Sean Smith
Air Force veteran and Foreign Service Information Management Officer killed in Benghazi alongside Ambassador Stevens; posthumously awarded the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service.
Service Record
| Born | January 30, 1978, San Diego, California |
|---|---|
| Education | Mission Bay High School, 1995 |
| Military | U.S. Air Force, 1995 – 2002; ground radio maintenance specialist; staff sergeant |
| Foreign Service | Information Management Officer, 2002 – 2012 |
| Assignment | U.S. Embassy The Hague, Netherlands; temporary duty in Benghazi, Libya |
| Died | September 11, 2012, Benghazi, Libya, age 34 |
| Honor | Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service, posthumous, May 3, 2013 |
Overview
Sean Smith represents the part of the Foreign Service the public rarely sees: the specialists who keep an embassy's communications running wherever it operates. He spent his entire adult life in uniform or in the Service, and he died doing that work.
Early Life and Military Service
He grew up in San Diego, an only child, and graduated from Mission Bay High School in 1995. He enlisted in the United States Air Force that same year and served until 2002 as a ground radio maintenance specialist, leaving the service as a staff sergeant.
Foreign Service
He joined the Foreign Service in 2002 as an Information Management Officer, the specialists responsible for an embassy's classified and unclassified communications. He was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, where he lived with his wife, Heather, and their two children.
Sacrifice
In September 2012 he was on temporary duty in Benghazi supporting Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. When the Special Mission was attacked and set ablaze on the night of September 11, he was in the main building with the ambassador. He was killed in the attack. He was 34 years old.
Honors and Legacy
On May 3, 2013, the Department of State posthumously awarded him the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service. Outside the Service he was widely known in online gaming communities, which organized tributes and a fundraiser for his family after his death.
Recognition
Envoys of Record honors Sean Smith among the members of the Foreign Service who gave their lives in the service of the United States. Their names are kept here so that their service is not forgotten.