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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

In this Feb. 20, 2020, file photo, a member of the U.S. Air Force stands near a Patriot missile battery at the Prince Sultan Air Base in al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. The U.S. military is exploring the possibility using a Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia and an additional two airfields there amid heightened tensions with Iran, the military said Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP, File)

U.S. eyes Saudi bases in ‘contingency’ planning for clash with Iran

The Pentagon is eyeing the possibility of using three sites in Saudi Arabia as key staging areas in the event of war in the Middle East, officials said Tuesday in another sign that the U.S. military expects tensions with Iran to remain high for the foreseeable future.

January 26, 2021
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, speaks during fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in Beijing on Oct 29, 2020. (Ju Peng/Xinhua via AP)

Chinese President Xi Jinping warns U.S. of ‘new Cold War’

The U.S. effort to rally the world against China risks sparking a "new Cold War," Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Monday in his most striking comments to date on the increasingly bitter power struggle unfolding between Washington and Beijing.

January 25, 2021
An MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft. (Image: U.S. Army) ** FILE **

U.S. drone malfunctions, makes emergency landing in Niger

A U.S. military drone malfunctioned and was forced to make an emergency landing in Niger over the weekend, Pentagon officials said after images emerged on social media that seem to show the MQ-1C Gray Eagle sitting in an abandoned field near the city of Agadez.

January 25, 2021
National Guard troops reinforce security around the U.S. Capitol ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

National Guard troops vetted amid insider attack fears

The Pentagon and federal law enforcement are leaving "no stone unturned" as they mount an unprecedented vetting process for the 25,000 National Guard troops charged with securing Washington this week.

January 18, 2021
Photo of the humvee for the California National Guard.

California National Guard humvee stolen

An Army humvee was stolen from a National Guard facility in a Los Angeles suburb late last week, according to the FBI, and authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for its return.

January 18, 2021
The rapid proliferation of drones around the world could mark a turning point in warfare and, given how vulnerable some vehicles are to small-drone attacks, may lead to wholesale changes in how ground-combat campaigns are conducted, military analysts say. (Associated Press photograph)

Drones have outsized impact on future of war

Drone warfare is about to shrink -- and get more dangerous. Azerbaijan's successful use of drones during its recent war with Armenia, specialists say, has captured the attention of military leaders around the world and accelerated a move toward a generation of unmanned aerial vehicles that are smaller, cheaper and easier to operate.

January 12, 2021
Then-U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis talks to the media in presence of Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev following their meeting at the government building in Skopje, Macedonia, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) ** FILE **

Mattis, Esper, ex-Pentagon chiefs: Trump bears blame for Capitol assault

President Trump and other Republicans laid the groundwork for Wednesday's assault on the U.S. Capitol after spreading misinformation to supporters and actively undermining Americans' faith in the electoral process, two of the president's former defense secretaries said late Wednesday.

January 7, 2021
In this undated photo released on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, by Iranian Army, drones are displayed ahead of a drill, Iran. (Iranian Army via AP)

Iran launches massive ‘drone combat wargames’

The Iranian military on Tuesday launched a massive series of "drone combat wargames" and boasted that its new generation of aircraft -- including ominous "suicide drones" -- will give Tehran a battlefield edge over its enemies.

January 5, 2021
In this Sept. 7, 2020, file photo released by the U.S. Navy, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz transits the Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Elliot Schaudt/U.S. Navy via AP) ** FILE **

USS Nimitz to stay in Middle East amid threats from Iran

A defiant Iran picked fights around the world Monday, flouting its promises under an international nuclear deal, seizing a South Korean oil tanker for dubious reasons, and announcing a major military drone exercise likely to further inflame tensions with the U.S. during President Trump's final days in office.

January 4, 2021
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, and former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, sit together on stage during the commissioning ceremony of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., Saturday, July, 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Dick Cheney, other Pentagon ex-chiefs say time over for questioning election

Questions about the 2020 presidential election have been litigated in court and it is time for Congress and the entire nation to accept President-elect Joseph R. Biden's victory, 10 former defense secretaries wrote in an op-ed Sunday that warned against any attempts to involve the Pentagon in electoral disputes.

January 3, 2021
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that more than 5,000 sailors and Marines with the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group are headed home after a 10-month deployment. They had been in Somalia. (Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ruano/Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa via AP)

Trump efforts to end ‘forever wars’ fall short

Most of the troops in question, critics contend, are not coming home but are simply being moved to other locations, often in the same dangerous corners of the world and sometimes with the same mission.

December 31, 2020