Skip to content
TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement
Author profile
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

In this June 1, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Episcopal Church, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. Walking behind Trump from left are, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley says his presence “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.” He called it “a mistake” that he has learned from. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Mark Esper fired as defense secretary

President Trump unceremoniously fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper via Twitter on Thursday, sparking yet another round of upheaval at the Pentagon and injecting even more drama into an already tense, uncertain post-election period for the administration and the military.

November 9, 2020
A man wearing a face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus reads the headlines about the U.S. presidential elections at a newspapers stand in Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. The world is watching as millions of Americans cast their ballots for the next president on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Trump-Biden election cliffhanger robs global mandate from victor

In a testament to America's staying power as the leading global superpower, the fight for the White House contest is being greeted with interest and enthusiasm befitting a heavyweight "pay-per-view" fight -- with world leaders and citizens alike gobbling up each new twist.

November 4, 2020
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, leads other Chinese leaders attending the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, China on Oct. 29, 2020. China's leaders are vowing to make their country a self-reliant "technology power" after a meeting to draft a development blueprint for the state-dominated economy over the next five years. (Wang Ye/Xinhua via AP)

Presidential election winner faces complex geopolitical puzzle

North Korea and its nuclear ambitions were the greatest threat to world stability and must be atop the new commander in chief's priority list, President Trump recalls being told during a closed-door White House transition meeting with then-President Barack Obama in late 2016.

November 2, 2020
Afghan police arrive at the site of an attack at Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020. Gunfire erupted at the university in the Afghan capital early Monday and police have surrounded the sprawling campus, authorities said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Gunmen kill 19 at Kabul University, Taliban denies involvement

Islamic State gunmen launched a brazen attack on Kabul University on Monday, killing at least 22 students and wounding more than 20 others in what Afghan government officials described as a "despicable act of terror" at a time when the Trump administration is hoping to cut a peace deal that will end the U.S. combat mission there.

November 2, 2020
Supporters of President Donald Trump applaud as he speaks at a campaign rally at Phoenix Goodyear Airport Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, in Goodyear, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

NORAD intercepts plane over Trump Arizona rally

A U.S. fighter jet intercepted a civilian aircraft that entered restricted airspace during President Trump's campaign rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Wednesday, according to Pentagon officials.

October 28, 2020
The 5,000-pound GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle was uniquely engineered to fulfill military requirements and designed to provide rapid ground mobility. The expeditionary ISV is light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and compact enough to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter for air transportability. (Caption and image courtesy of GM Defense)

General Motors returns to battlefield with new Army infantry vehicle

GM Defense, a subsidiary of General Motors, this week delivered its first Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) to the U.S. Army, marking a major milestone for the company in its revived partnership with the Pentagon. It's the first major vehicle delivery since GM Defense was reestablished in 2017, the company said.

October 28, 2020
A U.S. Marine assigned to Special Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command, operates a Battelle Drone Defender V2 during counter unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) training at the Baghdad Embassy Compound in Iraq, Oct. 9, 2020. The C-UAS training focused on the fundamentals of detecting and deterring threats posed by UAS operations. The SPMAGTF-CR-CC is a crisis response force, prepared to deploy a variety of capabilities across the region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Artur Shvartsberg)

Drones arms race under way as rivals deploy cheap UAVs

As "unmanned aerial vehicles" become exponentially faster, cheaper, more deadly and more widespread around the globe, U.S. military planners are racing to develop a viable defense for suddenly vulnerable troops, tanks and ships.

October 27, 2020
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Preble (DDG 88), USS Halsey (DDG 97) and USS Sampson (DDG 102) are underway behind the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Theodore Roosevelt and its carrier strike group are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of maritime security operations to reassure allies and partners and preserve the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Michael A. Colemanberry/Released) 180324-N-NK192-1337 Join the conversation: http://www.navy.mil/viewGallery.asp http://www.facebook.com/USNavy http://www.twitter.com/USNavy http://navylive.dodlive.mil http://pinterest.com

Navy destroyers to be equipped with hypersonic weapons, White House says

More than 60 U.S. Navy destroyers eventually will be outfitted with hypersonic weapons, White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said Wednesday as he laid out a massive logistical undertaking but one that the Pentagon believes is necessary for 21st-century warfare.

October 21, 2020
FILE - In this July 19, 2020, file photo, Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaks during a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Fouad Hussein during his visit to Baghdad, Iraq. China says Iran's foreign minister will visit the country from Friday, Oct. 9, 2020 to Saturday, a day after the Trump administration blacklisted virtually all of Iran’s financial sector in the latest step aimed at the oil-rich country’s economy. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

U.N. arms embargo on Iran expires

An international arms embargo on Iran expired Sunday, marking a defeat for the Trump administration and opening the door for Tehran to potentially buy foreign weapons.

October 18, 2020
An M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires its 120 mm smoothbore cannon during a live-fire event as part of Exercise Eager Lion 2015 in Jordan, May 9, 2015. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Devin Nichols/Released)

Tanks future on battlefields in doubt due to drones, rockets

Specialists argue that the changing nature of war could limit tanks' effectiveness and mean a major demotion in how they are fielded in the face of more effective rocket fire, advanced radar systems that make it easier to spot and target the vehicles, and the proliferation of small, deadly drones that can rain destruction on armored columns.

October 14, 2020
In this Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 photo released by the U.S. Air Force, a formation of U.S. Navy F-18E Super Hornets leaves after receiving fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over northern Iraq as part of U.S. led coalition airstrikes on the Islamic State group and other targets in Syria. U.S.-led airstrikes targeted Syrian oil installations held by the militant Islamic State group overnight and early Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, killing nearly 20 people as the militants released dozens of detainees in their de facto capital, fearing further raids, activists said. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel)

U.S. forces conduct ‘targeted strikes’ to slow Taliban advance

U.S. forces over the past two days have conducted "targeted strikes" to slow a Taliban advance on Afghanistan's Helmand Province, Pentagon officials said Monday in the latest sign that violence continues despite a peace deal struck earlier this year.

October 12, 2020