{{Short description|American diplomat (born 1956)}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Daniel Bennett Smith ambassador.jpg | office = Director of Foreign Service Institute | president = Donald Trump<br>Joe Biden | term_start = October 26, 2018 | term_end = May 19, 2022 | predecessor = Nancy McEldowney | successor = Joan A. Polaschik | office1 = U.S. Chargé d'affaires to India | president1 = Joe Biden | term_start1 = April 30, 2021 | term_end1 = June 29, 2021 | predecessor1 = Donald Heflin | successor1 = Atul Keshap | office2 = Acting United States Deputy Secretary of State | president2 = Joe Biden | term_start2 = January 26, 2021 | term_end2 = April 14, 2021 | predecessor2 = Stephen Biegun | successor2 = Wendy Sherman | office3 = Acting United States Secretary of State | president3 = Joe Biden | term_start3 = January 20, 2021 | term_end3 = January 26, 2021 | predecessor3 = Mike Pompeo | successor3 = Antony Blinken | office4 = 19th Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research | president4 = Barack Obama<br>Donald Trump | term_start4 = February 14, 2014 | term_end4 = October 23, 2018 | predecessor4 = Philip Goldberg | successor4 = Ellen E. McCarthy | office5 = United States Ambassador to Greece | president5 = Barack Obama | term_start5 = September 28, 2010 | term_end5 = August 5, 2013 | predecessor5 = Daniel V. Speckhard | successor5 = David D. Pearce | office6 = 22nd Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State | term_start6 = 2007 | term_end6 = 2009 | preceded6 = Harry K. Thomas Jr. | succeeded6 = Stephen D. Mull | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|3|6}} | birth_place = Redwood City, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = | education = University of Colorado Boulder (BA)<br>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.<ref>{{Cite web|agency=Associated Press|date=January 20, 2021|title=New acting secretary of state is career diplomat|url=https://okcfox.com/news/nation-world/new-acting-secretary-of-state-is-career-diplomat|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=KOKH}}</ref> He has held the rank of career ambassador since September 2018.<ref name="Training">{{cite news|date=October 26, 2018|title=Training center for U.S. diplomats gets a new director|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/training-center-for-us-diplomats-gets-a-new-director/2018/10/26/ebb58cfe-443e-40e6-8676-14ec813e5311_story.html|access-date=October 27, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref name="DOSBIO">{{cite news |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/225045.htm |title=Daniel B. Smith |publisher=United States Department of State }}</ref> He is considered a veteran diplomat by the U.S. diplomatic community.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/magazine/mike-pompeo-translates-trump.html|title=Mike Pompeo's Mission: Translate Trump to a Wary World|last=Schwartz|first=Mattathias|date=February 26, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Early life and education== [[File:Ambassador Smith Gives Remarks at his Swearing-in Ceremony (45570913001).jpg|left|thumb|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.<ref name="DOSBIO"/><ref>{{cite news |quote=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. |title=Class Notes – March 2011 |date=March 1, 2011 |url=http://www.coloradanmagazine.org/2011/03/01/class-notes-march-2011/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602034308/http://www.coloradanmagazine.org/2011/03/01/class-notes-march-2011/ |archive-date=June 2, 2017 |publisher=The Alumni Association of the University of Colorado Boulder}}</ref> His dissertation is titled "Toward Internationalism: New Deal Foreign Economic Policy, 1933–39", and was completed in 1983.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/doubleedgeddiplo00pete |url-access=registration |quote=Daniel Bennett Smith stanford. |page=[https://archive.org/details/doubleedgeddiplo00pete/page/202 202] |title=Double-edged Diplomacy: International Bargaining and Domestic Politics |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520076815 |year=1993 |editor-first=Peter B. |editor-last=Evans |editor-first2=Harold Karan |editor-last2=Jacobson |editor-first3=Robert D. |editor-last3=Putnam}}</ref>
==Career== Under President Barack Obama, Smith served as the United States Ambassador to Greece from 2010 to 2013.<ref>{{cite news |title=Daniel Bennett Smith (1956–) |quote=Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Greece) Appointed: August 8, 2010 Presentation of Credentials: September 28, 2010 Termination of Mission: Left post on August 5, 2013 |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/smith-daniel-bennett |author=Office of the Historian |author-link=Office of the Historian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602020059/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/smith-daniel-bennett |archive-date=June 2, 2017}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-state-smith/daniel-smith-appointed-acting-u-s-secretary-of-state-idUSKBN29P2OP|title=Daniel Smith appointed acting U.S. secretary of state|date=January 20, 2020|access-date=January 20, 2020|work=Reuters}}</ref> Antony Blinken was confirmed on January 26, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shesgreen|first=Deirdre|date=January 26, 2021|title=Senate confirms Antony Blinken as Biden's secretary of state|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/26/senate-confirms-antony-blinken-president-bidens-secretary-state/4242530001/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126205319/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/26/senate-confirms-antony-blinken-president-bidens-secretary-state/4242530001/ |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |access-date=January 26, 2021|website=USA Today}}</ref> On May 3, 2021, Smith was appointed as US envoy to India.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline}} *{{C-SPAN|73242}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Mike Pompeo}} {{s-ttl|title=United States Secretary of State<br>Acting|years=2021}} {{s-aft|after=Antony Blinken}} |- {{s-bef|before=Stephen Biegun}} {{s-ttl|title=United States Deputy Secretary of State<br>Acting|years=2021}} {{s-aft|after=Wendy Sherman}} {{s-end}}
{{US Ambassadors to Greece}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Daniel Bennett}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:People from Redwood City, California Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Greece Category:Stanford University alumni Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni Category:Assistant secretaries of state for intelligence and research Category:United States career ambassadors Category:Biden administration cabinet members Category:Acting United States secretaries of state