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.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is failing to get the support he wants from fellow Republicans in his quest to cut off U.S. assistance to the governments of Pakistan, Egypt and Libya, with a key member of his own party calling the idea “ill-conceived.”
Can Congress be publicly shamed into avoiding a 10-year, $1 trillion across-the-board government spending cut before January? Not likely. But two widely respected former leaders of the Pentagon are the latest to make the attempt. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reminded the nation’s political leaders that failing to address the nation’s fiscal situation will harm the country’s security during speeches to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Sept. 17.
If Congress fails to block a looming government-wide budget cut, the Pentagon will lose $54.7 billion and NASA about $1.7 billion, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a report delivered to Congress Sept. 14. The cuts amount to a 9.4% cut to defense accounts and an 8.2% cut to other domestic discretionary programs, including NASA. The penalty known as sequestration was put in place last year by a bill designed to spur lawmakers to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion.
