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 bill to extend the FAA’s operating authority is in peril again. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) won’t agree to the bill because of a provision on transportation enhancements in the highway bill that is moving through Congress with the FAA extension. “I’m not interested in holding up the FAA bill,” Coburn says, going on to blast the offending portion of the highway bill. “I’m interested in not spending money that doesn’t help bridges and highways and wasting 10% of the surface transportation budget on something that doesn’t help anybody.”
Key U.S. Senate appropriators are recommending a $695 million reduction to the Defense Department’s fiscal 2012 request for the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter – a move coordinated or checked with the Pentagon, to some degree – saying the funds are not needed with the program slowed as it is.
As the Pentagon looks at its budget to find savings, everything is being considered, according to the man nominated to be the next No. 2 civilian at the Defense Department. That includes spending on military personnel, overseas basing and the Pentagon’s largest weapon system, the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter, according to Ashton Carter, who is currently in charge of buying weapons for the U.S. military.
