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.
Even without a fiscal 2014 budget, combatant commanders are beginning to make their current and future needs known on Capitol Hill. The four-star general in charge of the nation’s nuclear and strategic weapons indicates that even in an era of constrained budgets, he has a list of items that he will protect. The top two: national command and control and replacement of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. And not too far below that, he advocates for the Air Force’s refueling tanker program.
As Congress attempts to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, a leading Senate Democrat is drafting a bill that prioritizes funding for the military and domestic programs important to the economy, including transportation. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who leads the committee responsible for federal spending, said she had hoped to pass bills for all federal agencies. “That doesn’t look possible. It wouldn’t be feasible,” she says.
Congress may be facing across-the-board budget cuts, but that has not stopped members from attempting to protect individual programs from reductions. Included in a bill released by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who leads the House committee controlling the government’s purse strings, is a directive to continue purchasing the RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV and C-27J Spartan aircraft that the Air Force had sought to stop buying in its fiscal 2013 budget request. It also blocks the retirement of C-23 Sherpa aircraft.
