Based in Washington, Jen managed Aviation Week’s worldwide defense, space and security coverage from 2013 to January 2024.
Prior to taking on the Executive Editor role, Jen was Aviation Week's Congressional Editor. Jen came to Aviation Week in March 2011 from Politico, where she covered the intersection of defense and politics. She also worked as a reporter and editor for Defense Daily, Inside the Army, The Other Paper and The Columbus Dispatch.
Jen received a Master’s degree in journalism as a Kiplinger Fellow at the Ohio State University. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in history and journalism from the University of Michigan.
SEQUESTRATION SCARE: Across-the-board budget cuts directed by sequestration could cause an increase in the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S., the commander of U.S. Southern Command told the House Armed Services Committee March 20. Last year, the U.S. and other countries helped confiscate 200 metric tons of cocaine before it arrived from South America and Central America on its way north, said Marine Gen. John Kelly. The effort cost the U.S. about $600 million.
The Senate has passed a bill to keep the government running once the current stopgap spending bill expires on March 27. The bill, passed by a vote of 73-26, will fund NASA and the Pentagon at fiscal 2013 levels. That eases the military’s concerns about the effects on force readiness if it were to be funded at 2012 levels for all of fiscal 2013, but does not address $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts imposed by sequestration.
Efforts to stop funding the development of a tri-national missile defense system that the U.S. has no plans to deploy are part of the down-to-the-wire debate on a spending bill crafted to keep the government running after the current stopgap measure expires March 27.
