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.
With law enforcement agencies eager to snap up new UAVs, Congress and the FAA are still at the early stages of trying to handle the resulting fears about the new form of surveillance. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), both in their first term, are sponsoring companion legislation that attempts to lend industry a hand by setting rules for the domestic use of UAVs before they proliferate. The bills would essentially require police to obtain a warrant for surveillance with UAVs as they currently do to wiretap phones.
With six months until the government imposes a $1.2 trillion reduction to all federal programs — from the Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter to the FAA’s NextGen air traffic modernization and NASA’s commercial crew development — lawmakers are debating how to best study the effects of that kind of budget cut.
