Hanscom Smith is a retired Department of State Senior Foreign Service Officer. During his 32-year career, he served as consul general in Hong Kong and Shanghai, as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, and in various positions at the United States embassies in Yaounde, Copenhagen, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Kabul, and Beijing. He was also team leader at the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Muthanna Province, Iraq. In addition, Smith worked at the American Institute in Taiwan's Taipei office. Smith was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Japan. His foreign languages are French, Danish, Khmer, and Mandarin Chinese. Smith holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, a certificate in political studies from Sciences Po Paris, and master's degrees from the London School of Economics and Princeton University.

Hanscom was Consul General in Shanghai from 2014-2017. He is also a non-resident expert with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a senior advisor with WestExec Advisors and McKinsey.