Craig Smith, CLI

About

The investigator

Certified Legal Investigator. Intelligence analyst. Combat veteran. Founder of BrightStar Investigations.

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Black-and-white portrait of Craig Smith
Craig Smith, CLI

Craig Smith, CLI is the founder and principal investigator of BrightStar Investigations, with more than 12 years of practice and over 3,600 documented matters. He has directed criminal defense, surveillance, missing persons, skip tracing and intelligence operations for attorneys, law firms, corporations and private clients across the United States and internationally.

Craig is a Certified Legal Investigator through the National Association of Legal Investigators and a U.S. Army combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, with service in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Noble Eagle. His work combines field experience, academic intelligence training and more than 4,300 documented hours of surveillance.

He holds a BA in Intelligence Studies with a minor in Arabic from Mercyhurst University’s Institute for Intelligence Studies and an MS Ed. from Canisius College, and has completed doctoral coursework at the University of Colorado. He has served on the board of the Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) and is an active member of NALI, PPIAC and Intellenet. He is a Licensed Private Detective in Wyoming and works throughout Colorado and nationwide.

He has been retained on cases that drew national and international coverage, his investigations have been admitted as evidence, and he has testified as a witness in criminal and civil proceedings.

Documented experience · 2014 – 2026

3,608

Total invoiced matters

2014 – 2026

4,300+

Surveillance hours

Mobile, fixed & covert

1,000+

Field operation hours

Travel & on-site work

461

Process serving engagements

Documented

50+

Court appearances

Criminal & civil proceedings

500+

Witness interviews

Criminal & civil investigations

350+

Reports authored

Court-ready investigative reports

150+

Hours skip tracing / missing persons

Multi-jurisdictional

130+

Hours social media & digital investigation

OSINT & digital footprint analysis

100+

Background investigations

Documented formal engagements

Figures represent documented billable activity only. Non-billed consultations, pro bono work and administrative case management are not included.

Career

Professional experience

2014 – Present

BrightStar Investigations

Founder & Principal Investigator
Colorado Springs & Denver, CO · Nationwide & international

Founded and directs a full-service investigative agency serving criminal defense attorneys, law firms, corporations, insurance carriers and private clients across Colorado and nationwide.

  • 4,300+ documented hours of mobile, fixed and covert surveillance across Colorado and multiple states
  • Process service including high-conflict and evasive subjects
  • Skip tracing and missing persons operations across multiple jurisdictions
  • 50+ documented court appearances as investigator or witness in criminal and civil proceedings
  • 500+ formal witness interviews, documented and produced for trial use
  • Post-conviction relief investigations, including case reviews for potential wrongful conviction
  • Coordination with national and international partners through the Intellenet network
  • Management of subcontracted teams and multi-investigator operations

2013 – 2015

BrightStar Intelligence Group

Intelligence Officer
Colorado · Worldwide cyber intelligence operations

  • Directed, produced and delivered intelligence products for global cyber intelligence clients
  • Intelligence collection and analysis on international persons of interest
  • Cyber intelligence collection for the personal protection of a foreign dignitary
  • Managed the full collection cycle for a team of cyber analysts and linguists
  • Collection and analysis in the Arabic language

2012 – 2013

One World Labs

Open Source Intelligence Analyst
Denver, Colorado

  • Red cell intelligence collection; 5,000+ pages of digital footprint analysis
  • Counterintelligence advisement and security analysis across a broad client base
  • Targeting operations for red cell operators in the Arabic language
  • Beta-tested and helped develop proprietary intelligence software

2006 – 2007

Battelle Memorial Institute

Intelligence Analyst Intern
Columbus, Ohio

  • Exploited hundreds of Arabic and Farsi websites for U.S. government clients
  • Built an entity-focused database of 1,000+ entries in Arabic
  • Translated hundreds of documents from Arabic to English

Along the way

Craig Smith with F. Lee Bailey
With F. Lee Bailey
Craig Smith with Bobby Brown outdoors; a window reflection obscured
With Bobby Brown

In the field

On the job

With the people he works alongside.

Craig Smith in a shirt, tie and body-armor vest beside an iron fence
Craig Smith and a colleague in plate carriers on a mountain road; colleague’s face obscured
Craig Smith in a vehicle with a colleague; colleague’s face obscured
Craig Smith with a colleague in a hotel lobby; colleague’s face obscured
Craig Smith in a suit with a colleague in an office; colleague’s face obscured
Behind the scenes on the John Lott case, featured on A&E’s Accused: Guilty or Innocent? (S7 E5, “Violent Gunman or Brain Trauma Victim?”, aired April 10, 2025): Craig Smith at a desk with a man working on a laptop behind him
John Lott case · A&EAccused: Guilty or Innocent? S7 E5

Some colleagues’ faces are obscured for privacy.

Engagements

Retain Craig Smith

Investigations are handled through BrightStar Investigations, which Craig founded in 2014 and leads as principal investigator.

Hire through BrightStar Investigations(303) 815-6832