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.
The big question in Washington is whether a squabbling Congress will act to avert an automatic government-wide budget reduction of $1.2 trillion, half of which would come from defense spending. But it may not matter. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is warning the Pentagon to prepare itself for major reductions to defense spending—up to $1.5 trillion over 12 years—regardless of what happens on Capitol Hill.
Contestants for the Google Lunar X Prize will have to be careful around Apollo hardware and other human artifacts on the Moon as they vie for prize money promised for returning images of historic spacecraft with their landers. The X Prize Foundation, which organized the $30 million prize, has agreed to include NASA guidelines for preserving historic sites on the Moon as it evaluates proposals from the privately funded teams in the competition. Teams are looking for ways to add to the winnings, and selling up-close imagery is one possibility.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on May 24 passed a defense policy bill authorizing the Pentagon to spend $631.4 billion in fiscal 2013 that follows the House in putting a hold on the U.S. Air Force’s plans to scale back the Air National Guard. “We rejected the Air Force plan, and fully funded the equipment and personnel,” committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters in a press conference after the committee voted unanimously to approve the legislation.
