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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com

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

The United States Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Vermont is christened at Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., on Oct. 20, 2018. A metallurgist in Washington state pleaded guilty to fraud Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was being used to make U.S. Navy submarines. Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, Wash., was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day via AP) **FILE**

Metallurgist who doctored Navy sub steel data pleads guilty

A Washington state metallurgist pleaded guilty this week to falsifying hundreds of test results for steel used to produce U.S. Navy submarines, the Justice Department said as it moved to conclude a stunning fraud case that spanned more than 30 years and put American taxpayers on the hook for extra Pentagon maintenance costs on one of the military's most expensive assets.

November 9, 2021
Taliban fighters block roads after an explosion Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. An explosion went off Tuesday at the entrance of a military hospital in Kabul, killing several people and wounding over a dozen, health officials said. (AP Photo/Ahmad Halabisaz)

Outside looking in: After Afghanistan, U.S. scrambles for bases in central Asia

President Biden is racing to find partners in Central Asia willing to host U.S. troops, equipment and intelligence assets that the Pentagon says are vital to keep al Qaeda, ISIS and other extremist outfits from launching deadly attacks out of Afghanistan, even as China and Russia expand their power in the strategically vital region and work to elbow out Washington.

November 8, 2021
Spectators wave Chinese flags as military vehicles carrying DF-41 ballistic missiles roll during a parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2019. China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than U.S. officials predicted just a year ago, highlighting a broad and accelerating expansion of military muscle designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass U.S. global power by mid-century, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) **FILE**

EXCLUSIVE: China’s military consistently beats U.S. estimates

The capabilities of the Chinese military continue to beat U.S. estimates, and neither the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War nor any other country in recent history has consistently exceeded Pentagon and intelligence community projections to this extent, a top Air Force general said Wednesday.

November 3, 2021
In this frame taken from video a man shouts slogans during a protest in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. Military forces arrested Sudan's acting prime minister and senior government officials Monday, disrupted internet access and blocked bridges in the capital Khartoum, the country's information ministry said, describing the actions as a coup. In response, thousands flooded the streets of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman to protest the apparent military takeover. Footage shared online appeared to show protesters blocking streets and setting fire to tires as security forces used tear gas to disperse them. (New Sudan NNS via AP)

Chaos in Sudan after military coup, prime minister arrested

Sudanese troops arrested their nation's prime minister and other political leaders in a military coup Monday, derailing Sudan's move toward a civilian, democratic government and sparking fears of even more chaos on the already unstable, terror-plagued Horn of Africa.

October 25, 2021
President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations after touring a Clayco Corporation construction site for a Microsoft data center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Biden ‘painted into a corner’ as get-tough policy on Russia falls flat

A bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to force the White House to expel hundreds of Russian diplomats has backed President Biden into a corner, fueling doubts about his promise to get tough on the Kremlin and raising questions about whether the U.S. has squandered leverage to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

October 7, 2021