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 and Byron Callan of the independent equity research firm Capital Alpha Partners.

Topics:

— Congressional hearings in advance of the Biden administration’s 2022 defense budget request on May 28

— Infrastructure deliberations as White House and GOP wrangle over how much to spend — and on what

— Changing HASC committee assignments in wake of replacing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wy., with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, as House GOP conference chair

— Republican opposition to bipartisan special investigation into Jan. 6 insurrection

— Moves the administration should undertake if it wants to drive major and lasting change

— Role the Pentagon should play if it wants to change what it buys and how

— Why “passback” transparency is needed and DARPA’s budget should be doubled

— The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Egypt’s role and changing US political dynamics