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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

An Afghan army soldier stands guard as smoke rises from a burning fuel tanker after a road accident on the Jalalabad-Kabul highway, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) ** FILE **

Afghanistan exit creates hurdles for counterterrorism operations

Top Pentagon officials say the U.S. will retain the ability to find and kill terrorist targets, including al Qaeda militants who could resurface if the Taliban gains more power in Afghanistan, but they readily acknowledge that the next-generation counterterrorism strategy is still a work in progress with many life-and-death questions yet to be answered.

April 25, 2021
U.S. Navy F-35 jets fly over Levi's Stadium during the national anthem before an NFL divisional playoff football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ** FILE **

Congress may pull plug on troubled $1.7 trillion F-35 jet program

Lawmakers turned their fire on the Pentagon's troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program Thursday, telling lead contractor Lockheed Martin and other stakeholders that they may pull the financial plug soon on the next-generation fighter jet unless they see dramatic production and performance improvements.

April 22, 2021
A Ukrainian serviceman stands on board a coast guard ship in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. The Ukrainian military has been on increased readiness as part of martial law introduced in the country in the wake of the Nov. 25, 2018, incident in the Sea of Azov, in which the Russian coast guard fired upon and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels along with their crews. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) ** FILE **

U.S. slams Russian military’s partial blockade of Black Sea

U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said Tuesday he is returning home for "consultations" about the rapidly deteriorating bilateral relationship, even as Russia's military ramps up a partial blockade of the strategically vital Black Sea.

April 20, 2021
In this June 5, 2019, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, center left, enter a hall for talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties helping bolster a “strategic partnership” between the two former Communist rivals. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

Joe Biden invites Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin to climate change summit

President Biden will summon dozens of world leaders Thursday and Friday for a virtual climate change summit aimed at securing historic cuts in pollution, but some key stakeholders, chiefly China and Russia, will likely be logging on with their own competing agendas and may try to use the meeting as an opportunity to back the U.S. into a corner.

April 19, 2021

Antony Blinken in Afghanistan to sell Biden troop withdrawal

The Biden administration launched a full-court press Thursday to convince allies and warn adversaries that the U.S. will remain engaged in Afghanistan moving forward, even as the U.S. and its NATO allies begin preparations to last Western troops from the country after two decades of war.

April 15, 2021
President Joe Biden removes his mask to speak from the Treaty Room in the White House on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

Joe Biden orders Afghanistan exit by Sept. 11: ‘Time to end America’s longest war’

Afghanistan is barreling into the unknown after President Biden announced Wednesday that the final 2,500-plus U.S. troops will leave the country by Sept. 11, forcing an already fragile central government in Kabul to soon go toe-to-toe with an emboldened Taliban insurgency that appears eager to exploit a potential power vacuum and to make the American withdrawal as painful as possible.

April 14, 2021
American soldiers wait on the tarmac in Logar province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

Joe Biden to pull all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11

All U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan by this summer's 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, President Biden announced Tuesday, potentially putting American forces at risk of renewed Taliban attacks in the short run while sparking long-term fears that the country may once again become a breeding ground for terrorists.

April 13, 2021
President Barack Obama laughs with Vice President Joe Biden during a ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Obama presented Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ** FILE **

U.S., Iran will hold indirect talks to salvage nuclear deal

The U.S. and Iran said Friday they'll participate in indirect negotiations aimed at resurrecting an Obama-era deal that limited Tehran's nuclear weapons program, marking a major turning point for the Biden administration's diplomatic outreach to the Islamic republic.

April 2, 2021
Stephanie Vazquez doesn’t let her Afghanistan War injury stop her from fishing. She was presented with a car this week by the Freedom Alliance, an organization that helps wounded veterans. (Freedom Alliance)

Stephanie Vazquez, veteran wounded in Afghanistan, worries for women left behind

As part of a female engagement team in Afghanistan, Stephanie Vazquez, the medically retired Army sergeant and mother of two, was given a critical mission: to gather information from Afghan women, who were culturally barred from speaking directly with male soldiers but were routinely used as pawns by the enemy.

April 1, 2021