Patrick S. Roberts is a fellow with the Program on Constitutional Government at Harvard University and an assistant professor with the Center for Public Administration and Policy in the School for Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. He holds a PhD in government from the University of Virginia and has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. His research concerns how federal agencies can bring expertise to bear in a politicized environment. Dr. Roberts’ policy interests include homeland security and disasters. He can be reached at proberts@gov.harvard.edu.