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 government leaned closer to a shutdown on April 7 as the White House threatened to veto a House bill that would have funded defense through the end of the fiscal year and the rest of the government for one more week. In a Statement of Administration Policy, the Obama administration said it wanted to continue pursuing negotiations on spending that were making progress — at least as of late April 6.
While Senate and House leaders are still at loggerheads over how to fund the government, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellite system is just one of a number of potential casualties.
COST CUTTING: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is praising House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) proposal to cut $4 trillion from the federal deficit over a decade — which largely spares Pentagon weapon programs (See story p. 3) — but has his own idea for reining in the runaway costs of military gear. “When you develop a weapon system in the future, this should be a fixed-price contract, not a cost-plus contract, and the contractor should have 25 percent cost sharing in the development cost,” Graham says.
