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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang is a National Security Correspondent for The Washington Times. His reporting is regularly featured in the daily Threat Status newsletter.

Previously, he covered energy and the environment, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, and also spent two years as a White House correspondent during the Obama administration.

Before coming to The Times in 2011, Ben worked as political reporter at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa.

He can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

Despite President Trump's efforts to pull American forces from a "forever war" in Syria, Pentagon leaders said the mission to protect vital oil fields from ISIS has expanded and now includes a directive to keep anyone — including the Russian military and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's forces — away from the energy reserves. (Associated Press file photo)

U.S. to block Russian, Syrian military forces from vast oil fields

Russian and Syrian military forces will be blocked from the vast oil fields in a section of eastern Syria where the United States still maintains troops, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Monday in a press conference at the Pentagon. Published October 28, 2019

President Donald Trump walks from the podium after speaking in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid raises new ISIS fears, questions

The Islamic State was well-prepared for the eventual loss of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and likely is already taking steps to fill the vacuum left by his death at the hands of U.S. special operations forces over the weekend, experts warned Sunday as attention turned to the next phase of the fight. Published October 27, 2019

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi DNA testing confirms death, Donald Trump says

DNA testing has confirmed that the man who died during Saturday's U.S. military raid in northwestern Syria is in fact Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Trump said Sunday, detailing how American forces used body fragments to confirm the terrorist leader's identity. Published October 27, 2019

Soldiers with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Fires Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, fire 155 mm rounds using an M777 Howitzer weapons system, on Forward Operating Base Bostick, Afghanistan, 2009. The Army is now looking for a canon with much longer range — 1,000 miles. (U.S. Army)

U.S. Army counters China threat with Strategic Long-Range Cannon

The Strategic Long-Range Cannon (SLRC), which could reach well over 1,000 miles, represents a key piece of the Pentagon's push for more advanced artillery capable of targeting enemy positions from distances that were once unimaginable. Published October 23, 2019

Russian forces armored vehicles patrol the Syrian border in Kobani, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. Russian military police began patrols on part of the Syrian border Wednesday, quickly moving to implement an accord with Turkey that divvies up control of northeastern Syria. (AP Photo)

Donald Trump announces a permanent cease-fire, claims victory in Syria

President Trump said Wednesday he is lifting sanctions on Turkey after it agreed to stop its incursion against American-allied Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, brushing aside complaints that he ceded American interests in the region to Vladimir Putin and his Russian military patrols. Published October 23, 2019

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. Published 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. Published October 21, 2019

In this Feb. 23, 1945, file photo, U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal, File)

Marine Corps misidentified man in classic Iwo Jima photo: Report

The Marine Corps said Wednesday that for 74 years it had misidentified one of the six men in the iconic World War II flag-raising photo at Iwo Jima, correcting the record after digging by historians revealed the mistake. Published October 17, 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. Published 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. Published 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. Published October 14, 2019