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.
If last year's airline debate centered on the use of mobile electronics in flight, the argument in 2014 moves to regulating passenger cell phone use—not just for safety's sake but also for sanity's. In recent weeks, lawmakers have introduced legislation that, if enacted, would prohibit passengers from talking on mobile telephones on airline flights in the U.S. While the fate of those proposals remains unclear, their powerful sponsors indicate the debate will likely play out during the crafting of an FAA reauthorization bill next year.
Senate passage last week of a bipartisan budget deal framework has set off a scramble. First, Congress has until Jan. 15 to pass spending bills for 2014, allowing the Pentagon to “buy back” readiness for the military nearly lost by last year's budget cuts and clarify its budget blueprint for fiscal 2015-19 by February.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is going out with a bang. The staunch foe of the Chinese government on human-rights and national-security grounds says he will not seek reelection in 2014, but before he goes, he wants President Barack Obama to drop plans to capture an asteroid and nudge it into lunar orbit. With China's landing of a small rover on the Moon (see page 45), Wolf warns that a new space race is at hand. “[W]hether we like it or not, the U.S.
