Skip to content
TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement
Author profile
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

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves at the Bank of Estonia in Tallinn, Estonia, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Obama is in Estonia for a one day visit where he will meet with Baltic State leaders before heading to the NATO Summit in Wales. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama vows to ‘degrade and destroy’ Islamic State after Sotloff beheading

A day after the Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of another American, President Obama vowed to destroy the organization, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden pledged to follow the terrorists "to the gates of hell" — but neither man offered a strategy or was willing to say the U.S. is at war.

September 3, 2014
Sacrificed: An image taken from a video released by the SITE Intelligence Group shows American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, 31, just before his execution. (SITE Intelligence Group via Associated Press)

Islamic State beheading of second U.S. journalist accelerates calls for war

Islamist militants on Tuesday released a video purportedly showing the gruesome beheading of a U.S. journalist — the second such execution of an American in less than a month and one that has accelerated bipartisan calls for President Obama to declare war on the terrorist group known as the Islamic State.

September 2, 2014
White House press secretary Josh Earnest gestures during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, where he took questions on ISIS, Iraq, and Syria. He also received congratulations for his newborn baby. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama sends another 350 troops to Iraq

On the same day Islamist militants apparently beheaded an American journalist, President Obama on Tuesday ordered another 350 troops to Iraq as the U.S. continues its fight against the terrorist group known as the Islamic State.

September 2, 2014
In his Labor Day speech, President Obama tried to boost his administration's standing with the labor movement after a series of high-profile clashes. Most recently, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took aim at Mr. Obama's economic team, saying not enough progress has been made on behalf of the working class. (Associated Press)

Obama tries to bolster union support on Labor Day

After riling unions on everything from Obamacare to the Keystone XL oil pipeline to a stagnated economy, a passionate President Obama on Monday sought to rally organized labor and energize the key Democratic constituency ahead of the November congressional elections.

September 1, 2014
** FILE ** President Obama as he speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House in Washington, Aug. 18, 2014. (Associated Press)

Obama uses Labor Day holiday to push for higher minimum wage

Democrats' push to raise the nation's minimum wage has taken a backseat recently to crises in the Middle East and elsewhere, but President Obama on Saturday resumed the effort and accused Republicans of not caring about the standard of living of average Americans.

August 30, 2014
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has aided liberal congressional candidate Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey. (Associated Press)

Tea party rival group propels progressive candidates

With a very real chance of being elected to Congress in November, New Jersey Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman makes no bones about the fact that she's benefited heavily from a well-organized progressive machine that has begun to rival the tea party in its ability to hand-pick candidates and propel them into office.

August 28, 2014
Canada's iconic coffee chain, Tim Hortons, and Miami-based Burger King say they will join forces but will operate as independent brands to form the world's third-largest quick-service restaurant company. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

For Democrats, Burger King now public enemy No. 1

Burger King's $11 billion acquisition of a Canadian coffee-and-doughnuts chain has fired up Senate Democrats and led to calls for a boycott, but the iconic fast-food joint hit back Tuesday as it finalized the deal.

August 26, 2014
Burger King is in talks to buy Tim Hortons in hopes of creating a new, publicly traded company with its headquarters in Canada. The move would help the company avoid America's 40 percent corporate tax rate. (Associated Press)

Burger King may move to Canada

Without naming names, the White House on Monday appeared to condemn Burger King's acquisition of Canadian chain Tim Hortons — a so-called "corporate inversion" by which the Miami-based fast-food giant would relocate its headquarters north of the border to avoid disproportionately high U.S. tax rates.

August 25, 2014

Obama claims victory in Iraq, but holds fast to limits of U.S. mission

Making a brief return to Washington before resuming his two-week vacation, President Obama on Monday declared something of a victory in Iraq, saying U.S. air power in conjunction with Iraqi ground forces had pushed Islamist militants away from the crucial Mosul Dam.

August 18, 2014
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, left, meet with members of the National Security Council, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Also at the meeting, from left are, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, Biden, Obama, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken, and Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco. Obama took a break in the middle of his Martha's Vineyard vacation to return to Washington for meetings with advisers on the U.S. military campaign in Iraq and tensions between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Back from vacation, Obama meets with advisers on Iraq

As U.S. forces continue an airstrike campaign against Islamist militants in Iraq, President Obama on Monday convened his national security team for a meeting on the crisis, though the White House has released no information on exactly what was discussed.

August 18, 2014
Rep. William Lacy Clay, a Democrat whose district includes Ferguson, Missouri, says the federal government needs to provide training with weapons. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Military equipment for local police questioned amid Ferguson violence

Police forces are not only turning to military-style equipment to take on law enforcement tasks, but sometimes aren't even trained properly in how to use the weapons of war, the congressman who represents the St. Louis suburb that has been ensnared in a week of violence said Sunday.

August 17, 2014