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:

— Update on NDAA and appropriations, increased borrowing limit that will forestall debt default until after Dec. 3, and slimmed down Democratic spending

— Beijing’s increasingly larger formations of aircraft that are testing Taiwanese air defenses

— Risks of the new strategy as scores of Chinese fighter, bombers and patrol aircraft operate near Taiwan

— Outlook for Chinese economy as Evergrande and other institutions suffer setbacks

— Prospects that Beijing, sensing decline, will move against Taiwan sooner than later

— Whether a shift in US policy toward Taiwan would improve deterrence or undermine it

— Bombing of Shiite mosque in Afghanistan that killed 48

— USS Connecticut’s mystery collision in the South China Sea that injured 11 aboard the Seawolf-class attack sub