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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com

Ben Wolfgang is a national security correspondent at The Washington Times, a senior member of its Threat Status team, and the host and producer of the award-winning Threat Status Podcast. Ben covers national security, foreign policy, military affairs, the defense industry and the rapidly evolving landscape of military technology.
A Pennsylvania native, he joined The Washington Times in 2011 after serving as a political reporter at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa. Over the course of his career, Ben has covered the White House, Congress, and four presidential campaigns.
His reporting has earned recognition from some of journalism's most respected organizations, including the Virginia Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists' Washington, D.C. Chapter, among other honors.
Ben has interviewed heads of state, chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, senior military commanders, cabinet secretaries, senior government officials, and the CEOs of many of the nation's largest and most influential defense companies.
Ben is a frequent guest on broadcast media, with appearances on C-SPAN, the Sirius XM POTUS channel, and other outlets.
He can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

White House Press secretary Josh Earnest speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, June 24, 2014 in Washington. The White House says it is "reserving judgment" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for extending a weeklong cease-fire in Ukraine, saying it puts more stock in Russia's actions than its words. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

White House blasts Boehner lawsuit against Obama

The White House fired back Wednesday at House Speaker John A. Boehner after the Ohio Republican announced he'll sue President Obama for overstepping his constitutional authority and abusing executive power.

June 25, 2014
President Obama is scheduled to address the powerful League of Conservation Voters on Wednesday night, one year to the day after laying out his ambitious climate change agenda during a speech at Georgetown University. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Obama will play up his climate change agenda, woo environmental voter base

With congressional elections looming, President Obama increasingly is catering to a staunch part of his political base: environmental groups, hard-core opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline and others who share the administration's lofty goals surrounding climate change.

June 24, 2014
In an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday, President Obama said ISIL could directly threaten U.S. national security — a potential justification for airstrikes or other involvement. (Associated Press)

Syria precedent may complicate broad moves on Iraq

President Obama is on firm legal footing in dispatching troops to Iraq to guard the U.S. embassy and to serve as "advisers" to the Iraqi government, but some legal analysts said the administration's own past contradictions on policy could put any broader moves, such as airstrikes via traditional craft or drones, in a gray area.

June 23, 2014
Defending: An Iraqi Shiite tribal fighter deploys outside Najaf on Sunday as Sunni militants capture towns and border crossings with Jordan and Syria. (Associated Press)

Obama feels heat of combusting Iraq

With Iraq threatened by Islamist militants and lawmakers warning that the entire country is in danger, President Obama on Sunday defended his administration's handling of the crisis and again rejected the notion that the U.S. should send ground troops everywhere terrorists pop up.

June 22, 2014
Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks on "Fox News Sunday" on June 16, 2013. (Associated Press/Fox News) **FILE**

Cheney on Middle East: ‘We’ve got a hell of a problem’

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that the Obama administration's foreign policy has led to crises beyond just the escalating conflict in Iraq, charging that the U.S. now has a "hell of a problem" across North Africa and the Middle East.

June 22, 2014
** FILE ** In Wednesday, this June 18, 2014, file photo, boys wait for medical appointments in a holding area where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children were being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center in Nogales, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)

White House promises enforcement surge on border

The Obama administration promised an enforcement "surge" on the southwest border last week to combat the flood of children and families trying to get into the U.S. illegally, saying that adding more judges to decide cases will allow the government to kick people out of the country faster.

June 20, 2014
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, front, and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrive to give a joint news conference at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Biden met with Santos just three days after the Colombian president won re-election in what was widely seen as an endorsement of talks to end the Western Hemisphere's last sizable armed conflict. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Biden botches World Cup history in Colombia

He was trying to pay Colombia a compliment, but Vice President Joseph R. Biden instead reminded the South American nation Wednesday of its painful recent past in World Cup soccer.

June 19, 2014
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos after giving a joint news conference at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Biden met with Santos just three days after the Colombian president won re-election in what was widely seen as an endorsement of talks to end the Western Hemisphere's last sizable armed conflict. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

On Colombia visit, Biden lauds ‘a nation transformed’

Praising Colombia's efforts to improve human rights and end ongoing conflicts with armed rebels, Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Wednesday described the South American country as "a nation transformed" and vowed that the U.S. will work closely with newly re-elected Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

June 18, 2014
** FILE ** Work has begun on the Keystone XL pipeline near Winona, Texas, but whether it will ever carry oil sands from central Canada to Gulf Coast refineries awaits a decision by President Obama. (Tyler [Texas] Morning Telegraph via Associated Press)

Senate panel clears bill to build Keystone XL pipeline

A Senate committee voted Wednesday to cut President Obama out of the process to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but another powerful Democrat still stands in the way of the project — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

June 18, 2014
Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, has called Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. an Obama "puppet." (Associated Press)

Congress aims to bypass Obama on Keystone pipeline

The movement to bypass President Obama and approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline through congressional action has more momentum than ever, with a key Senate committee set to vote later this week on a bill to greenlight the massive Canada-to-Texas project.

June 16, 2014
Progressive populist: To her supporters, Sen. Elizabeth Warren gives a voice to frustrated voters who feel the leaders of both major political parties are too closely aligned with the rich and powerful. (Associated Press)

Elizabeth Warren assumes helm of populist wing of Democratic Party

She has flatly stated she won't run for president in 2016, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren nonetheless is emerging as one of her party's most influential members, armed with a potent message of economic populism that has rapidly made her a hero to many on the progressive left.

June 15, 2014