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.
Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), a senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sees many of President Obama’s defense choices as a threat to U.S. security. With every budget, Inhofe tells Aviation Week in a recent interview, the president is disarming America. “In the first budget he took away our only fifth-generation fighter, our C-17 lift capacity, the Future Combat Systems and the ground-based interceptor in Poland. That was just the first year, and then it got worse,” Inhofe says.
RUSSIANS COMING: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is asking the nation’s top naval officer for more information about reported patrols by a Russian nuclear attack submarine in the Gulf of Mexico that had not previously been detected. The ship-killing Akula-class submarine can come equipped with torpedoes and cruise missiles and is among the quietest in the Russian fleet. “This submarine activity reportedly occurred in June and July, simultaneously with incursions by Russian strategic bombers into restricted U.S. airspace,” Cornyn says in an Aug. 17 letter to Adm.
A new study estimates that potential across-the-board budget cuts to the FAA could amount to an $18.4 billion blow to the economy, including the loss of up to 73 million passenger enplanements and 2 billion lb. of airfreight. Former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta called the study, released Aug. 13 by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), “very significant” and urged Congress to take action. “Let’s not let the FAA be victimized by budget politics,” he said.
