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.
Congress is already locked in a steel-cage death match over the budget, but now side fights are breaking out in the aftermath of the president's fiscal 2013 budget release.
Partisan posturing over how to avoid steep spending reductions at the Pentagon is in full swing, as Republicans try to pin blame on the Obama administration for not engaging fully on deficit reduction. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s weeklong series of hearings on Capitol Hill has given him a platform for pointing out that Congress passed the law that set those spending cuts in motion and that it is Congress’s responsibility to fix it.
Even after reports about new problems with Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, lawmakers are looking for reassurance from the Pentagon brass of a continued commitment to the military’s largest weapons program.
