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, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute, Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, USN Ret., the executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission as well as a fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and Michael Herson of American Defense International.

Topics:

— Analysis of the National Defense Authorization Act passed this week by Congress

— Update on appropriations and Build Back Better as Congress raises the nation’s debt limit

— Russia’s demands as Moscow masses troops on Ukraine border and Washington and NATO work to defuse crisis

— Biden administration moves against Chinese state-owned companies’ ability to operate in the United States, stopping diplomats from attending Beijing Winter Olympics and the nomination of Caroline Kennedy, the former US ambassador to Japan as America’s next ambassador to Australia

— Update on the Iran nuclear deal as Israel deftly negotiates behind the scenes and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett makes historic visit to Abu Dhabi

— Expectations of the Biden administration’s upcoming 2022 and out year spending plans to be released early next year

— Look at the key events of 2021 that will shape 2022