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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 Barack Obama talks about National Security Agency (NSA)surveillance, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, at the Justice Department in Washington.Seeking to calm a furor over U.S. surveillance, the president called for ending the government's control of phone data from -hundreds of millions of Americans and immediately ordered intelligence agencies to get a secretive court's permission before accessing the records. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Early reviews slam Obama’s surveillance overhaul

President Obama's proposed changes to U.S. snooping and data-collection fell far short of what privacy advocates hoped for, and early reviews of the White House's revamped approach have been scathing.

January 17, 2014
FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks during an end-of-the year news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington. Capping a monthslong review, Obama is expected to back modest changes to the government’s surveillance network at home and abroad while largely leaving the framework of the controversial programs in place, including the bulk collection of phone records from millions of Americans. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Obama to continue modified NSA meta-data gathering program

President Obama on Friday will announce some changes to how data gathered by the National Security Agency is stored but will allow the collection of that information to continue, according to multiple media reports.

January 17, 2014
President Obama will announce changes to U.S. spying, surveillance and data-collection efforts in a speech at the Justice Department on Friday. Privacy advocates have low expectations from the president on whose watch U.S. surveillance has expanded. The speech is in response to a White House panel's recommendations. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Little change expected in U.S. surveillance policy

If the skeptics are correct, President Obama is about to embrace and endorse many of the controversial national-security tools and tactics introduced by his predecessor, despite railing against those policies while campaigning for the Oval Office in 2008.

January 16, 2014
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION President Barack Obama leans over to kiss first lady Michelle Obama after she introduced him after speaking about college education at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014. The event which is to promote opportunities for students to attend and finish college and university, was attended by college and university presidents and leaders from nonprofits, foundations, governments and businesses. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama collects college commitments on tuition costs

As part of a larger plan to work around a recalcitrant Congress, President Obama went after rising college tuition costs by charging an “admission” fee to the more than 100 university leaders who attended Thursday’s summit on the issue at the White House.

January 16, 2014
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden "would love" to return to the U.S. "if the conditions were right," his top legal adviser Jesselyn Radack said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS photographs)

Obama faces ‘day of action’ to protest NSA reforms

With exceedingly low expectations for President Obama's long-awaited reforms to U.S. surveillance programs, critics now are planning a 'day of action' to voice their displeasure and disappointment with the White House and the National Security Agency.

January 16, 2014
Maria Contreras-Sweet, founder and board chairman of a Latino-owned community bank in Los Angeles, accompanied by President Barack Obama, waves as they enter the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, where the president announced he would nominate Contreras-Sweet to head the Small Business Administration (SBA) . (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Obama announces new head of Small Business Administration

President Obama on Wednesday named his choice to lead the Small Business Administration and established an electronics technology hub in North Carolina, but those and other steps won’t bridge the gaps that still exist between his administration and the broader business community.

January 15, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks about the economy, jobs, and manufacturing, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obama launches research hub in North Carolina

Following up on his pledge to make 2014 a year of executive action on the economy and other issues, President Obama on Wednesday designated Raleigh, N.C., as the new hotspot in electronics research.

January 15, 2014
John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, speaks with editors and reporters of The Washington Times in December. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times) ** FILE **

Roundtable to Obama: ‘Start a business’ to aid economy

President Obama has vowed to take a variety of unilateral actions in his second term to boost the economy, but one of the leading voices in the American business community said Wednesday that the president, if he truly wants to help jump-start the economy, should start his own business.

January 15, 2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Obama praises Spain and its fiscal gain

With the U.S. still struggling to fully rebound from the Great Recession, President Obama on Monday lauded Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for the progress he's made in stabilizing his country's economy and shepherding Spain to back-to-back quarters of fiscal growth.

January 13, 2014
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, left, shakes hands with President Barack Obama after their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Obama dodges questions on Gates’ book

President Obama on Monday wouldn't wade into the firestorm created by Robert Gates' book and instead lauded the former defense secretary's service.

January 13, 2014
**FILE** White House press secretary Jay Carney listens to a question during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014, where he discussed topics including former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' book and press access at the White House. (Associated Press)

White House pushes back against Gates allegations

The Obama administration pushed back Monday against former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' allegations that the president lacks "passion" when it comes to most military matters.

January 13, 2014
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden delivers a speech next to the coffin of late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon outside the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Joe Biden praises the late Ariel Sharon at memorial service in Israel

President Obama may have come off as lukewarm in his praise for the late Ariel Sharon, but Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Monday praised the late Israeli prime minister in a 17-minute eulogy that included quotations from Shakespeare, the Book of Genesis and Irish novelist James Joyce.

January 13, 2014