This chapter proposes to link the study of experts in governance to the crisis management literature by looking at processes leading to responses in a relatively understudied situation: a public health agency making decisions related to an unfolding influenza pandemic. Methodologically, existing crisis management analyses mostly rely on retrospective studies-that is, where data were collected after responses had been finalized. It includes all decisions in the PO record where debate between interlocutors was recorded. The chapter provides reports on a rare type of study, based on real-time, first-hand participant observations of a public health agency's deliberations and decisions during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Hence, the chapter analyses the literature by probing the application of bureaucratic decision-making theories in the relatively understudied area of epidemic or pandemic response. The salient variant of politics is bureaucratic politicking. The political logic dominated decision making, and institutional constraints also had influence.