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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

Ukrainian sappers carry a Russian military drone backdropped by the Antonov An-225, world's biggest cargo aircraft destroyed by the Russian troops during recent fighting, at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

New age of war: Russia-Ukraine conflict reshapes battlefield

The century-old concept of moving huge armored convoys along open roads may be too dangerous on today's high-tech battlefields. Military supply lines are more vulnerable than ever before given the massive leaps in surveillance capabilities and precision weapons.

May 16, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during the Victory Day military parade marking the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 9, 2022. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

How Putin’s war in Ukraine has backfired spectacularly

ANALYSIS: Russia's invasion of Ukraine was designed to topple the government in Kyiv, fracture NATO and cement Moscow's status as a fearsome 21st-century military machine and an irreplaceable energy kingpin that could use its oil and gas reserves to bully Europe.

May 12, 2022
Servicemen of the militia from the Donetsk People's Republic walk past damaged apartment buildings near the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, the second-largest metallurgical enterprise in Ukraine, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, April 16, 2022. Mariupol, which is part of the industrial region in eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, has been a key objective for Russia since the start of the Feb. 24 invasion. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)

Ukrainian counteroffensive puts Russian supply lines at risk

Russia pounded the port cities of Mariupol and Odesa with missile strikes on Tuesday while Ukrainian forces launched a fierce counteroffensive to the north and reportedly pushed Russian troops back toward their border, as the two sides reach what U.S. intelligence officials say could be a prolonged "stalemate" that lasts for months or even years.

May 10, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during the Victory Day military parade marking the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 9, 2022. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin defends Ukraine war as Russia faces manpower shortages, global outrage

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his war in Ukraine on Monday and likened the conflict to last century's fight against Nazi Germany, but the Kremlin faces serious questions about its ability to replenish its ranks as casualties mount and its wartime tactics face growing scrutiny at home and abroad.

May 9, 2022
Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde at the State Dept., Wednesday, May 4, 2022 in Washington. (Michael A. McCoy/Pool photo via AP)

Swedish officials visit Washington as country edges closer to NATO

Top Swedish officials visited Washington Wednesday as their country weighs whether to join NATO, a move that would ratchet up tensions with Moscow even higher while also exposing divisions across Europe over the future of the alliance and its proper role amid Russia's war in Ukraine.

May 4, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while addresses a meeting of the Council of Legislators under the Russian Federal Assembly at the Tauride Palace, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Alexander Demyanchuk, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Angry Putin wields energy, nuclear threats against West

Russian President Vladimir Putin cut off natural gas supplies to two key NATO nations, Poland and Bulgaria, on Wednesday and threatened a "lightning-fast" military response against anyone who interferes with Russia's assault on Ukraine, pushing the fallout from the already devastating war deeper into Europe and threatening to accelerate a global energy crunch.

April 27, 2022
Smoke rises after shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. An Associated Press team of journalists was in Mariupol the day of the airstrike and raced to the scene. Their images prompted a massive Russian misinformation campaign that continues to this day. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

Mariupol on the brink as Russians seek breakthrough

Defenders in Mariupol are desperately short on supplies and may lose control of the city within days or less, Ukrainian military officials said Wednesday, as their Russian foes ramped up a non-stop bombardment of the strategically vital port city and inched closer to what would be the first major prize so far in Moscow's two-month war.

April 20, 2022
Ukrainian servicemen study a Sweden shoulder-launched weapon system Carl Gustaf M4 during a training session on the near Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 7, 2022. Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia's initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching battle for Ukraine's contested Donbas region. Yet the Russian military is making little headway halting what has become a historic arms express. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko, File)

Backfire: Sweden, Finland eye NATO in reaction to Russian invasion

Finland and Sweden signaled Wednesday that they may announce plans to apply to join NATO within a matter of weeks, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's hopes of weakening the Western military alliance and offering further evidence that the alleged atrocities committed by Mr. Putin's troops in Ukraine have only hardened anti-Russian sentiment across the West.

April 13, 2022