Challenges of Deterrence and Security upon Nuclear Use
Dr. Christopher Ford • November 19, 2024
In November 2024, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a study of intra-war deterrence in a two-nuclear-peer environment called "Project Atom 2024." In it, contributing experts offered their perspectives on a hypothetical wargame scenario that involved near-simultaneous use of nuclear weapons by Russia and China against the United States and its allies in two concurrent theater conflicts.
Dr. Ford's contribution to this volume was a chapter entitled "Challenges of Deterrence and Security Upon Nuclear Use," and it appears on pages 19-32 of the volume.
You can find the full report on CSIS' website here, or use the button below to download a PDF copy of Dr. Ford's chapter.
Below is an edited version of the prepared text upon which Professor Ford based his remarks to a workshop on theater nuclear weaponry sponsored by the Sandia Security Studies Institute at the Sandia National Laboratory on August 31, 2026.
Below appears the text upon which Dr. Ford based his shorter oral remarks on August 6, 2026, to a professional offsite meeting of a team of engineers from a major defense contractor working on conventionally armed precision-strike technologies.
Dr. Ford's article on the conceptual challenges of "tailoring" nuclear deterrence -- and suggesting a more robust and muscular alternative approach -- was published in Missouri State University's journal Defense & Strategic Studies Online (DASSO) in July 2026. You can find DASSO's webpage here , and an online copy of Dr. Ford's article here -- or use the button below to download a PDF. (This paper was also published in the Journal of Policy and Strategy , vol. 6, no 2 (2026), pp. 19-38, and can be found here .)
INHR published Professor Ford's latest essay on Artificial Intelligence and nuclear weapons on July 7, 2026. You can find the essay on INHR's website here , or read the text of his comments below.
War on the Rocks published Dr. Ford's essay "A New Force Posture Concept for Europeanizing Extended Nuclear Deterrence" on June 29, 2026.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his shorter remarks to a meeting with the class of Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Scholars for 2026.
Below is the text of Dr. Ford's remarks at a dinner event in London on June 16, 2026.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford based his comments to a conference on May 28, 2026, sponsored by the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Below are the prepared remarks on which Dr. Ford based his comments at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 18, 2026, discussing U.S.-Russian relations after the expiration of the New START agreement.
Below are the remarks Dr. Ford delivered on a panel at the NATO Nuclear Policy Symposium in Istanbul , Türkiye, on April 21, 2026.