On this Washington Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests are Dov Zakheim, PhD, former DoD comptroller, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Michael Herson, President and CEO, American Defense International, Dr Gordon Adams, the senior White House budget official for national security during the Clinton administration who is now a distinguished fellow at the Quincy Institute and the Stimson Center as well as an American University professor emeritus, and Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute.
Topics
— Outlook for federal budget and NDAA as lawmakers strike stopgap deal through Dec. 3 to avert government shutdown
— Defense spending implications of bipartisan infrastructure deal and Democratic $3.5 trillion spending package
— Beijing’s sharp rhetoric against Australia, Japan, Philippines and Taiwan as Washington focuses on domestic issues
— Whether China becomes more dangerous as Xi Jinping’s economic policies and “wolf warrior” diplomacy undermine continued economic growth
— Senate and House Afghanistan hearings and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley’s defense of his conversations with his Chinese counterpart in the wake of the 2020 election
— What to expect from new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the upcoming German government expected to be led Olaf Schultz
— Rising tensions between Azerbaijan and Turkey and Iran over access to Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh
— US Army’s decision to reject RAFAEL’s combat proven Iron Dome system for Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 in favor of AIM-9X Sidewinder based approach by Dynetics and Raytheon
