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.
The Pentagon’s ongoing budget rollout has members of Congress scrambling in all different directions as if trying to gather up pieces of a broken puzzle. The list of items against which some lawmakers are pushing back is long and growing. There’s a steeper round of budget reductions, force structure cuts, base realignment, reductions to the Air National Guard, the cancellation of the Global Hawk Block 30, delays to the Joint Strike Fighter and more.
Lawmakers are getting behind an emerging market in civilian UAVs, setting in motion rules that would speed up the process of allowing law enforcement agencies and first responders to use pint-sized unmanned aircraft.
A homeland security mission assigned largely to the Air National Guard in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks still lacks a plan to deal with its aging aircraft, according to the draft of a U.S. Government Accountability Office report obtained by Aviation Week. The report is coming at a delicate time for the Air Force. Supporters of the Air National Guard are sensing that reductions will be announced with the Feb. 13 budget release and are already mobilizing their response.
