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.
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. 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. However, with only a handful of workdays in January, the bill could be in line for its 23rd extension.
Battles over how to reduce the federal deficit are far from over. To offset a $600 billion reduction scheduled to fall on defense spending, congressional Republicans are pledging that they can pull together a package of items early next year — such as the sale of wireless spectrum, freezing the pay of government workers and reducing the federal workforce (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 15). The plan is going over like a lead balloon among Democrats, who argue that Republicans helped craft the plan they are now trying to run away from.
The defense authorization bill, providing $662.4 billion for national defense programs along with plans to continue funding Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads), passed in the Senate Dec. 15 by a vote of 86-13. The bill also takes Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to task for problems with development while in production. But it pushes out by one year an effort by Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, to have Lockheed pick up the tab for cost overruns exceeding a certain amount.
