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.
Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate majority in a number of nail-bitingly close elections in states key to the defense industrial base. And the election sets up a potential shift at the top of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Sen. John McCain, the top Republican, faces a party term limit. At least five seats on the committee, four of them Democratic, are now vacant due to retirements or losses.
Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), the leader of the House spending panel on defense, has hung on to his seat, leaving him in position to lead an effort to pass a full-year fiscal 2013 defense spending bill, potentially by late March. Young’s ongoing tenure adds some stability to the panel, where mass turnover otherwise will take place on the Democratic side. In addition to the retirement of Rep. Norm Dicks (Wash.), the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) are also departing.
MUSICAL CHAIRS: Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.) is seeking to replace Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Because of the term limits for Senate Republican Ranking Memberships, I am looking forward to stepping in as Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,” Inhofe said in an emailed statement to Aviation Week, acknowledging that Republican committee members will have to vote for him. “I am deeply concerned about planned defense cuts and pending defense cuts through sequestration.
