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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang is a National Security Correspondent for The Washington Times. His reporting is regularly featured in the daily Threat Status newsletter.
Previously, he covered energy and the environment, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, and also spent two years as a White House correspondent during the Obama administration.
Before coming to The Times in 2011, Ben worked as political reporter at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa.
He can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

Apparent hack targets Space Force official’s Instagram account, posts pro-Iran content

An apparent hack targeted a key U.S. Space Force official's Instagram account recently and reportedly posted pro-Iran and anti-American content.

June 2, 2026

U.S. strikes Iranian radar sites after MQ-1 Predator drone shot down

Iran shot down another U.S. drone Sunday, just hours after American forces fired a Hellfire missile into the engine room of a commercial ship trying to circumvent a U.S.-led blockade of Iranian ports.

May 31, 2026

‘Five-alarm fire’: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops

The ability of adversaries to use commercial location data from smartphones to find and target U.S. troops in the Middle East is a "five-alarm fire" that demands immediate action, a bipartisan group of lawmakers said Thursday.

May 29, 2026

The danger of digital footprints: How ‘ubiquitous technical surveillance’ threatens U.S. military

An adversary could transform the digital footprints created by modern smartphones into grid coordinates, which can then be used to target U.S. troops with deadly precision, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command warned recently.

May 27, 2026

U.S. conducts ‘defensive’ strikes in response to ‘threats posed by Iranian forces’

U.S. forces struck missile-launch sites and other targets in southern Iran on Monday, military officials said, even as the Trump administration signaled that a peace deal between the two sides could be near.

May 25, 2026

Vast sums of private capital fueling the U.S. military’s drone drive

A "golden age of private capital" is driving the development and production of the small unmanned systems key to the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Initiative, a top Defense Department official told a major military conference Wednesday.

May 20, 2026

Elite forces key to preventing a ‘devastating’ great-power war, U.S. Special Operations chief says

America's elite special operations forces units are on the periphery of 21st-century global conflicts and are irreplaceable components of the U.S. ability to project power worldwide and deter major great-power wars, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command said Tuesday.

May 19, 2026

Too elite to fail, too strapped to sustain: Special op forces seek funds to match scale of missions

Modern warfare carries an "insatiable" demand for the complex, dangerous missions that only America's special operations forces can execute, such as the daring January raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from a heavily guarded compound in a foreign capital.

May 15, 2026

Golden Dome point man dismisses CBO’s $1.2 trillion missile shield price tag

The eye-popping $1.2 trillion cost estimate for the proposed Golden Dome missile shield is deeply flawed because it focuses on past missile defense capabilities and does not account for massive leaps forward in technology that will drive the price down, the Trump administration's point man for the project said Thursday.

May 15, 2026

Golden Dome missile shield could cost $1.2 trillion, CBO report says

President Trump's proposed Golden Dome missile shield could cost $1.2 trillion over 20 years, including a massive up-front cost to deploy the cutting-edge space-based missile interceptors widely seen as crucial to the project's success, according to a new report released this week.

May 13, 2026

U.S. lacks enough space launch facilities to meet expanding civilian and national security needs

The United States set a record for space launches in 2025, and with the Trump administration saying 2026 will be even bigger, concerns are swirling in U.S. national security circles over the extent to which the country's launch facilities are overstretched.

May 7, 2026

U.S. fast-tracks $8 billion in arms sales to Middle East partners

The State Department late last week approved arms sales worth more than $8 billion to key U.S. partners across the Middle East.

May 3, 2026

Trump says U.S. will pull ‘a lot’ more troops from Germany; key Republicans push back on drawdown

President Trump says he will pull more U.S. troops from Germany after an initial reduction of 5,000, while Republican leaders in Congress say they're "very concerned" about the move and the signal it sends to America's adversaries.

May 3, 2026

Two U.S. troops reported missing during major military exercises in Africa

Two U.S. service members were reported missing Sunday in Morocco, during major annual American military exercises in western Africa, Pentagon officials said.

May 3, 2026

Shots fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump rushed from the stage

Shots were fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington on Saturday night, forcing guests to duck under tables in the Washington Hilton ballroom.

April 25, 2026

Could space-based data centers help power U.S. military missions in the future?

Data centers in space, and perhaps even on the moon, could become crucial to U.S. national security.

April 24, 2026

Why an ‘entrenched’ Pentagon bureaucracy is the greatest danger facing Golden Dome

The Golden Dome missile shield will have to overcome enormous technological, logistical and financial obstacles to become operational by President Trump's 2028 target date. But its biggest hurdle might be an "entrenched" Pentagon bureaucracy that military insiders fear could doom the project.

April 21, 2026

U.S. aggressive in race for first base on moon, pushes to beat China

It's crucial that the U.S. establish a permanent base on the moon -- including a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface -- before China or Russia does, top Trump administration officials said Tuesday at a major space conference.

April 14, 2026

Trump threatens major strikes on Iran after U.S. raid rescues pilot

U.S. forces launched a daring raid that rescued an American fighter pilot deep behind enemy lines in Iran, President Trump said Sunday, just hours before he warned Tehran to "open the f------ Strait" of Hormuz or face major strikes on its power plants and bridges.

April 5, 2026

Trump to Iran: ‘Open the F——- Strait, you crazy bastards’

President Trump early Sunday issued a profanity-laden warning to Iran, saying U.S. forces will target power plants and bridges if the Islamic republic does not open the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.

April 5, 2026

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Ben Wolfgang

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

Apparent hack targets Space Force official’s Instagram account, posts pro-Iran content

U.S. strikes Iranian radar sites after MQ-1 Predator drone shot down

‘Five-alarm fire’: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops

The danger of digital footprints: How ‘ubiquitous technical surveillance’ threatens U.S. military

U.S. conducts ‘defensive’ strikes in response to ‘threats posed by Iranian forces’

Vast sums of private capital fueling the U.S. military’s drone drive

Elite forces key to preventing a ‘devastating’ great-power war, U.S. Special Operations chief says

Too elite to fail, too strapped to sustain: Special op forces seek funds to match scale of missions

Golden Dome point man dismisses CBO’s $1.2 trillion missile shield price tag

Golden Dome missile shield could cost $1.2 trillion, CBO report says

U.S. lacks enough space launch facilities to meet expanding civilian and national security needs

U.S. fast-tracks $8 billion in arms sales to Middle East partners

Trump says U.S. will pull ‘a lot’ more troops from Germany; key Republicans push back on drawdown

Two U.S. troops reported missing during major military exercises in Africa

Shots fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump rushed from the stage

Could space-based data centers help power U.S. military missions in the future?

Why an ‘entrenched’ Pentagon bureaucracy is the greatest danger facing Golden Dome

U.S. aggressive in race for first base on moon, pushes to beat China

Trump threatens major strikes on Iran after U.S. raid rescues pilot

Trump to Iran: ‘Open the F——- Strait, you crazy bastards’