Based in Washington, Jen manages Aviation Week’s worldwide defense, space and security coverage.
Prior to taking on her current 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.
Navy tweaks littoral combat ship, NASA environmental missions may face more scrutiny, media experiments with UAVs and Ashton Carter returns to the Pentagon.
With the cost of a fleet of new nuclear submarines threatening to crowd out other Navy shipbuilding projects, Congress has taken a “first step” toward maintaining funding for other projects, according to the Navy’s top acquisition official. Last year, lawmakers established the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, a place outside the traditional shipbuilding accounts to set aside up to $3.5 billion for the SSBN(X) Ohio-class submarine replacement program. Unobligated balances from other programs can be transferred into the fund.
When Congress began to cap Pentagon budgets in 2011, the process of recovering from a decade of failed, delayed and over-budget major procurements was only starting. Ever since, lawmakers and defense officials have been tussling over how to cull older systems to pay for future ones. And more of the same type of wrangling looks likely for 2015.
