At the end of the month, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Dorrance Smith will be leaving his job to return to the private sector.
Smith officially told his staff yesterday that he has mostly accomplished what the Secretary of Defense asked him to do, and will return to private life.
Smith, a former network TV executive and media consultant, was a recess appointment by President Bush in 2006. Smith replaced Victoria Clarke, who resigned in June 2003.
Before joining the Pentagon, Smith served in Iraq as the senior media adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority. Smith served as a senior adviser to President George H.W. Bush, and as a staff assistant to President Gerald Ford. From 1989 until 1991, Smith was the executive producer of ABC News “Nightline.”