Affiliated Academics
Harold Palmer Smith, Jr.
Biographical Statement:
Dr. Smith holds the appointment of Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor with the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) where he focuses on the impact of technology on foreign and defense policy.
In 1993, Dr. Smith accepted an appointment with the Clinton Administration as Assistant to the 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. 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. The Defense Special Weapons Agency and the On Site Inspection Agency reported to him. He returned to private life in 1998.
In 1960, after receiving the PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT, he joined the faculty of UCB where he published extensively on the optimal control of exotic nuclear systems and on the interaction of radiation with surfaces, including ion implantation of silicon. He retired as professor and chairman of the Department of Applied Science in 1976 in order to pursue his interests in managerial consulting and entrepreneurial ventures. The Palmer Smith Corporation, a consulting firm specializing in management of high technology programs, was established and retained by many of the largest defense contractors. He was one of the early principals of SAIC, RDA-Logicon, and JAYCOR.
Dr. Smith was awarded a White House Fellowship in 1966 and was assigned as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Since that time, he has served as an advisor to 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 Schlesinger on the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS); i.e. the Smith Report.
Dr. Smith is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Commander in the Legion of Honor of France. He has thrice received the highest honor granted by the Department of Defense for civilian service, the Distinguished Public Service Award, as well as the Director’s Award of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Exceptional Civilian Service Award of the Air Force, and the Commendation of the Secretary of the Navy. In addition to technical papers, he has published articles of public interest, related to national security, in The New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, and Arms Control Today.
