In an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, Peter Berkowitz and Michael McFaul suggest a way out of our Middle East Studies bind. Not a single tenured professor in the departments of political science at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, or Yale specializes in the politics of the wider Middle East. So why not make an end run around the intellectual ghetto of our Middle East Studies programs by expanding Middle Eastern expertise in departments where few such faculty now exist? It’s a great idea, yet it’s apt to be undermined by the powers that be in Middle East Studies. Middle East Studies centers are interdisciplinary, and could easily coopt new professors in various departments. Yes, we need to expand our resources for studying the languages and cultures of the Middle East. And as Berkowitz and McFaul say, we need to find ways to get professors and graduates to work in and with the government on the wider war on terror. Yet the greatly increased government spending Berkowitz and McFaul propose will all go to waste in the absence of a strong system of accountability and oversight. That makes support for Title VI reform, and for the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program, all the more important.