On this Washington Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests are Bob Hale, former Pentagon comptroller, Dr. Scott Harold, senior political scientist at the Rand Corporation think tank, Michael Herson, President and CEO, American Defense International, Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO who is now with the Center for a New American Security and Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners. Topics:— Update on appropriations marks and plan for floor passage, AUMF repeals, security supplemental, infrastructure and $3.5 trillion democratic spending plan— Key defense appropriations takeaways— Outlook for key Biden administration defense nominations in the wake of decision by Mike Brown to withdraw as the nominee to become the Pentagon’s next under secretary for acquisition and sustainment— How Washington must respond to Moscow after record wave of ransomware attacks and Russia’s harassment of allied naval vessels in the Black Sea and Mediterranean despite Biden-Putin meeting last month— The signal an inadequate response to Russia will send to China— What’s next as a triumphal and belligerent Xi Jinping celebrates the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary— News reports of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s concerns about a coup in the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency and how allies and adversaries will interpret discord in Washington