succeeded byEllen E. McCarthy
United States Ambassador to Greece
In office
September 28, 2010 – August 5, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDaniel V. Speckhard
Succeeded byDavid D. Pearce
Personal details
Born (1956-03-06) March 6, 1956 (age 67)
Redwood City, California, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Colorado, Boulder (BA)
Stanford University (MA, PhD)

Daniel Bennett Smith (born March 6, 1956) is an American diplomat who served as the director of the Foreign Service Institute and acting United States Secretary of State at the presidential transition of Joe Biden.[1] He has held the rank of career ambassador since September 2018.[2] He previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research at the United States Department of State, assuming that post on February 14, 2014.[3] He is considered a veteran diplomat by the U.S. diplomatic community.[4]

Early life and education

Smith delivers remarks at his swearing-in ceremony at the Foreign Service Institute at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia on October 26, 2018.

Smith obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Colorado Boulder, followed by a Master of Arts and PhD from Stanford University.[3][5] His dissertation is tiitled "Toward Internationalism: New Deal Foreign Economic Policy, 1933–39", and was completed in 1983.[6]

Career

Under President Barack Obama, Smith served as the United States Ambassador to Greece from 2010 to 2013.[7]

In 2018, Smith was selected to serve as the Director of the Foreign Service Institute.

In 2021, President Joe Biden selected Smith to serve as the acting secretary of state until his nominee for the position, Antony Blinken, was confirmed by the United States Senate.[8] Antony Blinken was confirmed on January 26, 2021.[9] On May 3, 2021, he was appointed as US envoy to India.

References

  1. ^ "New acting secretary of state is career diplomat". KOKH. Associated Press. January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "Training center for U.S. diplomats gets a new director". Washington Post. October 26, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Daniel B. Smith". United States Department of State.
  4. ^ Schwartz, Mattathias (February 26, 2019). "Mike Pompeo's Mission: Translate Trump to a Wary World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  5. ^ "Class Notes – March 2011". The Alumni Association of the University of Colorado Boulder. March 1, 2011. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. After fulfilling his award-winning duties as a career officer in the Senior Foreign Service, Daniel Bennett Smith (Hist'77) has served as U.S. ambassador to Greece since September. Before this role, he served as executive secretary of the State Department.
  6. ^ Evans, Peter B.; Jacobson, Harold Karan; Putnam, Robert D., eds. (1993). Double-edged Diplomacy: International Bargaining and Domestic Politics. University of California Press. p. 202. ISBN 9780520076815. Daniel Bennett Smith stanford.
  7. ^ Office of the Historian. "Daniel Bennett Smith (1956–)". Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Greece) Appointed: August 8, 2010 Presentation of Credentials: September 28, 2010 Termination of Mission: Left post on August 5, 2013
  8. ^ "Daniel Smith appointed acting U.S. secretary of state". Reuters. January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  9. ^ Shesgreen, Deirdre (January 26, 2021). "Senate confirms Antony Blinken as Biden's secretary of state". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.

External links

Media related to Daniel Bennett Smith at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices Preceded byMike Pompeo United States Secretary of StateAd interim 2021 Succeeded byAntony Blinken
United States Ambassadors to Greece
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