Along with consulting for various government agencies, he tracked terrorist activity on social media and commented on it, and was called on as a pundit by various media groups.[1][2][10] Smith was described as "a Republican counterterrorism specialist"[11][12] and "an al-Qaeda analyst".[13] In 2016, in recognition of his work "funneling hacker tips" about ISIS's activities online to government officials, Foreign Policy magazine included Smith among the "Moguls" on its annual list of "100 Leading Global Thinkers", and Fast Company magazine ranked Smith 14 on its list of the "100 Most Creative People in Business" for "helping hack the bad guys".[14][15]