Gerard Coad Smith (May 4, 1914 – July 4, 1994) was an American attorney and defense expert who served as the chief U.S. delegate to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) in 1969 and the first U.S. Chairman of the Trilateral Commission.

Smith became an expert in the international aspects of the use of nuclear energy and helped brief the members of the AEC on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace proposal in 1953.

He continued to work on the international aspects of atomic energy and followed the disarmament negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union which were being handled by Harold Stassen.

He led the U.S. negotiating team during the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) with the Soviet Union which resulted in the Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972.

David Rockefeller recruited him to help develop the Trilateral Commission, an organization which encouraged Japanese businessmen to become more active in American and European affairs.

He also retained an interest in disarmament and was active in educational and lobbying organizations such as the Arms Control Association and the Washington Council on Non-Proliferation.

He strongly opposed President Ronald Reagan’s proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI; popularly known as “Star Wars”) which he felt violated the 1972 ABM Treaty, and together with George Kennan, McGeorge Bundy and Robert McNamara co-authored an article in Foreign Affairs calling upon the U.S. to declare a policy of "no first use" of nuclear weapons.