About Breaking Defense

Aaron Mehta

Aaron Mehta is editor in chief of Breaking Defense. He previously served as deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, as well as a staff writer for the non-profit Center for Public Integrity. Over his career, Mehta has interviewed dozens of defense leaders from around the globe, covering the intersection of policy, industry and technology at the highest national security levels.

Mehta has a particular interest in nuclear issues, foreign weapon sales and NATO issues. Originally from outside Boston, Mass., he now lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

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Lee Ferran

Lee Ferran is the Managing Editor of Breaking Defense, responsible for editing coverage, organizing, scheduling and optimizing editorial operations, and developing our content platforms. Lee brings significant journalistic experience to the role, working at ABC News for over nine years as a national security reporter, investigative reporter and editor of their enterprise investigations unit. Over his career Lee has covered US military budgets and spending, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and controversial counter-terrorism programs. He’s the recipient of two News Emmy Awards. Lee’s an avid traveler, movie addict and amateur coder, with particular interest in media technology. A native of Georgia, Lee is a graduate of Wake Forest University.

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Theresa Hitchens

Theresa Hitchens covers all things space for Breaking Defense. The former Defense News editor was a senior research associate at the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Before that, she spent six years in Geneva, Switzerland as director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).

A sci-fi geek, voracious reader, enthusiastic cook, dabbler in poetry, Theresa is also the proud mom of a wonderful young man by the name of Nicholas.

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Valerie Insinna

Valerie covers Congress and the defense business beat for Breaking Defense. She previously covered military aviation and the Pentagon for Breaking Defense, before spending a year covering commercial aviation for Reuters. Valerie has extensive national security reporting expertise, having served as the air warfare beat reporter for Defense News for five years. During that time her work was recognized by numerous awards, including the prestigious National Press Club Michael A. Dornheim Award for defense journalism. She previously worked at Defense Daily, National Defense Magazine, and spent two years as the Washington correspondent for the Tokyo Chunichi Shimbun, and is a graduate of the renowned University of Missouri-Columbia journalism program.

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Ashley Roque

Ashley Roque covers land warfare for Breaking Defense. Over the past two decades, she’s reported on defense, US politics, and foreign policy for publications inside and outside of the United States including Janes, Roll Call, Inside Defense and Shephard Media. Ashley holds a BA in English with a minor in journalism from Florida State University, and a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the University of Basel.

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Justin Katz

Prior to joining Breaking Defense, Justin Katz reported on the Navy and Marine Corps as an associate editor for Inside Defense, where he focused on the services’ largest acquisition programs and congressional committees overseeing them. Justin has also covered the federal government’s cybersecurity policies and programs for FCW and a worked as a general news reporter in both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Katz graduated from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., in 2015 with a degree in communications focusing on journalism and is a native of Long Island, N.Y.

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Michael Marrow

Michael Marrow covers air warfare for Breaking Defense. He holds a BA in history from the University of Virginia and started out as a freelance reporter covering local news in Fairfax County, Virginia and policing in Charlottesville, Virginia. Michael previously reported on the Air Force and Space Force for Inside Defense, where he tracked major acquisitions, policy changes and modernization efforts.

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Carley Welch

Carley Welch covers networks and digital warfare for Breaking Defense. She earned a BS in journalism from James Madison University and a MA in investigative reporting from American University where she was a contributing reporter on the Washington Post’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize winning investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

In her role as a networks and digital warfare reporter, she covers IT, C4ISR, cyber, EW and DoD enterprise modernization.

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Sydney Freedberg

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. has written for Breaking Defense since 2011 and served as deputy editor for the site’s first decade, covering technology, strategy, and policy with a particular focus on the US Army. He’s now a contributing editor focused on cyber, robotics, AI, and other critical technologies and policies that will shape the future of warfare. Sydney began covering defense at National Journal magazine in 1997 and holds degrees from Harvard, Cambridge, and Georgetown.

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Colin Clark

Colin Clark, the founding editor of Breaking Defense, is now our Indo-Pacific Bureau Chief, based in Sydney, Australia. In addition to his foundational efforts at Breaking Defense, Colin also started DoDBuzz.com, the world’s first all-online defense news website. He’s covered Congress, intelligence and regulatory affairs for Space News; founded and edited the Washington Aerospace Briefing, a newsletter for the space industry; covered national security issues for Congressional Quarterly; and was editor of Defense News. Colin is an avid fisherman, grill genius and wine drinker, all of which are only part of the reason he relishes the opportunity to live in Australia.

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Tim Martin

Tim Martin is Breaking Defense’s European Bureau Chief, leading regional coverage of the NATO nations and European industry. He joined Breaking Defense in 2022 after a three year spell at Shephard Media as Air Editor. Based in Belfast, Tim holds two Defence Media Awards to his name, and has bylines with a number of B2B and print media publications, including the Irish Times newspaper.

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Agnes Helou

Agnes Helou is Breaking Defense’s Middle East Bureau Chief, with close to a decade of experience in covering regional defense and strategic topics. She was the managing Editor of Security and Defense Arabia, an Arabic language defense website and magazine, and covered the Middle East and North Africa defense and security topics for Defense News for three years. Her reporting expertise covers the Gulf, North Africa, Middle East and Southern Europe.

Agnes has a master’s degree and is pursuing her PhD in media economics from the Doctoral School of Literature, Humanities & Social Sciences in Lebanon. Her interests include artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, air defense, maritime and border security regional strategic issues.

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Seth Frantzman

Seth J. Frantzman, based in Jerusalem, covers the Israeli defense sector for Breaking Defense. As a correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post and other publications, Frantzman covered the war against the Islamic State, several conflicts in Gaza, the conflict in Ukraine, and the refugee crises in Eastern Europe. He is the author of two books, including 2021’s Drone Wars.

Alyssa Schonhaut

Alyssa Schonhaut is the assistant editor at Breaking Defense. She has previously worked as a digital editor for Government Matters at WJLA and then for Federal News Network. She graduated with an M.A. in media, technology and democracy in 2022 from American University, where she also received a B.A. in journalism. Originally from Rhode Island, Alyssa has been living in the Washington, D.C area since 2015.

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Barry Rosenberg

Barry Rosenberg is an expert journalist in defense cybersecurity and information technology issues. He is former editor of the trade magazine C4ISRNET, which he helped relaunch in 2013. Before that he was editor of Defense Systems at 1105 Media, focusing on IT and C4ISR topics. He recently worked in key content roles at information technology firms SILA, which specializes in blockchain technologies and cyber security, and Trace Systems. Earlier in his career he was founding editor of Aviation Week’s Overhaul & Maintenance magazine, editor of Defense News’ show daily and managing editor of Aviation Week’s Show News. Rosenberg is a Philadelphia native, an avid writer and co-author of “Mavericks of the Sky: The First Daring Pilots of the U.S. Air Mail”.

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Riad Kahwaji

Riad Kahwaji brings vast experience and reporting contacts in the Middle East. He has 32 years of experience as a journalist and Middle East security analyst. Kahwaji served as Middle East bureau chief for Defense News for eight years. with prior work at Jane’s defense group and the BBC World Service. Riad has authored two books in Arabic: “Air Power and Future Wars” in 2020; and “The Basis of the Lebanese Defense Strategy” in 2009. He is founder of SEGMA, the premier defense conference organizer in the Middle East. Riad earned his M.A. in War Studies from King’s College, London. He is based in Dubai and has offices in Lebanon.

Christina Mackenzie

Christina Mackenzie covers Europe’s defense industry for Breaking Defense, a sector she’s been reporting on for over two decades. The former European editor of Defense Technology International and prior to that of Flight Global, Christina has also dipped in and out of Defense News over the years. Her base is just south of Paris.

Reuben F. Johnson

Reuben F. Johnson, based in Kyiv, is a thirty year veteran of defense reporting and analysis who covers Ukraine and Russia for Breaking Defense. He has reported from most of the world’s major aerospace and defense expositions, as well as from the 2004-2005 and 2013-2014 Ukrainian revolutions.

Andrew White

Andrew White is a veteran defense journalist of nearly 20 years, who covers the UK for Breaking Defense. Splitting his time between London and Honolulu, Andrew specializes in writing about special operations, disruptive technologies and emerging trends in defense and security markets.

Murielle Delaporte

Murielle Delaporte is a regular Breaking Defense contributor who writes on French, NATO and European issues. Murielle, a former strategist for the French General secretariat for national defense, is founding editor of the French quarterly magazine Opérationnels.

Tim Fish

Tim Fish is a defense journalist who writes about land, naval and C4ISR systems across the globe. A former maritime reporter and Jane’s and land warfare editor at Shephard, Tim is based in New Zealand.

Bartosz Głowacki

Bartosz Głowacki, based in Warsaw, writes on Poland’s aerospace and defense industry issues and his home country’s politics for Breaking Defense.

Ragip Soylu

Ragip Soylu, based in Ankara, regularly covers Turkish defense industry and national security affairs for Breaking Defense. He has also contributed work to various local and international news organizations, including CNN, Foreign Policy, Middle East Eye and Daily Sabah.

Wilder Alejandro Sánchez

Wilder Alejandro Sánchez covers defense & security and geopolitical issues in Latin America and the Caribbean for Breaking Defense. He also writes for Janes, Shephard Media, and the Center for International Maritime Security, among several other publications.

David Smith

David Smith has 30 years of experience in all facets of media – digital media, audience development, events, sales, marketing, product and content development. He’s an expert in defense, government and international markets and a leader in crafting innovative and creative media approaches to these markets. He began at Jane’s Defence Weekly and subsequently served for nearly two decades as VP of marketing and business development at Army Times Publishing (now Sightline Media,) where he was a key leader on the team that launched and grew Defense News. He later became a government communications director at TIBCO Software and publisher for defense products at 1105 Media. Smith returned to Sightline Media as VP of Network Solutions, founding C4ISR & Networks (later C4ISRNET,) and later became president of the company, where he stabilized, diversified and grew the company after its divesture from TEGNA Inc. Among other accomplishments in the field, Smith conceived and launched Space News, the Military Times Service Member of the Year program, the C4ISRNET Conference, the Dubai Air Chiefs Conference, the Defense News Conference and the brand C4ISRNET.

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Tania Norris

Tania Norris brings 25 years of success in government and defense client relations, management and sales to Breaking Defense. Tania spent a considerable portion of her career at 1105 Government Information Group, representing the Federal Computer Week (FCW), Government Computer News (GCN) and Washington Technology brands. Tania later worked for FedScoop. and subsequently worked for Defense News for 4 years, quickly becoming one of their most successful sales development professionals. Tania is expert in digital media sales and building innovative, creative media plans for clients to engage with the leadership audience in government markets.

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Renee Wheeler

Renee Wheeler has over 25 years of experience in the defense media sector. With vast international experience, Renee is highly skilled at developing campaigns that reach and engage leadership in the defense market and is known for the quality and integrity of her approach, forming superb relationships with her clients. Renee worked for Defense News for nearly 25 years, an integral part of the sales success of Defense News since its inception. She has also represented Space News and worked on products for the Military Times and C4ISRNET and benefits clients with deep knowledge on the dynamics of military and government media and marketing.

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Jerry Foley

Jerry Foley has 20 years experience in defense and government media, in business development, marketing, sales and communications. Jerry most recently was with Foreign Policy magazine, where he was Director of Strategic Partnerships, charged with building their defense and national security business portfolio. Before that, Jerry was Managing Director for Government Matters, where he guided content and client strategies for the defense and federal broadcast outlet. Jerry also worked at Defense News and C4ISRNET for nearly 12 years, ultimately promoted to Vice President for Global Sales & Strategy. He began his career at Government Executive Media Group, where he helped manage digital operations. Jerry holds a masters in business management, strategy and leadership from Michigan State University and a BA in government from Georgetown University.

A native of the Detroit area, he currently resides in DC with his wife and two sons. When not in the office or at a defense conference, you’ll likely find him testing a new recipe in the kitchen or trying to get to one of DC’s new breweries.

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John Lerner

Brian Dalton

Jana Vislocky