Skip to content
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

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gives the keynote address at The Sanders Institute Gathering in Burlington, Vt., Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. Reasserting himself as a leading voice in Democratic politics, Sanders on Thursday called on the political party to work harder to convince people of all races, regions and income levels that liberal policies will help them. (April McCullum/The Burlington Free Press via AP)

Senate bucks Trump, passes measure pulling U.S. support from Yemen war

The Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday rebuked Saudi Arabia and dealt an embarrassing blow to President Trump, brushing off appeals from the administration and voting with a strong bipartisan majority to withdraw all U.S. support from Riyadh's ongoing war in Yemen.

December 13, 2018
Tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels hold up their weapons as they attend a gathering to show their support for the ongoing peace talks being held in Sweden, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

U.N. brokers partial ceasefire in Yemen’s civil war

Just hours before a key Senate vote that would essentially end any American involvement in the conflict, United Nations officials say they've brokered a ceasefire between the two factions in Yemen's civil war.

December 13, 2018
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined at left by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., speaks after a strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. Under pressure from President Donald Trump and many of his Republican colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he will bring legislation to the floor to overhaul the nation's sentencing laws. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate set to vote on competing Saudi Arabia measures; McConnell urges restraint

The Republican-controlled Senate is on the verge of handing President Trump a symbolic but pointed rebuke on foreign policy, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers poised to buck the White House and approve a resolution demanding an end to any further U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen.

December 12, 2018
Then-U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis talks to the media in presence of Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev following their meeting at the government building in Skopje, Macedonia, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) ** FILE **

James Mattis last Donald Trump general standing

He's the last man standing among the band of retired military officers President Trump once called "my generals," but Defense Secretary James N. Mattis just scored arguably the biggest win of his tenure, staving off a steep budget cut and highlighting the political muscle he still wields inside the administration.

December 10, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he delivers his speech at the United Russia party congress in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russia overtakes U.K., is now No. 2 in global arms industry

While the U.S. remains the world's clear leader, Russia is making major strides in arms sales and last year passed the U.K. to become the world's second-largest weapons producer, according to a comprehensive new study examining top international arms companies.

December 10, 2018
off to war: George H.W. Bush was the youngest torpedo-bomber pilot in the Navy, earning his wings at 18. (White House archives)

George H.W. Bush made history for decades

He served in World War II as the nation's youngest Navy combat pilot, surviving a fiery crash over Chichijima in 1944 and earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

December 2, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Putin and Trump "said hi to each other," according to the Russian leader's spokesman — but didn't shake hands or otherwise interchange, even during the "family photo" when leaders rub elbows as they get into place and usually exchange small talk. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Vladimir Putin’s ‘deep fakes’ threaten U.S. elections

U.S. leaders say Vladimir Putin used a familiar cyber playbook to "muck around" in the midterm elections last month, but intelligence officials and key lawmakers believe a much more sinister, potentially devastating threat lies just down the road -- one that represents an attack on reality itself.

December 2, 2018
In this Aug. 21, 2014, photo, Navy Adm. William McRaven addresses the Texas Board of Regents in Austin, Texas. President Donald Trump is drawing heavy criticism for faulting a war hero for not capturing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden sooner. Trump took shots at retired Adm. William McRaven in a Fox News interview Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018, in which he also asserted that the former Navy SEAL was a “backer” of Trump’s 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton (AP Photo/Eric Gay) **FILE**

William McRaven: President must trust military leaders

He steered clear of directly firing back at President Trump, but retired Adm. William McRaven -- the architect of the 2011 U.S. special operations mission that killed Osama bin Laden -- told a Texas audience Friday that military leadership is impossible without the full trust of the commander in chief.

November 30, 2018
In this March 29, 2017, file photo, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., speaks to reporters about his panel's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Richard Burr on Michael Cohen plea: ‘If you lie to us, we’re going to go after you’

A day after President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned that anyone else who lies to lawmakers will face a similar fate, and he said that the committee has worked with special prosecutor Robert Mueller and has made multiple referrals for criminal prosecutions.

November 30, 2018
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the beginning of a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Russia-Ukraine Kerch Strait incident tests Donald Trump, U.S. power

Russian President Vladimir Putin is bent on testing American resolve around the world, with a brazen attack on three Ukrainian ships last weekend marking the latest in the former KGB spy's grand strategy to measure the strength of U.S. alliances and challenge the international democratic order.

November 27, 2018
Then-United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during a security council meeting about the escalating tensions between the Ukraine and Russia at United Nations headquarters, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Russia-Ukraine Kerch Strait incident draws international condemnation

With Ukraine "screaming for help" and moving toward martial law, the U.S., NATO and other international leaders on Monday promised serious consequences for Russia's latest act of aggression against its neighbor -- but they struggled to find concrete ways to resist an emboldened Kremlin in the region.

November 26, 2018
People carry the coffin of a relative who died in Thursday's suicide attack on a Shiite cultural center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 29, 2017. An Islamic State suicide bomber has struck a Shiite cultural center in Kabul, killing dozens of people and underscoring the extremist group's growing reach in Afghanistan even as its self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria has been dismantled. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

ISIS horror, mass graves in Syria, Iraq revealed

The brutal legacy of the Islamic State is only now coming into clearer focus as rebuilding efforts across Iraq and Syria uncover hundreds of mass graves and fully pull back the curtain on four years of unspeakable atrocities.

November 20, 2018
BREAKING NEWS BANNER FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES

40 killed in Afghanistan suicide bombing

At least 40 people were killed and scores more injured Tuesday when a suicide bomber struck a gathering of religious scholars at a wedding hall in Kabul, Afghanistan, officials told the Associated Press.

November 20, 2018
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrives to speak to reporters at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

James Mattis pressed on Pentagon budget cuts

U.S. military services on Monday began a process few expected under President Trump: finding programs they're willing to sacrifice in the face of looming multibillion-dollar budget cuts demanded by the White House.

November 19, 2018
Jamal Khashoggi, general manager of a new Arabic news channel, speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain, Monday, Dec. 15, 2014.  The Arabic-language station funded by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will be based in Bahrain and begin transmission Feb. 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

Donald Trump doesn’t want to hear Jamal Khashoggi death recording

Amid reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered the killing of U.S. journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump said Sunday he's not interested in listening to an audio tape of the killing last month inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey.

November 18, 2018
Two U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jets perform a flyover during the playing of the national anthem before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, July 7, 2018, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) ** FILE **

Air Force pilot dead in T-38C Talon supersonic jet crash in Texas

An Air Force pilot is dead and another was hospitalized after an Air Force T-38C Talon aircraft crashed at Laughlin Air Force Base in south Texas late Tuesday, military officials said, marking the fifth incident this year involving the supersonic jet and shining on a new spotlight on an already embattled base.

November 14, 2018