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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 handout photo taken from the Twitter account of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, shows French President Emmanuel Macron, right, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, second right, meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left in white shirt, Sunday, Aug.25, 2019 in Biarritz, southwestern France. Zarif paid an unannounced visit Sunday to the G-7 summit and headed straight to the buildings where leaders of the world's major democracies have been debating how to handle the country's nuclear ambitions. (Twitter account of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif via AP)

Javad Zarif G-7 appearance shows U.S., European divisions on Iranian nuclear ambitions

Top Iranian officials made an unexpected visit Sunday to the Group of Seven summit at the apparent invitation of France, a brazen end run around Washington that underscores the deep divide between the U.S. and its key European allies over how to deal with Tehran's nuclear ambitions, its destabilization of the Middle East and its recent attempted attacks on Israel.

August 25, 2019
This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Aug. 8, 2019, shows Iranian-made smart bombs during an unveiling ceremony, Iran. The semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Iranian Gen. Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019, as denying claims by the Israeli military that it thwarted an imminent Iranian drone attack on Israel, calling that a "lie." (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

Israel thwarts Iranian ‘killer drone’ attack

Israel said Sunday it thwarted a major attack by Iranian "killer drones" operating from an air base in Syria, and officials warned Tehran that its forces are not safe anywhere in the region.

August 25, 2019
A Houthi rebel fighter fires in the air during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters for the their movement, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of Sanaa by the Houthis, who drove out the internationally-recognized government. Months later, in March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched its air campaign to prevent the rebels from overrunning the country's south. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) **FILE**

U.S. drone shot down in Yemen: Report

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed Wednesday to have shot down a U.S. drone in Yemen earlier this week in what would be the third downing of an American aircraft at the hands of Tehran and its Middle East allies in less than three months.

August 21, 2019
In this April 12, 2018, photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks after reviewing the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) navy fleet in the South China Sea. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP) **FILE**

China could crush U.S. military in Pacific: Report

The era of U.S. dominance in the Pacific is over, a study claims, with China now capable of launching devastating military attacks that could crush American forces in the region in a matter of hours.

August 20, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chief of General Staff of Russia Valery Gerasimov oversaw the test launch of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle from the Defense Ministry's control room in Moscow on Dec. 26. Mr. Putin boasted that the successful test was an "excellent New Year's gift to the nation." (Associated Press/File)

U.S. hypersonic weapons gap seen years ago

The end of American dominance in the class of hypersonic weaponry can be traced back to a steady decline in research and experimentation that began more than a decade ago, scholars and military insiders say, and the U.S. is only now beginning to fully reinvest in the cutting-edge work necessary to keep pace with its highly motivated, well-financed adversaries.

August 11, 2019
"Visions of a massed naval armada nine nautical miles off-shore in the South China Sea preparing to launch the landing force are impractical and unreasonable," Gen. David H. Berger said in his guidance to the Marine Corps after taking the helm last month. (Associated Press/File)

David Berger, Marine commandant, envisions changes

The new commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps is demanding sweeping changes in how the elite military branch conducts operations, warning that the decades-old approach of Marines being "passive passengers" dropped on shore by large amphibious ships has become "impractical and unreasonable" in the 21st century.

July 29, 2019
People watch a TV showing North Korea's missile launch in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday. North Korea fired two projectiles, South Korea's military said, the first launches in over two months as North Korean and U.S. officials struggle to restart diplomacy. (Associated Press)

North Korea seen seeking leverage with new missile tests

North Korea carried out a fresh round of short-range ballistic missile tests Thursday in what analysts called a pressure tactic from Pyongyang as it seeks to bully the Trump administration back to the negotiating table.

July 25, 2019
111208-N-OX319-045 FORT PICKETT, Va. (Dec. 8, 2011) U.S. Navy SEALs exit a C-130 Hercules aircraft during a training exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Anthony Harding/Released)

Navy SEAL team sent home from Iraq

A Navy SEAL team is being sent home from Iraq following a "perceived deterioration of good order and discipline," military officials said, with an alcohol-fueled July 4 party reportedly leading to the early redeployment.

July 25, 2019
In this June 8, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. If Donald Trump is serious about his public courtship of Vladimir Putin, he may want to take pointers from one of the Russian leader's longtime suitors: Chinese President Xi Jinping. In this political love triangle, Putin and Xi are tied by strategic need and a rare dose of personal affection, while Trump's effusive display in Helsinki showed him as an earnest admirer of the man leading a country long considered America's adversary. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

South Korea confrontation highlights Russia-China alliance, growing threat to U.S.

South Korea's military fired hundreds of warning shots to ward off Russian warplanes that Seoul says violated the country's airspace Monday night, but the unprecedented confrontation highlights a much more serious geopolitical challenge for the U.S. as Moscow and Beijing deepen their game-changing military alliance.

July 23, 2019