Questions have been raised over whether P. Daniel Smith was given a sweetheart deal after stepping down as deputy director of the National Park Service/NPS

Editor's note: This updates with response from the National Park Service officials regarding Smith's role with the agency.

National Park Service officials, reacting to allegations that P. Daniel Smith was given a sweetheart deal last fall when he stepped down to allow David Vela to serve as the agency's de facto director, said Thursday that Smith fills an important role for the agency.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility on Tuesday filed a request (attached below) with the Interior Department's Inspector General to investigate Smith's working arrangement, which allows him to live in North Carolina and work from there with office space at Guildford Courthouse National Military Park.

While Park Service personnel said Wednesday that they hadn't seen PEER's allegations and had no comment, they issued a statement Thursday after seeing Traveler's story.

"Former deputy director Dan Smith continues to serve an important role in the leadership of the National Park Service. As the National Park Service Commemorations Specialist, he is leading NPS efforts on the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence, working with our parks, partners, stakeholders and the United States Semiquincentennial Commission to plan an inclusive commemoration for visitors from around the world," said Park Service spokesperson Mike Litterest.

"The semiquincentennial will be a multi-year commemoration of one of the most momentous eras in American history and will span national parks across the nation,' he added. "With more than 30 years of experience at all levels of the National Park Service and within the Department of the Interior, Dan's leadership will prove invaluable to the success of the commemoration."

No further information would be forthcoming, added Litterest, who also said Traveler's request to speak to Smith would not be granted.

Smith's tenure with the National Park Service has been tenuous at times. He was a political appointee working for then-Park Service Director Fran Mainella in 2004 when he became involved in a dispute at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in which he was implicated for improperly paving the way for the owner of the Washington Redskins to cut down trees on a 2-acre scenic easement held by the park.

An investigation by the Inspector General's office at the time found that Smith "inappropriately used his position to apply pressure and circumvent NPS procedures" to permit Redskins owner Dan Snyder to have trees up to 6 inches wide at breast height on the easement cut down to improve the Potomac River view from his mansion. According to the investigation by then-Inspector General Earl Devaney's staff, the Park Service failed to conduct the requisite environmental assessment as required by the NPS Director's Handbook before issuing the special user permit to Mr. Snyder.

Smith later was appointed superintendent of Colonial National Historical Park in Virginia, a position he held until retiring in 2014. He then was brought back to the Park Service in January 2018 by Zinke to serve as a deputy director who could exercise the authority of the director, as there was no Senate-confirmed Park Service director. In March of that year he was accused of inappropriately grabbing his crotch in a hallway of the Interior Department, and while he later acknowledged it was inappropriate he was cleared of sexual harassment claims.

Smith also was involved with directing Park Service managers during the partial government shutdown early in 2019 to tap Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act funds if needed to keep parks operating. The Government Accountability Office last September concluded that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt twice broke the law when he told Smith to allow the diversions. Smith also gained attention in September when, acting at the Bernhardt's direction, he allegedly ignored a number of laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as the National Park Service Organic Act, to push through e-Bike access in the parks.

Last October Smith stepped down from his role as deputy director, and into a job as special advisor to the Park Service director for all commemorations tied to the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, as well as to coordinate the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution activities. Those positions attracted PEER's attention. The group contends they've received information from Park Service employees that Smith "has done little to no observable work in the position and appears to have violated the NPS’s teleworking policies."

Ironically, PEER notes, those teleworking policies, which, in part, require that employees report to an active duty station at least two days every bi-weekly pay period, were put into place when Smith led the agency as its de facto director.

"It should be noted that Mr. Smith, as deputy NPS director, reportedly had previously signed orders that restricted several NPS officials in their preferred teleworking authorizations," PEER claims in its letter calling for an OIG investigation. "His own current telework approach appears inconsistent with those orders. Significantly, this was a new position drawn up especially for, and presumably largely by, Mr. Smith prior to his departure from the NPS leadership position. 

"To the extent that it was drawn up by Mr. Vela, it is highly relevant that it was Smith who last year gave Vela his initial NPS Deputy Director job," the letter continues. "It has the appearance of a sinecure for Smith; that is, an easy GS-15 appointment with no management or supervisory responsibilities and low demands."

PEER failed to find any evidence that Smith "has done any work related to the Semiquincentennial or to a commemoration of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, his other alleged duty."

Traveler was unable to reach any Park Service employee who could say whether Smith was actively performing his roles, though current and retired personnel said they had received reports from active employees complaining of Smith's deal.

Back at Park Service headquarters in Washington on Wednesday, Litterest did not respond to Traveler's questions as to whom Smith regularly reports to, whether there was any work product that could be attributed to Smith, whether the positions he's filling merit such a highly paid employee, or whether there was competition for the positions.

While Thursday's statement said Smith was the Park Service's point person for the 250th anniversary of the country's founding, he apparently missed a meeting last month in Vice President Mike Pence's office with the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. Smith was not among those pictured with the vice president. On top of that, a report from the commission sent to President Trump in December also failed to mention Smith, though it mentioned that Independence National Historical Park Superintendent Cynthia  MacLeod was the "National Park Service representative to the Commission."

Litterest did not reply when asked whether Smith was at the meeting.