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 White House is proposing new, tougher lobbying rules that might outlaw government employees from attending trade shows for free. Taking office in 2009 on the heels of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, President Obama restricted gifts from lobbyists and political appointees. The new proposal coming out of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) extends those restrictions to all federal employees and tightens the definitions of what events they can attend on a lobbyist’s dime.
The Senate on Sept. 22 voted down a provision that would have forced the Obama administration to sell 66 F-16 C/D aircraft to Taiwan. The 48-48 vote came the day after administration officials informed Congress about the sale of $5.85 billion in upgrades to 145 F-16 A/B aircraft already in the Taiwanese inventory, along with extending the F-16 training program at Luke AFB, Ariz., and helping to sustain F-5 and C-130 aircraft. The measure needed 60 votes to pass.
The Senate Appropriations Committee provided “full funding” for the Next Generation air traffic modernization system, even adding $28.5 million to Lockheed Martin’s troubled En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program to help get it back on track. But in a report on the fiscal 2012 spending bill passed by committee last week, lawmakers scolded the FAA for its past performance and challenged the agency to improve its program management.
