W. THOMAS SMITH, Jr., "the Jack Bauer of journalism," has authored six nationally acclaimed books (incl. two co-authored titles), edited four, contributed to several, and penned countless pieces for a variety of magazines and newspapers (see list).
EDU & MILITARY SERVICE
W. Thomas Smith, Jr. holds a BA degree in History from the University of South Carolina.
Smith served in the United States Marine Corps as a rifle-squad leader — graduating from infantry, airborne, mountain warfare, amphibious raid, and sea schools — and he served as a shipboard "special weapons" security and counterterrorism instructor. Smith was also trained by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. The recipient of numerous awards and decorations, Smith was awarded parachutist wings, "The Secretary of the Navy's Achievement Medal," and the title - "Honorary Ranger" in the South Korean (ROK) Marine Corps. 
Following his service in the USMC, Smith served on a paramilitary SWAT team in the nuclear industry. He was the Honorman graduate — first in his class — of both his nuclear-security force class and his armed response force class.
COVERING WAR & NATIONAL DEFENSE
As a journalist, Smith has reported from battlefields in the Balkans and the Middle East - from the West Bank to Iraq to Lebanon - and he covered the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks from "ground zero" in New York. He has written extensively about the global war on terror with a focus on international terrorism, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, amphibious warfare, special operations, and ground combat.
Smith is director of the Counterterrorism Research Center of the Family Security Foundation, Inc., a senior military analyst and editor-at-large of World Defense Review (He is the founding executive editor of WDR.), and a military analyst for the nationally syndicated Jim Bohannon Show and America in the Morning.
A columnist for Townhall.com, Middle East Times, Canada Free Press, and a regular contributor to Human Events; Smith is a technical consultant for POPULAR MECHANICS: New Technology of War, a five-part television documentary currently airing on The Military Channel. And he is the technical editor for military books published by Barnes & Noble Publishing and Alpha Books.
CAREER NOTES
A former business magazine editor, contract media-relations director, now an independent writer, editor, writing consultant, and military analyst; Smith has been a guest commentator on the FOX NEWS Channel and E! True Hollywood Story Investigates. He also has been interviewed by or quoted in numerous publications (Writer's Digest, The Writer, Woman's Day, SLATE, The New York Post, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Publisher's Weekly, Jewish World Review, The Florida Times-Union, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, and many others); NBC, CBS, and ABC television affiliates; nationally syndicated radio shows, including Bill Bennett's Morning in America, various National Public Radio (NPR) programming and international radio, including the BBC. His books have been featured in various print and broadcast media from The Washington Post to The History Channel to NPR's All Things Considered.
Smith's work is frequently included in radio host Rush Limbaugh's daily "stack of stuff."
TEACHING & LECTURING
Smith has served on the adjunct faculty at the University of South Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communications where he has taught magazine feature writing, breaking into national print, public opinion and propaganda, and reporting.
He also coaches writers individually, and has lectured groups and conferences from Fortune 500 companies to the U.S. Armed Forces.
MEMBERSHIPS
Smith is a member of several professional organizations including:
- Stand Up America Project
board of directors - Family Security Matters
advisory board - National Press Club
- American Society of Journalists & Authors
- International Analysts Network
- World Security Network
Smith is a former boardmember of both the Southern Literature Council of Charleston (S.C.) and the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.
Smith holds a commission in The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (the state's highest award).
Smith is a Salvation Army volunteer.
BOOKS (see Books page)
Smith's books include Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency (NY: Facts On File, 2003) and the Alpha Bravo Delta Guides to Decisive 20th-Century American Battles (NY: Alpha Books, Penguin USA, 2003); American Airborne Forces (Alpha, 2004); and
The Korean Conflict (Alpha, 2004). He co-authored
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates (Alpha, 2006)
with pirate expert Gail Selinger, and The Complete
Idiot's Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design
(Alpha, 2006) with ID-expert Christopher Carlisle.
Smith is a contributing writer for A Nation Changed, a book commemorating the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (published in 2002 by U.S. News & World Report). He is the technical editor and foreword writer for the second edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Iraq (Alpha, 2005) and he is the technical editor and "special afterword" writer for Contract Warriors (Alpha, 2005). Smith is an editor, contributor, and chief advisor to Faces of Freedom (Wentworth, 2007) by Rebecca Pepin; and a contributor to Sixty Candles: Reflections on the Writing Life (iuniverse, 2008) by members of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Excerpts of interviews with Smith are featured in the ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing (St. Martin's Press, 2003) by Timothy Harper and Grindhopping: Building a Rewarding Career without Paying Your Dues (McGraw Hill, 2006) by Laura Vanderkam.
Smith's work is quoted in several other books.
Smith has completed technical editing for a soon-to-be-released military title for Barnes & Noble Publishing. He is currently editing a novel about special operations and a non-fiction manuscript about World War II.
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