| Office: | Director of Foreign Service Institute |
| President: | Donald Trump 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: | United States Secretary of State |
| Status2: | Acting |
| President2: | Joe Biden |
| Term Start2: | January 20, 2021 |
| Term End2: | January 26, 2021 |
| Predecessor2: | Mike Pompeo |
| Successor2: | Antony Blinken |
| Office3: | 19th Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research |
| President3: | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
| Term Start3: | February 14, 2014 |
| Term End3: | October 23, 2018 |
| Predecessor3: | Philip Goldberg |
| Successor3: | Ellen E. McCarthy |
| Office4: | United States Ambassador to Greece |
| President4: | Barack Obama |
| Term Start4: | September 28, 2010 |
| Term End4: | August 5, 2013 |
| Predecessor4: | Daniel V. Speckhard |
| Successor4: | David D. Pearce |
| Birth Date: | 6 March 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Redwood City, California, U.S. |
| Education: | University of Colorado, Boulder (BA) Stanford University (MA, PhD) |
| Office5: | 22nd Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State |
| Term Start5: | 2007 |
| Term End5: | 2009 |
| Preceded5: | Harry K. Thomas Jr. |
| Succeeded5: | Stephen D. Mull |
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]
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 titled "Toward Internationalism: New Deal Foreign Economic Policy, 1933–39", and was completed in 1983.[6]
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.