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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

U.S. swiftly returns fire after deadly drone attack, carries out retaliatory airstrikes in Syria

The U.S. carried out retaliatory airstrikes late Thursday after a suspected Iranian drone killed an American contractor and wounded at least five troops, the Pentagon said. A second U.S. contractor was also wounded in the drone attack on an American base outside the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah.

March 24, 2023

Pentagon has ‘multiple options’ ready if Iran builds nuclear bomb, top U.S. general says

The Pentagon has developed multiple military options ready for President Biden if or when Iran begins to build nuclear weapons, America's top general told Congress Thursday.

March 23, 2023

Pentagon pressed on Ukraine endgame as skepticism takes root with some lawmakers

Lawmakers pressed top Pentagon officials Thursday to explain America's ultimate goal in Ukraine, how exactly victory over Russia can be measured, and just how much money and military equipment the U.S. is willing to commit in the latest sign that the political sales job for supporting Kyiv is getting tougher by the day.

March 23, 2023

Null and void, but still causing headaches: Pentagon’s legal woes over COVID vaccine mandate persist

At the height of the global pandemic, the Pentagon in August 2021 decreed that all U.S. troops must get the COVID-19 vaccine, then launched a logistical push to get the shot to every service member stationed anywhere in the world.

March 17, 2023

Russia races to recover U.S. drone wreckage as questions swirl over sensitive data

Russian crews are scouring the Black Sea for remnants of the American MQ-9 Reaper that crashed there earlier this week, Pentagon officials said, while the U.S. military made public on Thursday raw video footage that seems to show a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on the drone and clipping its propeller just before it went down.

March 16, 2023

Declassified video shows Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on, colliding with U.S. drone

The Pentagon early Thursday released a declassified video that officials say shows the Tuesday collision between a Russian Su-27 fighter jet and a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea.

March 16, 2023

‘That’s U.S. property’: Pentagon races to find drone wreckage as Russia launches recovery mission

The U.S. and Russian militaries scrambled Wednesday to locate the wreckage of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone that crashed into the Black Sea after being hit by a tailing Russian fighter jet a day earlier.

March 15, 2023

Escalation? Dramatic collision of Russian jet, U.S. drone fuels fear of direct conflict

A Russian fighter jet collided with a U.S. military surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, forcing U.S. operators to bring down the unmanned craft in international waters and prompting Pentagon officials to blast the Russian pilots' behavior as "unsafe and unprofessional."

March 14, 2023

Biden admin guarantees Silicon Valley Bank deposits, shutters N.Y. bank in bid to head off crisis

The Biden administration said it would guarantee all deposits at the now-shuttered Silicon Valley Bank but insisted the move was not a taxpayer-funded bailout, while regulators closed a second institution, New York City's Signature Bank, amid fears of an unfolding economic crisis.

March 12, 2023

Finnish president says disputes with Turkey still holding up NATO membership

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Sunday he is optimistic his country will eventually join NATO, but he conceded that Turkey has a "different opinion" over a key security-related dispute between the two sides that is holding up the process.

March 12, 2023

Rich Russians spared as Putin sends poor, ethnic minorities to front lines in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is insulating wealthy urban families from the carnage in Ukraine, Western intelligence analysts said Sunday, with the Kremlin instead sending poor Russians and ethnic minorities to the front lines of an increasingly bloody war.

March 12, 2023

Not dead yet: World still needs fossil fuels, Egyptian minister says

The world may be on an irreversible march toward clean energy, but the past year has brought with it a sobering reminder that 21st-century economies cannot function for the foreseeable future without oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels, said Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla.

March 10, 2023

Airport chaos during Afghan pullout created escape route for suicide bomber

U.S. troops at the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021, believed they identified the Islamic State suicide bomber who ultimately killed 13 Americans and nearly 200 Afghans at the height of America's frantic military exit.

March 8, 2023

As Iran’s nuclear program accelerates, U.N. tries to ease fears, but U.S. and Israel remain wary

Iran's commitments to allow tighter oversight at its nuclear facilities represent a key step forward, United Nations officials said Monday as they sought to tamp down growing fears about Tehran's nuclear program after reports that the Islamic republic can now produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb in as little as 12 days.

March 6, 2023

Putin weakens positions of rivals to secure his own power

Russia seemed to lack an effective battle plan in the early weeks of the Ukraine war last year as a succession of military commanders struggled to adjust to changing circumstances on the ground.

March 5, 2023

Islamic terrorism creates a toxic powder keg in Syria, poses quandary for U.S. in wake of earthquake

The carnage, political dysfunction and rising tide of Islamic terrorism gripping Syria have created a toxic powder keg unlike anything else on the planet -- and that was before last month's massive earthquake killed thousands and reduced even more of the divided and volatile country to rubble.

March 2, 2023

Lawmakers question Pentagon brass on why troops who refused COVID vaccine still face penalties

The military's COVID-19 vaccination mandate is off the books, but the fallout from the controversial order is far from over.

February 28, 2023

Threat Status: Inside the cut-throat internal political dynamics that may be Putin’s undoing

The unthinkable -- a multi-year shooting war with tanks, trenches, drones and vast waves of refugees -- is playing out in the heart of Europe, amid mounting fears the raging war in Ukraine will pit Russia and its allies against the U.S. and Western-aligned democracies around the world for decades to come.

February 26, 2023

F-16 is latest red line for Biden to cross in pressure campaign to help Ukraine

It's a familiar pattern that has played out throughout the year-old Russia-Ukraine war.

February 22, 2023

Part Three: Russia-Ukraine war resets world order

The year-old Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the foundations of a post-Cold War order that has held sway for three decades, sparking new global unease over the prospect of nuclear war, rocking long-established diplomatic and political norms, and aligning the world's top autocracies in unsettling new ways.

February 22, 2023

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Ben Wolfgang

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

U.S. swiftly returns fire after deadly drone attack, carries out retaliatory airstrikes in Syria

Pentagon has ‘multiple options’ ready if Iran builds nuclear bomb, top U.S. general says

Pentagon pressed on Ukraine endgame as skepticism takes root with some lawmakers

Null and void, but still causing headaches: Pentagon’s legal woes over COVID vaccine mandate persist

Russia races to recover U.S. drone wreckage as questions swirl over sensitive data

Declassified video shows Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on, colliding with U.S. drone

‘That’s U.S. property’: Pentagon races to find drone wreckage as Russia launches recovery mission

Escalation? Dramatic collision of Russian jet, U.S. drone fuels fear of direct conflict

Biden admin guarantees Silicon Valley Bank deposits, shutters N.Y. bank in bid to head off crisis

Finnish president says disputes with Turkey still holding up NATO membership

Rich Russians spared as Putin sends poor, ethnic minorities to front lines in Ukraine

Not dead yet: World still needs fossil fuels, Egyptian minister says

Airport chaos during Afghan pullout created escape route for suicide bomber

As Iran’s nuclear program accelerates, U.N. tries to ease fears, but U.S. and Israel remain wary

Putin weakens positions of rivals to secure his own power

Islamic terrorism creates a toxic powder keg in Syria, poses quandary for U.S. in wake of earthquake

Lawmakers question Pentagon brass on why troops who refused COVID vaccine still face penalties

Threat Status: Inside the cut-throat internal political dynamics that may be Putin’s undoing

F-16 is latest red line for Biden to cross in pressure campaign to help Ukraine

Part Three: Russia-Ukraine war resets world order