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.
A multinational missile defense program scored two recent votes of confidence from the Pentagon, but Capitol Hill is likely to remain a thorn in the program’s side. Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads), being developed by the U.S., Germany and Italy, scored $400.9 million for the program in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget request. And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged the U.S. commitment to invest in another year of developing the system.
Controversy surrounding the reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank is pitting the airline industry, labor and manufacturers against one another in a three-way tussle on Capitol Hill. The current bill expires in May, but the bank is on pace to hit its $100 billion lending cap before that, says John Hardy, president of the Coalition for Employment Through Exports, a group advocating for passage of the bill.
With the House and Senate out this week, action in the nation’s Capitol is limited, providing a chance to catch up on the avalanche of budget material released last week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is leading a congressional delegation to Egypt and the Middle East, where he is discussing the annual U.S. military aid package with Egypt of more than $1 billion.
