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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

Staff Sgt. Travis Snyder, left, receives the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine given at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, Dec. 16, 2020, south of Seattle. The Army says 98% of its active duty force had gotten at least one dose of the mandatory coronavirus vaccine as of this week’s deadline for the shots. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) ** FILE **

Thousands of soldiers miss vaccine deadline as Army weighs mass purge

Nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers have refused a COVID-19 vaccine and could be pushed out of the Army beginning next month, the Pentagon said Thursday as military officials grapple with the possibility that the controversy could lead to a mass purge from the ranks.

December 16, 2021
In this handout infrared photo from the U.S. Marine Corps, the USS Portland fires a laser weapon system at a target floating in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday it tested a laser weapon and destroyed a floating target in the Mideast, a system that could be used to counter bomb-laden drone boats deployed by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. (Staff Sgt. Donald Holbert/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)

Navy tests high-energy laser weapon in Gulf of Aden

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday fired a high-energy laser weapon in the Gulf of Aden, military officials said, marking the latest test of a cutting-edge system that could potentially be used to counter deadly drone boats used by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

December 15, 2021
This photo shows a tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Jan. 26, 2018. The state of Hawaii says a laboratory has detected petroleum product in a water sample from an elementary school near Pearl Harbor. The news comes amid heightened concerns that fuel from the massive Navy storage facility may contaminate Oahu's water supply. (U.S. Navy via AP)

Drinking water well at Pearl Harbor contaminated with petroleum, Navy says

A key water well used by military personnel and their families at Pearl Harbor is contaminated with petroleum, Navy officials said late Thursday, sparking what some lawmakers say is a "crisis of astronomical proportions" for tens of thousands of people whose access to clean water is now in question.

December 3, 2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pose for photographers on the occasion of their meeting on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting, in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. (Jonathan Nackstrand/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. threatens ‘serious consequences’ if Russia invades Ukraine

Moscow will face "serious consequences" if it invades Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Russian counterpart point-blank Thursday as tensions rise in Eastern Europe and the Biden administration faces one of its thorniest international tests.

December 2, 2021
In this file photo, Hickam 15th Medical Group hosts the first COVID-19 mass vaccination on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. As of Dec. 1, 2021, while nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel have applied for religious waivers to avoid the COVID-19 vaccine, so far not a single one has been approved, according to publicly available Pentagon data. (U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Anthony Nelson Jr./Department of Defense via AP) **FILE**

Nearly 10,000 service members requested religious waiver for COVID vaccine

Nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel have applied for religious waivers to avoid the COVID-19 vaccine but so far not a single one has been approved, publicly available Pentagon data show, potentially paving the way for thousands of service members to be booted from the force in the coming months.

December 1, 2021
A medical staff member prepares the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Tudor Ranch in Mecca, Calif., on Jan. 21, 2021. In a statement Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, California's public health officer, Dr. Tomas J. Aragon, said that officials are monitoring the Omicron variant. There are no reports to date of the variant in California, the statement said. Aragon said the state was focusing on ensuring its residents have access to vaccines and booster shots. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

5% of Marines unvaccinated against COVID-19 as deadline hits

About 5% of active-duty Marines have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, military officials said late Monday, military officials said late Monday, potentially leaving thousands of service members with an uncertain future following a key Nov. 28 deadline to get the shot.

November 29, 2021
Ohio National Guard's Pfc. Trey Risner, assigned to Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, prepares to operate the Avenger Air Defense System during exercise Forager 21 on July 30, 2021, Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands. The Avenger is a self-propelled surface-to-air missile system which provides mobile, short-range air defense protection for ground units. Exercise Forager 21 exercises our ability to conduct strategic deployment and Joint operational maneuver of forces into and across the Indo-Pacific theater. (Photo by Army Spc. Olivia Lauer) **FILE**

Eyeing China, Pentagon to shift resources, seek access from Pacific allies

The Pentagon will invest heavily in military construction across the Pacific while updating existing facilities in Guam and Australia, officials said Monday, offering the first broad glimpses of the U.S. military's unfolding effort to redirect equipment and personnel to counter the growing threat posed by China.

November 29, 2021
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