Kayyem served as President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs in the Department of Homeland Security. She is a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where she is the faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Global Health Security Projects. Before serving in the Obama administration, she was then-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s homeland security adviser. Kayyem was also named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for editorial columns in the Boston Globe focused on ending the Pentagon’s combat exclusion rule against women.
O’Rourke, a political satirist, is the editor in chief of the online magazine American Consequences. Previously, O’Rourke was a foreign correspondent for Rolling Stone and the Atlantic. He is the author of 20 books on politics, economics, etiquette, cars and other subjects.