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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

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
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' capture Friday of the British oil tanker Stena Impero indicates that Iran is deadly serious about its policy of trying to control all maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. (Associated Press)

Iran eyes ‘toll’ on Strait of Hormuz ships

Iran reiterated Sunday that it will pursue a "toll" on all ships traveling in the Strait of Hormuz -- the latest escalation of a global crisis that threatens the movement of oil through the Middle East and may force a reluctant Britain to impose fresh economic sanctions on Tehran.

July 21, 2019
Sailors stand on deck above a hole the U.S. Navy says was made by a limpet mine on the damaged Panama-flagged, Japanese owned oil tanker Kokuka Courageous, anchored off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, during a trip organized by the Navy for journalists, Wednesday, June 19, 2019. The limpet mines used to attack a Japanese-owned oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz last week bore “a striking resemblance” to similar mines previously seen in Iran, a U.S. Navy explosives expert said Wednesday, stopping short of directly blaming Tehran for the assault. (AP Photo/Fay Abuelgasim) **FILE**

U.S. Navy shoots down Iranian drone in Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. Navy shot down a "threatening" Iranian drone over international waters in the Strait of Hormuz Thursday, President Trump and Pentagon officials said, adding fresh fuel to already simmering tensions between the two nations.

July 18, 2019
In this March 29, 2019, photo, a U.S. F-35A fighter jet prepares to land at Chungju Air Base in Chungju, South Korea. (Kang Jong-min/Newsis via AP) **FILE**

U.S. formally kicks Turkey out of F-35 program

The Trump administration on Wednesday began to formally kick Turkey out of the F-35 fighter jet program, making good on its threat to punish Ankara for moving ahead with the purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile system.

July 17, 2019
President Donald Trump, joined by Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, stands on stage in the rain during an Independence Day celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Thursday, July 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Mark Esper, defense secretary nominee, ready for Senate showdown

Mark Esper will face the brightest spotlight of his career Tuesday as the Senate takes up his nomination to become defense secretary, but experts say the former Raytheon executive may be uniquely qualified to weather the storm as Democrats use his confirmation hearing as a forum to bash President Trump's foreign and national security policies.

July 15, 2019
Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, left, laughs while waiting with Acting President of the U.S. Naval War College Dr. Lewis Duncan, right, prior to the U.S. Naval War College's commencement ceremony, Friday, June 14, 2019, in Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Stew Milne) ** FILE **

Richard Spencer takes over as acting Pentagon chief

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer took over Monday afternoon as acting defense secretary, Pentagon officials said, with the brief leadership change expected to last no more than several weeks.

July 15, 2019