Building the Base
Capacity as Deterrent: The Defense Production Imperative with Ken Bedingfield, L3Harris
In this episode of Building the Base, Hondo Geurts and Lauren Bedula sit down with Ken Bedingfield, Chief Financial Officer and President of Missile Solutions at L3Harris. This episode was recorded on December 6, 2025 at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, CA. Ken discusses his journey...
Patient Capital, Urgent Mission: Paul Kwan on Funding Defense Innovation
In this episode of Building the Base, Hondo Geurts and Lauren Bedula sit down with Paul Kwan, Managing Director at General Catalyst, where he leads the global resilience investment team, recorded live at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley. Paul traces his path from reading The Hunt for...
Wide Not Deep: Anduril's Strategy for Modern Defense Manufacturing with CBO and President Matthew Steckman
In this episode of Building the Base, Hondo Geurts and Lauren Bedula sit down with Matthew Steckman, President and Chief Business Officer of Anduril Industries, recorded live at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley. Matt discusses his path from being among the first dozen employees at Pa...
Beyond the Requirement: Mission Outcomes in the Age of Cloud and AI with David Appel, AWS
In this episode recorded live from the December 2025 Reagan National Defense Forum, hosts Lauren Bedula and Hondo Geurts sit down with David Appel, Vice President of Global Government for Amazon Web Services. With 28 years at Raytheon before joining AWS, David brings a unique perspective on the evol...
A Pentagon in Transition: Reform and Disruption with Rep. Adam Smith
In this episode recorded live from the 2025 Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, hosts Lauren Bedula and Hondo Geurts welcome back Ranking Member Adam Smith of the House Armed Services Committee for the second year in a row. Following his morning keynote address, Rep. Smith discusses the cu...