Dr. Shane Smith is the Director of the US Air Force Institute for National Security Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science at the US Air Force Academy.  He was previously a Senior Research Fellow at the National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction, where he was also the Director of the Program for Emerging Leaders from 2008-2012.  He has served as Senior Adviser for East Asia Nuclear Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as a Special Adviser at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Prior to government service, Dr. Smith worked for former Secretaries of Defense Ashton Carter and William Perry at the Harvard-Stanford Preventive Defense Project and as a Research Associate for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC. He has taught US nuclear strategy and national security policy related courses at the US Air Force Academy, the National Defense University, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Colorado in Boulder.  Dr. Smith is the author or co-author of over twenty-five articles, chapters, and government studies primarily focused on the role of nuclear of weapons in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ph.D., Department of Political Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, 2007

B.A., Department of Political Science, University of Georgia, Georgia, 1996

Senior Policy Fellow, Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction, National Defense University (2007-2022)

Senior Advisor for East Asia Nuclear Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense (on detail) (2017-2018)

Special Advisor, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (on detail) (2012-2016)

Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University (2010-2011)

Board Member and Research Associate, Center to Advance Research & Teaching in the Social Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder (2006-2007)

Project Coordinator and Research Associate, Stanford-Harvard Preventive Defense Project, Harvard University (2000-2001)

Research Associate for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, DC (1998-2000)

Research Assistant, Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council, Washington, DC (1997-1998)