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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

A pair of F-15C Eagles from the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, in Japan, take off from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, June 23, 2015, while participating in Northern Edge, a joint training exercise. (Bill Roth/Alaska Dispatch News via AP) ** FILE **

U.S. Air Force plane crashes into North Sea

Searchers have discovered the body of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who went down early Monday in the North Sea. The pilot was discovered after the wreckage of the F-15C Eagle was located.

June 15, 2020
This Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006 file photo shows members of Alpha Company of the 244th Quartermasters battalion march to the physical fitness track at the Ft. Lee Army base in Ft. Lee, Va. As much as President Donald Trump enjoys talking about winning and winners, the Confederate generals he vows will not have their names removed from U.S. military bases were not only on the losing side of rebellion against the United States, some weren't even considered good generals. Or even good men. The 10 generals include some who made costly battlefield blunders; others mistreated captured Union soldiers, some were slaveholders, and one was linked to the Ku Klux Klan after the war. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Military racism review sets up clash with Donald Trump

The U.S. military may have avoided full-scale deployments to American cities, but the recent death of George Floyd has sparked a much deeper debate about race, discrimination and inequality within the ranks and has forced the Pentagon to face head-on its own checkered past.

June 14, 2020
Cindy McCain, wife of late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with Secretary of Defense James Mattis, left, and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, depart after laying a ceremonial wreath honoring all whose lives were lost during the Vietnam War at at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. (Mary F. Calvert/Pool photo via AP)

James Mattis, John Kelly attacks on Trump drag military into partisan politics

In an extraordinary break with tradition, a slew of recently servicing senior brass -- capped by retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, Mr. Trump's ill-starred first secretary of defense -- have gone public with their criticisms of the commander in chief and their concerns he is dragging the military into partisan waters.

June 4, 2020
Then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis urged North Korea to "stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons," warning that continued efforts by Pyongyang would force a U.S. response "that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

James Mattis shreds Donald Trump: ‘Three years without mature leadership’

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis -- a member of a group President Trump once described as "my generals" -- eviscerated the commander in chief Wednesday, saying the U.S. has suffered through "three years without mature leadership" and is dealing with a president who actively tries to divide the American people.

June 3, 2020
Defense Secretary Mark Esper, left, listens as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, right, speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Monday, March 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Active-duty troops on ‘short alert status’ outside Washington, Pentagon says

Active-duty U.S. troops are on "short alert status" at bases outside the District of Columbia, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, but so far forces have not mobilized in any other region of the country following President Trump's threat to use the full weight of the American military to quell riots and violent protests.

June 2, 2020
People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest in Trafalgar Square in London Sunday, May 31, 2020, to protest against the recent killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, USA, that has led to protests in many countries and across the US. A US police officer has been charged with the death of George Floyd. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)

Britain, Germany hit U.S. over George Floyd riots

The Trump administration's struggles to get control of violent nationwide protests has sparked comment and criticism from even some of America's staunchest allies, potentially driving a wedge between the U.S. and its partners as demonstrations spread around the globe and the U.S. seems paralyzed by an onset of crises.

June 1, 2020
This Dec. 22, 2018, file photo shows a pump jack over an oil well along Interstate 25 near Dacono, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Oil price crash alters priorities, greases skids to new world order

The sustained plunge in global oil prices has brought deep, unexpected shifts on the geopolitical landscape, with impacts felt in the Arctic and the Middle East, and in the fortunes of the American heartland and the future of the Russian-Chinese strategic alliance.

May 28, 2020
In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on Sunday, March 11, 2018, a MiG-31 fighter jet of the Russian air force carrying the new Kinzhal hypersonic missile takes off from an air base in southern Russia. The Russian military says it has run a successful test of the Kinzhal missile, that President Vladimir Putin sited among several other new nuclear weapons that would bolster the nation's military capability. (AP Photo/ Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, File)

Russia deploys fighter jets to Libya, U.S. military says

Moscow recently sent fighter aircraft to Libya to reinforce their paramilitary forces battling against the U.S.-backed government in Tripoli, the Pentagon said Tuesday in the latest sign that Russia is doubling down on its involvement in the Libyan civil war.

May 26, 2020
The sun rises over Tripoli, Libya, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Tide of battle in Libya shifting against rebel Gen. Khalifa Haftar

Libyan government forces and their Turkish allies appear on the verge of an unexpected victory after the strategic retreat of Russian fighters over the weekend, and U.S. officials on Monday offered strong support for the government in Tripoli in its stand against Gen. Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army.

May 25, 2020
A visitor sits at a gravesite at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. National cemeteries are open and will continue to provide interments for veterans and eligible individuals, but due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak committal services and the rendering of military funeral honors have been discontinued until further notice. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) ** FILE **

Top lawmakers tell VA to remove German POW headstones with swastikas

Top House Democrats and Republicans demanded Monday that the Department of Veterans Affairs remove three headstones over German prisoner-of-war graves that bear swastika insignias and words praising Adolf Hitler, calling it "callous" to leave them in place.

May 25, 2020
A health care specialist from C Company, 407th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and a combat medical technician from the British 16 Air Assault Brigade, load a British Paratrooper with simulated injuries onto a litter during Combined Joint Operational Access Exercise 15-01 on Fort Bragg, N.C., April 18, 2015. Throughout CJOAX 15-01, medical teams from both forces trained on how to seamlessly integrate their respective life saving capabilities into a multinational force. CJOAX 15-01 is the largest bilateral exercise held on Fort Bragg in almost 20 years. (Photo by Sgt. Flor Gonzalez, 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Veterans military expertise ignored in civilian job hunt

Millions of U.S. military veterans who have risked their lives while serving their country and often bear the scars of battle confront a frustrating web of red tape as they begin their journey back into civilian life and try to use the job skills they've perfected in war zones.

May 24, 2020