Harold Palmer Smith Jr.

Harold Palmer Smith Jr. (born November 30, 1935) is an American professor, consultant, and expert on defense policy. He was Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Atomic Energy) from June 1993 to March 1996, when the name of the position changed to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs, and remained in the position until January 1998.[1]

Harold Palmer Smith, Jr.
Harold Palmer Smith Jr.
Born
Harold Palmer Smith Jr.

(1935-11-30) November 30, 1935
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)Professor, Consultant
SpouseMarian Bamford Smith (married c. 1958.)
Children3

Career

Smith holds the appointment of Distinguished Scholar in Residence with the Institute for Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley[2] (UCB) where he has been responsible for the Harold Smith Seminar Series[3] focusing on national and international defense policy and is a major participant in its successor series. He is also an advisor to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) on defense issues and on enhancing joint study with UCB of data science (Big Data).

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Smith attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1957 and an M.S. degree in nuclear engineering in 1958.[4] His master's thesis was entitled Combined natural and forced convection, laminar flow, on a constant temperature, vertical, flat plate and his thesis advisor was Richard J. Nickerson.[5] After completing his master's degree, he began research for the doctoral thesis Dynamics and control of nuclear rocket engines under the supervision of Alan H. Stenning.[6]

In 1960, after receiving his Ph.D. degree in nuclear engineering from MIT, he joined the faculty of UCB where he published extensively on the optimal control of nuclear systems and on the interaction of radiation with surfaces. He retired as professor and chairman of the Department of Applied Science in 1976 and formed the Palmer Smith Corporation, a consulting firm specializing in management of high technology programs. The firm was retained by many of the largest defense contractors. He was one of the early principals of SAIC, RDA-Logicon, and JAYCOR[7]

Smith was awarded a White House Fellowship in 1966 and was assigned as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense.[8] Since that time, he has served as an advisor on numerous governmental boards on national security policy, giving particular attention to projects requiring a broad range of technical and managerial skills. Of particular note are his chairmanship of the Vulnerability Task Force of the Defense Science Board and a special study for (then) Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger on the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS); i.e., the Smith Report.

In 1993, Smith accepted an appointment with the Clinton Administration as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs with responsibilities for reduction and maintenance of the American and NATO arsenals of nuclear weapons, dismantlement of the chemical weapon stockpile, oversight of the chemical and biological defense programs, management of counter-proliferation acquisition, and management of treaties related to strategic weapons.[1] He was responsible for implementation of the Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn Lugar) program, which assists the former Soviet Union in the dismantlement of their weapons of mass destruction and in converting their related industries to commercial production.[9][10] The Defense Special Weapons Agency and the On-Site Inspection Agency reported to him. He returned to private life in 1998.

He is an Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society[11] and has thrice been honored with the Distinguished Public Service Award, as well as awards by the Military Services and Defense Agencies.[12] He has published articles involving national security[13] in Arms Control Today.[14][15][16][17]

Personal life

He married Marian Bamford Smith in 1958. They have three children: Natalya (1959), Peter (1960) and Erika (1963).[1]

References
  1. "Department of Defense Key Officials" (PDF). Historical Office, OSD. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  2. "Distinguished Scholar in Residence with the Institute for Governmental Studies". Institute for Governmental Studies (IGS). Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  3. Smith, Harold. "Harold Smith Defense and National Security Series". Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS). Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  4. "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate". Vol. 103, no. 414. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1994. pp. 862–863. ISBN 978-0160436116.
  5. Smith, Harold Palmer (1958). Combined natural and forced convection, laminar flow, on a constant temperature, vertical, flat plate (Thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Engineering. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. Smith, Harold Palmer (1960). Dynamics and control of nuclear rocket engines (Thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Engineering. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  7. "WMD Contracts". Department of Defense unclassified contracts involving weapons of mass destruction.
  8. "1966-67 White House Fellows Briefed on NIH Programs" (PDF). The NIH Record. XVIII (23): 5, 8. November 15, 1966. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  9. Smith, Harold P Jr. "Consolidating Threat Reduction". Arms Control Association. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  10. Stannard, Matthew B. (October 29, 2006). "New tools for a new world order / Nuclear forensics touted as method to trace bomb materials, deterrent for rogue nations". SFGate. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  11. "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  12. Dellums, Hon. Ronald V. (February 4, 1998). "Tribute to Harold P. Smith" (PDF). Congressional Record: E89. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  13. Bolz, Taylor A (2009). In the Eyes of Experts, Analysis and Comments on America's Strategic Posture (PDF). Part II, 23.: United States Institute of Peace. pp. 126–134. Retrieved 13 October 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. Smith, Harold P. Jr.; Soll, Richard S. (March 1998). "Challenges of Nuclear Stockpile Stewardship Under A Comprehensive Test Ban". Arms Control Today. 28 (2). Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  15. Smith, Harold P. Jr. (December 1998). "Funding CW Demilitarization In Russia: Time to Share The Burden". Arms Control Today. 28 (8). Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  16. Smith, Harold P Jr.; Jeanloz, Raymond (December 2010). "Britain Leads the Way To Global Zero". Arms Control Today. 40 (10). Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  17. Smith, Harold P Jr. (November 2006). "Nuclear Forensics and the North Korean Test". Arms Control Today. 36 (9): 15. JSTOR 23627943.
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