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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

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before his New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago property, as first lady Melania Trump listens, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Donald Trump’s Iran, North Korea crises threaten reelection

President Trump has multiple options to deal with the two defining foreign policy crises of his first term as tensions rise with North Korea and Iran, but it's unclear whether he has the will to escalate on either front as his political future hangs in the balance.

January 1, 2020
Marines in Kuwait were dispatched Tuesday to the U.S. Embassy compound in Iraq after a protest led by members of the Iraqi Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah turned violent. (Associated Press)

Pentagon sending more troops to guard U.S. Embassy in Iraq

The Trump administration scrambled to ramp up security at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and tamp down a brewing crisis in the Middle East on Tuesday after an Iran-backed militia launched a brazen attack that briefly breached the walls of the U.S. diplomatic compound in Baghdad.

December 31, 2019
Kenneth Braithwaite, ambassador to Norway, is expected to take the helm of the Navy. (State Department)

Kenneth Braithwaite faces Navy problems as secretary nominee

President Trump's next Navy secretary will be walking onto a command deck with a massive number of headaches, including a lingering Navy SEAL scandal, a string of shootings on bases and a competition with China to define the 21st century.

December 30, 2019
The Iranian-backed militia said Monday that the death toll from U.S. military strikes in Iraq and Syria against its fighters has risen to 25, vowing to exact revenge. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Iraq militias, Iran vow ‘confrontation’ to deadly U.S. airstrikes

A powerful pro-Iran Iraqi militia vowed direct "confrontation" with the U.S. on Monday after weekend airstrikes killed 25 of its members, and the American attacks threaten to send already tense relations between Washington and Tehran spiraling downward in the new year.

December 30, 2019
In this photo provided Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a ruling party meeting, North Korea. North Korea said Sunday Kim has convened a key ruling party meeting to decide on steps to bolster the country’s military capability. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Pentagon leaks commando drill to raid North Korea

The U.S. this week dramatically ramped up surveillance over North Korea ahead of Pyongyang's anticipated "Christmas gift," while the Pentagon sent an unmistakably blunt message by leaking news of a November special-operations drill that practiced taking out top North Korean officials.

December 26, 2019
This photo made available from the Mali Army, shows coffins being honored at a funeral ceremony in Gao, Mali, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. The Mali Defense Ministry held a funeral for the 30 soldiers killed in a Monday attack on an army patrol by extremists near the border with Niger. (Mali Army via AP) ** FILE **

U.S. withdrawal from Africa creates space for terror groups return

While its Middle East "caliphate" has been shattered, the Islamic State has regrouped and quickly gained a significant foothold in Africa's unstable, impoverished Sahel region -- and experts say the U.S. is taking a serious foreign policy gamble by steering clear of major military intervention to address the growing terrorist threat.

December 22, 2019
U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Thomas R. Sterett takes accountability of Marines boarding U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks during Black Hawk integration training as part of exercise Fuji Viper 20-1 on Camp Fuji, Japan, Oct. 28, 2019. Fuji Viper is a regularly scheduled training evolution for infantry units assigned to 3rd Marine Division as part of the unit deployment program. The training allows units to maintain their lethality and proficiency in infantry and combined arms tactics. Sterett is assigned to 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, and a native of Town Falls, Idaho. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Timothy Hernandez)

Marine Corps eyes gender-integrated basic training

The push to eliminate all gender segregation at Marine Corps camps has more momentum than ever, but analysts and military insiders say there remain major real-world, physical roadblocks to coed basic training and serious questions about whether the Marines can or should follow the lead of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

December 15, 2019
In this Jan. 15, 2018, file photo, U.S. Marines stand guard during the change of command ceremony at Task Force Southwest military field in Shorab military camp of Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) ** FILE **

U.S. to pull 4,000 troops from Afghanistan: Report

The Trump administration reportedly will seek to pull as many as 4,000 troops from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, moving ahead with President Trump's desired drawdown despite recent high-profile attacks by Taliban fighters.

December 15, 2019
Protesters stick posters featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping on a pillar during a demonstration in Central, the financial district of Hong Kong, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. China reacted furiously to President Donald Trump's signing of two bills on Hong Kong human rights and said the U.S. will bear the unspecified consequences. A foreign ministry statement Thursday repeated heated condemnations of the laws and said China will counteract. It said all the people of Hong Kong and China oppose the move. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Pentagon’s top Asia official resigns

The Pentagon's top Asia policy official resigned Thursday, officials said, creating a key void inside the Defense Department at a time when the military's prime focus has turned to China and the Pacific region.

December 12, 2019
Crewmen rest their weapons after training with Bradley fighting vehicles at a US military base at undisclosed location in Northeastern Syria, Monday, Nov. 11, 2019. The deployment of the mechanized force comes after US troops withdrew from northeastern Syria, making way for a Turkish offensive that began last month. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Pentagon says full Syria withdrawal many years off

Top Pentagon officials suggested Wednesday that President Trump's goal of a full withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria may still be years away, conceding that "it's hard to foresee anytime soon" that the U.S. and its allies will completely crush the threat posed by the Islamic State.

December 11, 2019
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) declared Tuesday that it was difficult to work with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on anything when the U.S. continues to make allegations of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Mike Pompeo, Sergey Lavrov spar again over Russian meddling

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a face-to-face warning to his Russian counterpart on Tuesday, vowing that the Trump administration "will take action" if Moscow seeks to interfere in the looming 2020 U.S. presidential election.

December 10, 2019
This photo taken from video provided by WEAR-TV shows emergency responders near the Naval Air Base Station in Pensacola, Fla., Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. The US Navy is confirming that an active shooter and one other person are dead after gunfire at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. Area hospital representatives tell The Associated Press that at least 11 people were hospitalized. The base remains locked down amid a huge law enforcement response.  (WEAR-TV via AP)

4 dead, including shooter, in gunfire at Florida naval base

A Saudi Arabian aviation student killed three people and wounded at least seven others at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning, officials said, and the assailant was later shot and killed by sheriff's deputies who responded to the scene.

December 6, 2019
FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2019, file photo, people walk past buildings that were burned during recent protests, in Shahriar, Iran, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. Amnesty International says at least 208 people in Iran have been killed amid protests over sharply rising gasoline prices and a subsequent crackdown by security forces. The country has yet to release any nationwide statistics about the unrest last month. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran ‘murdered’ over 1,000 protesters, U.S. officials say

More than 1,000 Iranian protesters may have been "murdered" in recent weeks by the country's internal security services, top Trump administration officials said Thursday, while the Pentagon skirted questions about plans to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to the region to contain Iran in the region.

December 5, 2019