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.
“Congress doesn't kill programs, the Pentagon does.” The adage that defense contractors live by may hold true even in an atypical year. In 2011, more than 80 freshmen lawmakers came to Washington to scale back government spending and pledged not to care about their reelection prospects. Individual defense committees did zero out several programs and one committee handed down steep reductions to the Pentagon's largest weapons system, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
After bringing the nation to the brink of another government shutdown—the fourth this year—the House passed a raft of spending bills Dec. 16, including one to provide $518 billion for the Department of Defense that largely protects its largest weapons program, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Despite lawmakers’ efforts to pass an FAA reauthorization bill by the end of this month, leadership talks that would have resolved the final issues have ground to a halt. U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) says he presented a plan to congressional leadership that would wrap up work on the bill before the FAA’s operating authority expires on Jan. 31, 2012. However, with only a handful of workdays in January, reauthorization could be in line for its 23rd extension.
