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 after reports about new problems with Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, lawmakers are looking for reassurance from the Pentagon brass of a continued commitment to the military’s largest weapons program.
Amid the first real decline in defense budgets in a decade, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta several times committed to protecting the defense industrial base from erosion due to reductions in spending. Panetta was on Capitol Hill Feb. 14 for the first of a trio of hearings this week, defending the Pentagon’s $614 billion fiscal 2013 budget request, and urging lawmakers to avoid deeper cuts to military spending that will occur if Congress fails to reach an agreement on $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction.
The Obama administration is proposing $525.4 billion in fiscal 2013 base defense spending, along with $88.5 billion for overseas operations — the first real reduction in military spending over the last decade. And it proposes to cap future war spending at $450 billion through 2021.
