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.
The Army will shift about $1 billion to recruiting programs and will rely more heavily on reserve units as its ranks dwindle and the service struggles to attract new soldiers, Army officials said in a memo this week that described a high-stakes "war for talent" that confronts America's armed forces and comes at a crucial moment for U.S. national security.
Russia has struggled to meet any of its top strategic goals in the nearly five-month invasion of Ukraine. But the U.S. and its NATO allies may be on the verge of meeting one of theirs.
President Biden on Friday is expected to privately urge Saudi leaders to ramp up oil production in a bid to curb massive global price spikes and relieve a mounting political headache back home, but there are signs that his push may have an unintended winner: Russia.
Ukrainian leaders insist their country will prevail over Moscow and eventually reclaim much of the eastern territory seized by Russian troops so far in the nearly five-month war. But military insiders and foreign policy analysts say such rosy predictions don't reflect the reality on the ground.
It's shaping up to be a landmark economic summit, a potential showdown between warring countries, and a face-to-face confrontation of long-term international rivals all rolled into one.
Sweden and Finland took another step toward joining NATO on Tuesday after the 30-country alliance formally signed off on their membership bids and set the stage to bring the long-neutral Nordic nations into the fold within a matter of months.
Moscow declared victory Monday after its forces seized the city of Lysychansk, signaling it will soon push its invasion deeper into Ukraine after capturing what had been Kyiv's last major stronghold in the Luhansk province.
North Korea on Sunday blamed the U.S., Japan and South Korea for the "rapid aggravation of the security environment of the Korean peninsula," and said it will quickly build up its defensive capabilities in response.
Israeli gunfire "likely" killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) raid in the West Bank city of Jenin last month, U.S. officials said Monday following an extensive analysis of the bullet that struck the prominent reporter.
Russian forces over the weekend captured the key city of Lysychansk in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, marking a major strategic win for Moscow while bringing virtually all of the disputed Luhansk province under Kremlin control.
The early weeks of the war in Ukraine were dominated by social media posts showing Russian tanks decimated by small, cheap drones that helped level the playing field and largely negated Moscow's massive advantage in personnel and equipment.
The future of America's long-term troop presence in Europe came into focus Wednesday as President Biden announced new plans to permanently place fresh U.S. personnel in Poland, air defense batteries in Italy and Germany, and a host of other steps as NATO reinforces its front line as relations deteriorate badly with Russia in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey on Tuesday dropped its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, seemingly clearing the way for the two nations to enter the trans-Atlantic alliance and delivering a major boost to Western solidarity amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
Turkey on Tuesday dropped its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, seemingly clearing the way for the two nations to enter the trans-Atlantic alliance and delivering a major boost to Western solidarity amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
The number of American troops in Europe has risen sharply in the four months since Russia invaded Ukraine, jumping from about 65,000 in mid-February to 100,000 today.
The European Union on Thursday formally made Ukraine a candidate for membership in the 27-nation alliance, delivering what could be a major morale boost for Ukrainian troops while dealing a significant blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's drive to pull Kyiv away from the West.