Professor Heidi Hardt is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and a NATO expert, who is frequently invited to NATO-sponsored and NATO-related events. She was working as a fellow for the NATO Desk at the State Department at the time that the war in Ukraine broke out. Professor Hardt is also the author of the book NATO's Lessons in Crisis (Oxford University Press), as well as numerous articles and book chapters on NATO. The fellowship that she recently completed is referred to as the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow (CFR-IAF TIRS). As part of this same fellowship, she worked for Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Europe & Regional Security Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Professor Hardt is also the author of Time to React: The Efficiency of International Organizations in Crisis Response. Her research examines transatlantic security, European security and defense, NATO, the EU and OSCE. Issue areas include international organizations, collective defense, crisis management, military operations (e.g. Afghanistan), coalition warfare, strategy, learning, adaptation, organizational change, gender and diplomacy.