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.
As House and Senate negotiations on the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill near their end, the Secretary of Defense, lawmakers and interest groups are undertaking a last-ditch effort to win a compromise on key issues – including the retirement of U.S. Air Force aircraft. On Dec. 11, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made his final appeal to the leaders of the armed services committees to make changes to a long list of issues, aircraft retirements among them, or else he would recommend the president veto the bill.
Sequestration would have a “significant impact” on the nation’s airspace system, possibly leading to the closure of air traffic control (ATC) towers at smaller airports, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) concludes in a report on the effects of a nearly $1 trillion across-the-board budget cut set to take place in January.
The Council of Governors is petitioning the leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees to press forward with the creation of a National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force.
