In Memoriam

I regret to inform you that our friend and colleague Dan Smith succumbed to heart failure Monday, August 9, 2010.

Dan came to FCNL from The Center for Defense Information in 2002 to be our first Senior Fellow on Military Affairs. Dan was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He completed a distinguished military career -- one that began with the U.S. war in Vietnam and concluded with the first U.S. Gulf War in Iraq -- at the rank of colonel. Defense intelligence was his specialty. Dan would have been 67 on August 15.

Dan loved working for FCNL, and he made a perfect fit with us. He exercised a deep respect for the force of truth, which he sought through careful research and fact finding. What he found, he posted on this blog, which he named "The Quakers' Colonel." He enjoyed the incongruity of that name, although it confounded some who wanted a simpler world with clear boundaries.

He knew the power of love to transform individuals and the world, and he sought to align himself and his work with that power which takes away the occasion of all war.

Judith Smith, Dan's wife, called to let me know that Dan had slipped away peacefully. Judith had one simple request. Could FCNL keep Dan's blog up where she could visit it for a while? Of course we will, and we invite readers of "The Quakers' Colonel" to leave Judith and Dan's family condolence messages in the comments section.

Joe Volk
Executive Secretary
FCNL