Author profile

Follow author updates

Ben Wolfgang

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

Obama faces growing pressure for more U.S. military force against Islamic State

Lawmakers from both parties are increasingly questioning the Obama administration's strategy for dealing with a powerful Islamist terrorist group in the Middle East, saying the U.S. should expand its approach, which might include combat troops on the ground in Iraq and airstrikes in Syria.

August 17, 2014

U.S. in greater danger than before 9/11, Rep. Mike Rogers says

The rise of the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations across the globe has put the U.S. in even greater danger than it was in before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a top Republican lawmaker said Sunday.

August 17, 2014

Missouri Gov. Nixon: I was ‘thunderstruck’ by military-like response in Ferguson

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said Sunday he was "thunderstruck" to see tanks and police in riot gear in the streets of Fergsuon after the Aug. 9 shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, which has sparked racial tensions and led to chaos and looting in the St. Louis suburb.

August 17, 2014

Lawmakers call for ‘coalition of the willing’ in Iraq

Lawmakers from both parties said Sunday it may be time to form a "coalition of the willing" to counter a burgeoning army of Islamist extremists who continue to make key gains in Iraq and Syria.

August 17, 2014

Perry: Indictment latest example of ‘a government that’s out of control’

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Sunday that his indictment on abuse of power and coercion charges is just the latest example of "out of control" government at all levels, comparing the case with the Obama administration's failure to secure the U.S. border and the IRS' targeting of conservative groups.

August 17, 2014

Republicans blast Harry Reid’s ‘irresponsible’ Senate

President Obama frequently paints the Republican-controlled House as the reason little gets done in Washington, but the GOP on Saturday countered that all of the blame rests with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

August 16, 2014

Obama pushes Elizabeth Warren’s student loan reform bill

President Obama on Saturday challenged the nation's students to excel in class this fall while also pushing Congress to back a bill that would allow college graduates to refinance their student loans.

August 16, 2014

Obama to travel to Estonia ahead of NATO meeting next month

President Obama next month will visit Estonia and meet with Baltic leaders to "reaffirm" the U.S. commitment to security in the region, White House officials said Friday.

August 15, 2014

Hillary Clinton alienates liberals with harsh critique of Obama foreign policy

Hillary Rodham Clinton hugged out her differences with President Obama on Wednesday night, but she may need to save some of that affection for disenchanted liberals who fear the Democratic party's 2016 front-runner is acting more like a thinly veiled neoconservative.

August 14, 2014

Fellow Democrats keep their distance from Obama - lonely fundraiser in chief

President Obama has run into the embarrassing situation that also bedeviled his predecessor: vulnerable members of his own party are keeping their distance.

August 13, 2014

Obama’s doctrine: Inaction on Syria led to Iraq crisis

President Obama is deepening U.S. engagement in Iraq under the shadow of Syria, where he resisted similar calls to intervene — inaction that analysts and even his former top diplomat say may have sown the seeds of the Iraqi conflict.

August 12, 2014

Obama adjusts Iraq narrative, now blames George W. Bush for troop withdrawal

The president who spent years touting the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq suddenly has had to distance himself from that action.

August 11, 2014

Obama ‘determined’ to avoid prolonged military action in Iraq

Hours after U.S. fighter jets targeted Islamist terrorists in Iraq, the White House stressed Friday that President Obama by no means will allow the U.S. to fall back into all-out war.

August 8, 2014

Obama authorizes airstrikes in Iraq against Islamic State

President Obama authorized airstrikes against Islamist terrorists in Iraq and approved a humanitarian mission to deliver food and other supplies to tens of thousands of Iraqis trapped on mountaintops, moves that represent the most significant re-engagement in Iraq since formal combat operations ended three years ago.

August 7, 2014