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.
Though early work on the first two land-based “Aegis Ashore” missile defense sites was sole-sourced to Lockheed Martin, U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Director Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly says that the prime contractor on a third site will be selected through a competition. O’Reilly approved a justification for sole-source work based on the need to deploy the system quickly, by 2015. He made his comments in response to a question from an audience member at the 9th Missile Defense conference in Washington March 21.
When Congress returns to Washington next week, it will begin work on what will probably be the last in a series of stopgap spending bills keeping the government running in this fiscal year, says Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.). The spending package is likely to include domestic programs and Defense Department funding.
In the ongoing congressional battle over how best to rein in government budgets, Senate Republicans are trying to move defense spending to the front of the line. In speeches on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said they would refuse to consider another short-term spending bill unless defense was funded for the rest of the fiscal year.
