Secure and prevent: technical assistance to address post-conflict situations. This article examines the intermediary role played by consultants in situations characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. The hypothesis defended is that this type of situation underscores the importance of expert advice in political regulation. To do this, this article analyses the establishment of a technical assistance apparatus in the post-conflict situation of the Balkans during the late 1990s. The uncertainty that characterized this situation invites researchers to explore patterns of expertise that, by definition, lie beyond these kind of steady state interventions that can be assumed to dominate in peacetime. Under these conditions, the ingenuity that consultants must apply to cope with the event provides an excellent springboard for the review of the equipment work such actors must develop when both or either politicians and public policies are absent.