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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

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, center, is greeted by U.S. military personnel upon arriving in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Esper arrived Sunday in Afghanistan, where stalled peace talks with the Taliban and persistent violent attacks by the insurgent group and Islamic State militants have complicated the Trump administration’s pledge to withdraw more than 5,000 American troops. He told reporters traveling with him that he believes the U.S. can reduce its force in Afghanistan without hurting the counterterrorism fight against al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Lolita C. Balbor)

Mark Esper says Syria troop withdrawal reversal is possible

The Trump administration signaled Monday it may re-thinking its troop withdrawal strategy in Syria, with the president and military officials now saying a small number of U.S. forces may remain in the country to protect oil supplies and keep them from falling into the hands of the Islamic State terror group.

October 21, 2019
In this frame grab from video provided by Hawar News, ANHA, the Kurdish news agency, residents who are angry over the U.S. withdrawal from Syria hurl potatoes at American military vehicles in the town of Qamishli, northern Syria, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday in Afghanistan that U.S. troops will stay in eastern Turkey to protect Kurdish-held oil fields for at least the coming weeks and that he was discussing options to keep them there. (ANHA via AP)

Syrians throw potatoes at withdrawing American troops

Residents of a heavily Kurdish city in northeast Syria threw potatoes at withdrawing American troops on Monday, underscoring the deep anger over President Trump's decision to pull most U.S. forces from the region amid a Turkish military offensive.

October 21, 2019
In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, flames and smoke billow from a big fire in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, caused by bombardment by Turkish forces, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Wednesday on Syrian Kurdish fighters to leave a designated border area in northeast Syria 'as of tonight' for Turkey to stop its military offensive. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkey NATO status complicates response to Erdogan Syria incursion

Its behavior in recent years may have left Turkey a NATO ally "in name only," but some experts say there is virtually no appetite -- and no legal mechanism -- to kick the country out of the 70-year-old alliance even as its military offensive in Syria further divides Ankara from the U.S. and its Western partners.

October 16, 2019
President Donald Trump bows his head down as they say their prayer at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Donald Trump’s Saudi Arabia deployment undercuts bid to end ‘forever wars’

President Trump has stoked his political base by touting the withdrawal of more than 1,000 U.S. troops from Syria as keeping his 2016 campaign promise to end American involvement in foreign "forever wars." The problem is that the Pentagon's near-simultaneous deployment of some 3,000 troops and advanced missiles to Saudi Arabia is likely to trigger an escalation with Iran that could undercut Mr. Trump's determination to get the U.S. military out Middle East entanglements.

October 14, 2019
A resident of Tal Tamr welcomed a Syrian soldier to the northern city Monday. Syria's Kurds said government forces agreed to help them fend off Turkey's invasion — a major shift in alliances after President Trump ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos. (SANA via AP)

Bashar Assad sends Syria troops to aid Kurds against Turkey

Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops returned to northern Syria on Monday to back up Kurdish forces in their increasingly desperate fight with the Turkish military, marking a major geopolitical turning point for the region and sparking a fresh wave of bipartisan criticism over President Trump's decision to pull U.S. forces out of the fight.

October 14, 2019
People standing on a rooftop in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, at the border with Syria, watch as in the background smoke billows from fires caused by Turkish bombardment in Tal Abyad, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. Turkey's official Anadolu news agency says Turkey-backed Syrian forces have advanced into the center of a Syrian border town, Tal Abyad, on the fifth day of the Turkey's military offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Kurds eye Syria, Russia alliance as Turkey military advances

President Trump on Sunday ordered another pullback of U.S. troops inside Syria as a Turkish military invasion gains steam and the geopolitical situation deteriorates, with American-backed Kurdish forces now pursuing an alliance with Moscow and the government of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

October 13, 2019
People watch from Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, as smoke billows from fires on targets in Tel Abyad, Syria, caused by bombardment by Turkish forces, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. The United Nations says at least 130,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in northeastern Syria with many more likely on the move as a Turkish offensive in the area enters its fifth day.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

ISIS prisoners escape Syria detention camp after Turkey invasion

Hundreds of Islamic State supporters attacked guards, stormed the gates and escaped a detention camp in northeast Syria on Sunday, according to Kurdish officials who warned that similar incidents are likely to follow as Turkey forges ahead with its military invasion.

October 13, 2019
In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, smoke billows from targets inside Syria during bombardment by Turkish forces Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Turkey launched a military operation Wednesday against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria after U.S. forces pulled back from the area, with a series of airstrikes hitting a town on Syria's northern border.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkey launches attack in northern Syria

Turkey on Wednesday launched a military offensive into northern Syria with the goal of crushing U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and eliminating a "terror corridor" on its border.

October 9, 2019
A Turkish army officer jumps from his tank moving to its new position on the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. Tensions have risen at the border between Turkey and Syria, on expectation of a Turkish military incursion into Syria. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkey assault on Kurds advancing despite Trump warning

Turkey amassed troops and moved heavy weapons to its border with Syria on Tuesday in apparent preparation for a major assault on U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, with Ankara steamrolling over an international outcry and pledging to eliminate what it calls a "terror corridor" in its backyard.

October 8, 2019
In this Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019, photo, Turkish forces artillery pieces are seen on their new positions near the border with Syria in Sanliurfa province, Turkey. U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces in Syria said American troops began withdrawing Monday from their positions along Turkey's border in northeastern Syria, ahead of an anticipated Turkish invasion that the Kurds say will overturn five years of achievements in the battle against the Islamic State group. (DHA via AP)

Turkey military advances as U.S. withdraws from Syria

World leaders were "preparing for the worst" Monday as Turkey moved quickly toward a sweeping military offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria after President Trump's surprise announcement that he would pull American forces out of a crucial buffer zone along the border between the two nations.

October 7, 2019