On this Washington Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests in segment one are Michael Bayer, former chairman of the Defense Business Board and the president of the Dumbarton Strategies consultancy, and Arnold Punaro, the chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association and CEO of the Punaro Group consultancy to discuss the ongoing presidential transition.

In segment two, our roundtable 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 and Lisa Curtis, former National Security Council senior director of south and Central Asia now with the Center for a New American Security.

Topics:

— Look at President Biden’s latest batch of senior defense nominees 

— With Congress back in town, update on bipartisan moves to advance a slimmed down infrastructure package, and implications for defense

— Lawmaker’s continuing feedback on Biden administration’s “skinny” budget

— Analysis of Biden’s plan to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 and congressional reaction

— Role of China in Afghanistan the wake of US pullout

— Impact of White House’s new Russia sanctions

— Iran talks and Israeli elections