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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

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani speaks during an interview with state television at the presidency in Tehran on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. (Associated Press/Presidency Office, Rouzbeh Jadidoleslam)

White House: Still no Obama-Rouhani meeting scheduled

As President Obama arrived in New York ahead of his planned Tuesday speech to the U.N. General Assembly, a key outstanding question is whether he'll sit down with new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, a meeting that potentially could signal a shift in relations between the two nations. Published September 23, 2013

Syria and Iran are just two of the global issues facing President Obama as he prepares to address the United Nations General Assembly this week. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Obama faces host of challenges during high-stakes U.N. trip

Syria's chemical weapons program, how to deal with a new Iranian regime and tense Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations are just some of the issues that will confront President Obama as he travels to New York this week for a highly anticipated address to the United Nations General Assembly. Published September 22, 2013

Ron Binz (From Ron Binz' Public Policy Consulting website)

Energy nominee Ron Binz loses voltage with contradictions, Obama coal rules

President Obama's nominee to a top energy post is hanging on by a thread after a poor performance last week at a confirmation hearing where he failed to win over key supporters and even appeared to have misled a Senate committee about his record of support for a coal-fired energy plant. Published September 22, 2013

President Obama addresses the nation in a live televised speech from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. President Obama blended the threat of military action with the hope of a diplomatic solution as he works to strip Syria of its chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

At Navy Yard memorial, Obama renews call for gun control

Making perhaps his strongest case to date for gun-control, President Obama on Sunday said the U.S. cannot continue to accept mass shootings like the one seen at the Washington Navy Yard last week. Published September 22, 2013

** FILE ** Sen. Joe Manchin III (right), West Virginia Democrat, accompanied by Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania Republican, announces on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington that they have reached a bipartisan deal on expanding background checks to more gun buyers. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Navy Yard families mourn, Obama pushes gun control

On the same day that lawmakers acknowledged that any attempt to crack down on firearms stands virtually no chance on Capitol Hill, President Obama made his strongest plea to date on the need to confront gun violence. Published September 22, 2013

Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Blame game heats up as start of shutdown looms

With little more than a week before a budget stalemate over Obamacare sets off a government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans dug in deeper Sunday, with lawmakers increasingly looking, pre-emptively, to pin blame on the other side. Published September 22, 2013

**FILE** Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas enters his car after a meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Sept. 12, 2013. (Associated Press)

Obama to meet Palestinian leader next week in NYC

The White House confirmed Friday that President Obama will hold a bilateral meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas next week in New York City during the global gathering of world leaders for the U.N. General Assembly. Published September 20, 2013

President Obama announces his choices (from left) of MIT physics professor Ernest Moniz for energy secretary, Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and Wal-Mart Foundation President Sylvia Mathews Burwell to head the Office of Management and Budget during a ceremony Monday in the East Room of the White House. (Associated Press)

EPA coal rules tighter than expected, will fuel backlash in Congress

The Environmental Protection Agency's dramatic new power plant emissions standards already have touched off a firestorm within the coal industry and on Capitol Hill, with top Republicans promising to fight tooth-and-nail against President Obama's climate-change agenda. Published September 20, 2013

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy testifies before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

EPA’s new rules for coal accelerate Obama’s agenda on climate change

Three months after President Obama vowed to get tough on climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday begins that mission by announcing long-awaited rules for new power plants that, while slightly watered down, will be tough on the beleaguered coal industry. Published September 19, 2013

**FILE** President Obama speaks at a disabled veterans event in Orlando, Fla., on Aug. 10, 2013. (Associated Press)

Obama accuses House GOP of extortion in budget fight

For the second time in three days, President Obama targeted tea party Republicans in the House of Representatives and accused them of trying to "extort" the White House. Published September 18, 2013

President Obama speaks in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex on Sept. 16, 2013, in Washington, about the economy. (Associated Press)

Obama lays down markers in coming budget battles with GOP

With most of Washington — and the nation — focused on Monday's mass shooting at Navy Yard, President Obama went ahead with a blistering political speech and offered a preview of bitter battles with Republicans this fall over the nation's debt ceiling and federal budget. Published September 16, 2013

President Obama (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

As Syria cools, White House again looks to pivot to economy

Amid problems in Syria, a stalled immigration reform bill and other challenges, President Obama once again is pivoting to the economy in an effort to convince Americans that, without his policies, the nation would not have emerged from the 2008 financial meltdown. Published September 15, 2013

President Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joseph R. Biden (left) and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, delivers a statement on Dec. 16, 2010, at the White House. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Obama stays out of Biden-Clinton 2016 fray

Political pundits already have begun to analyze and hype the likely 2016 Democratic presidential primary fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Joseph R. Biden. Published September 15, 2013