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.
After more than a decade of pursuing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are indicating that the Pentagon’s biggest weapon program might need an understudy. “It seems to me [prudent that] we at least begin considering alternatives,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said during a hearing May 19, after hearing that current estimates show the program’s development and sustainment are unaffordable.
Lawmakers are taking aim at the U.S. Air Force’s effort to buy aircraft to train foreign militaries, known as the Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) program, due to concerns about its legality and the Pentagon’s “disjointed approach” to buying the aircraft. USAF has asked for $158.5 million to buy nine LAAR aircraft in fiscal 2012, with the eventual goal of buying 15.
The House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee is recommending the U.S. government stop buying full-body scanners in fiscal 2012, according to a draft of the panel’s spending bill. The move would save the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) $76 million on Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners. The president had asked for that money to buy 275 of the scanners and pay to staff them.
