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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

This photo released by TNT shows actor Adam Baldwin, second right, from the new TNT series "The Last Ship," standing on deck with U.S. Marine and Navy personnel from the USS Oak Hill as it arrives in New York for Fleet Week on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. On Tuesday, Baldwin hosted a special screening aboard the dock landing ship. The series, also starring Eric Dane and Rhona Mitra, premieres on Sunday, June 22, at 9 p.m. ET (AP Photo/TNT, E. M. Pio Roda)

More troops say they’ll vote for Biden than Trump: poll

More active-duty U.S. troops say they'll vote for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden than President Trump in the November election, a new poll shows, continuing a steady decline in the commander in chief's favorability ratings among service members.

August 31, 2020
U.S. forces have been patrolling Syrian oil fields, but critics question how a continued presence there benefits national security, particularly when tensions between Washington and Moscow are escalating rapidly. (Associated Press/File)

Clash with Russians in Syria renews debate on U.S. mission

U.S. troops' confrontation with Russian forces in Syria last week has raised fresh questions about the role of U.S. forces in Syria, exactly what the administration hopes to achieve, and what metrics U.S. commanders will use to finally declare victory and follow through on the president's repeatedly expressed determination to bring all American troops home.

August 30, 2020
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 28, 2019 file photo, U.S. forces patrol Syrian oil fields, in eastern Syria.President Donald Trump's decision to dispatch new U.S. forces to eastern Syria to secure oil fields is being criticized by some experts as ill-defined and ambiguous. But the residents of the area, one of the country's most remote and richest regions, hope the U.S. focus on eastern Syria would bring an economic boon and eliminate what remains of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

U.S., Russia trade blame for military vehicle collision in Syria

Washington and Moscow traded blame Thursday for a military vehicle collision in Syria earlier this week that left four American service members injured and offered another reminder of the dangers facing U.S. forces operating inside the war-torn country.

August 27, 2020
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (foreground), a "medium" icebreaker, and the Polar Star (background), a "heavy" plow, are the only two American military vessels sailing the Arctic. Russia has deployed nearly 40 icebreakers in the increasingly busy and contested region. (Associated Press)

Fire cripples one of U.S. Coast Guard’s two icebreakers

One of the U.S. Coast Guard's two functional icebreakers is out of action after an electrical fire last week, officials said in a statement Tuesday, further limiting America's capability to operate in the Arctic.

August 26, 2020
A U.S. Air Force U-2s spy plane prepares to land at the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 4, 2017. Hundreds of aircrafts including two dozen stealth jets began training Monday as the United States and South Korea launched their biggest-ever combined air force exercise. (AP Photo/Ahnn Young-joon)

China claims U.S. spy plane entered no-fly zone

A U.S. spy plane crossed into a no-fly zone in the Pacific on Tuesday and disrupted People's Liberation Army drills, Chinese officials said in sharp accusations that mark yet another escalation of tensions between the two global powers.

August 25, 2020

Iranian dissidents rally for regime change in Tehran

Iran's theocracy is at the weakest point of its four-decade history and facing unprecedented challenges from a courageous citizenry hungry for freedom, Iranian dissidents and prominent U.S. and European politicians said Friday at a major international rally calling for the downfall of the dictatorship in Tehran.

August 13, 2020
President Donald Trump listens during an event called "Kids First: Getting America's Children Safely Back to School" in the State Dining room of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Donald Trump announces peace deal between Israel, UAE

Israel and the United Arab Emirates struck a landmark deal Thursday to establish formal diplomatic ties and dramatically deepen mutual economic cooperation, issuing a surprise joint announcement with President Trump that could reshape the power structure of the Middle East and further isolate America's chief foe in the region, Iran.

August 13, 2020
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command, left, walks to a House Armed Services hearing, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 10, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) ** FILE **

U.S. general warns of long-term ISIS resurgence

The Pentagon's top officer for the Middle East warned Wednesday that the U.S. will face "huge problems" from a resurgent Islamic State over the coming decade unless Washington develops a sweeping initiative to deradicalize young men and women in several Middle East hot spots.

August 12, 2020
President Donald Trump salutes as he steps off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, July 26, 2018, in Washington. Trump is returning from a trip to Iowa and Illinois. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump foreign policy moves at stake in election

President Trump wants to dramatically reshuffle U.S. forces in Europe to chastise Germany for not spending enough on defense, but that and a range of other foreign policy pushes by the president are likely to fall by the wayside if presumptive Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden wins the White House in November.

August 10, 2020
The Universal Peace Federation hosted a worldwide virtual 'Rally of Hope.' (screenshot)

Universal Peace Federation hosts worldwide virtual ‘Rally of Hope’

Global health crises, economic turmoil and racial divisions threaten to bring out the very worst in humanity, but those challenges must be met by love and respect for the unifying principles that bind all nations together, faith leaders and top political figures said Saturday evening at a major international rally.

August 8, 2020
Residents of Beirut vented their fury at Lebanese leaders Thursday as they crowded around French President Emmanuel Macron, who promised to pressure the politicians for reform while assessing damage from the powerful explosion at the city's port on Tuesday. Story A7. (Associated Press)

Beirut explosion puts Lebanon close to ‘failed state’

Some of Lebanon's own leaders believed the country was of the verge of becoming a "failed state" even before this week's horrific Beirut blast, and foreign policy analysts now fear that the carnage — and the apparent failures of government that contributed to it — could fully unravel the country and fuel further chaos across the region.

August 6, 2020
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pauses while speaking during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)

Planned Taiwan visit escalates tensions between U.S., China

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar is gearing up for a trip to Taiwan that will mark the highest-level visit to the island by a U.S. official since 1979 -- and in the process add fuel to already white-hot tensions between Washington and Beijing.

August 5, 2020
U.S. and Chinese national flags are hung outside a hotel during the U.S. presidential election event, organized by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) **FILE**

‘Hotline’ between U.S., China feared as strategic attack tool

There are growing fears among foreign policy specialists that any new crisis communication systems with China -- updated, tactical-level versions of the cliched "red phone" between Washington and Moscow at the height of the Cold War -- could themselves become strategic tools of attack or deception.

August 4, 2020
This Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter conducts an approach on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, 40 miles off San Diego, Calif. The Navy has completed the first two landings of F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, a milestone for the new plane. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Andy Wolfe)

How the F-35 is driving a wedge between the U.S. and a key NATO ally

It was supposed to be an object lesson in bringing a recalcitrant ally back into line, but kicking Turkey out of the Pentagon's $1.6 trillion F-35 program has proved much more difficult than expected, raising questions about whether Washington made a threat it wasn't fully ready to back up.

August 2, 2020
The Blue Angels this week received their first F/A-18 Super Hornet. (Screen grab from Blue Angels Facebook page)

Navy Blue Angels get first Super Hornet plane

The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron -- better known as the Blue Angels -- this week received their first F/A-18 Super Hornet, a cutting-edge plane that will replace the older aircraft used for the past three decades.

July 30, 2020