Smith has also served as Consul General in Shanghai (2014–2017), Director/Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the Department of State.

He also served as Economic Section Chief at the Taipei Main Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT),[3][4] and team leader at the United States Provincial Reconstruction Team in the Iraqi Province of Muthanna.

[5][6][7] Smith earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and Princeton University, a certificate in political studies from Sciences Po in Paris and was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Japan.

[5][6] Smith is a senior fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale.

[10][11] In addition to English, Smith speaks Mandarin Chinese, French, Danish, and Khmer.