Ford's 2023 Round-Up
Dr. Christopher Ford • January 8, 2024
With 2023 now in our collective rear-view mirror, I thought I’d offer you a handy compilation of my public work product from the last year. The list is heavy on strategic competition with China, of course, but doesn’t omit other topics (e.g., morality and nuclear weapons policy, nuclear nonproliferation, and North Korea).
Keep checking New Paradigms Forum for new material as we move into 2024!
Papers and Articles
- Christopher A. Ford, “Xi Jinping, Michel Foucault, and Spy Balloons? Communist China’s Theory of Control and Visions of a Post-Westphalian World Order” National Security Law Journal, vol. 11, no. 1 (2023), https://www.nslj.org/wp-content/uploads/Ford-Xi-Jinping-Michel-Foucault-and-Spy-Balloons-Communist-Chinas-Theory-of-Control-and-Visions-of-a-Post-Westphalian-World-Order.pdf
- Christopher A. Ford, “What to Do about North Korean Nuclear Weapons: Allied Solidarity, the Limits of Diplomacy, and the ‘Pain Box,’” Hoover Institution Press (August 23, 2023), https://www.hoover.org/research/what-do-about-north-korean-nuclear-weapons
- Christopher A. Ford, “An Insurance Policy for Dependence of U.S. Supply Chains on Foreign Providers” (with a co-author), as Chapter 3 in Silicon Triangle: The United States, Taiwan, China, and Global Semiconductor Security (Hoover Institution & The Asia Society: July 18, 2023), https://irp.cdn-website.com/ce29b4c3/files/uploaded/Silicon%20Triangle%20Ford%20Chapter.pdf
- Christopher A. Ford, “Nuclear Weapons Ethics and a Critique of the ‘Strong Case’ for Disarmament,” in Morality and Nuclear Weapons: Practitioner Perspectives (Brad Roberts, ed.), (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Center for Global Security Research, 2023),https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/nuclear-weapons-ethics-and-a-critique-of-the-strong-case-for-disarmament
- Christopher A. Ford, “Assessing the Biden Administration’s ‘Big Four’ National Security Guidance Documents,” National Institute for Public Policy Occasional Papers, vol. 3, no. 1 (January 2023), https://nipp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/OP-Vol.-3-No.-1.pdf
Remarks and Presentations:
- Christopher A. Ford, “Conceptualizing Strategic Competition in the Narrative Trilogy of Victory: ‘What’ Stories, ‘Why’ Stories, and ‘How’ Stories” remarks at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (December 7, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/conceptualizing-strategic-competition-in-the-narrative-trilogy-of-victory-what-stories-why-stories-and-how-stories
- Christopher A. Ford, “America as a Strategic Competitor: ‘Damn the Doomsayers, Say I,’” remarks to a conference at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (December 5, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/america-as-a-strategic-competitor-damn-the-doomsayers-say-i
- Christopher A. Ford, “Countervailing Posture, the ‘Offensive Nuclear Umbrella,’ and the Future of Arms Control,” remarks at DACOR Bacon House, Washington, D.C. (October 6, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/countervailing-posture-the-offensive-nuclear-umbrella-and-the-future-of-arms-control
- Christopher A. Ford, “Information Confrontation and China’s Discourse Strategy,” remarks at the Center for Global Security Research, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (September 18, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/information-confrontation-and-chinas-discourse-strategy
- Christopher A. Ford, “Running Faster for the ‘Commanding Heights’ of the Next Industrial Revolution?” remarks to Metron’s 2023 corporate strategy retreat (September 12, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/running-faster-for-the-commanding-heights-of-the-next-industrial-revolution
- Christopher A. Ford, “Information Confrontation with Russia and Dynamics of ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ Deterrence,” remarks at Wilton Park, United Kingdom (July 21, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/information-confrontation-with-russia-and-dynamics-of-positive-and-negative-deterrence
- Christopher A. Ford, “Nuclear ‘Hedging,’ Arms Control, and Today’s Strategic Challenges,” remarks at the Nuclear Triad Symposium held at Louisiana State University – Shreveport (July 20, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/nuclear-hedging-arms-control-and-todays-strategic-challenges
- Christopher A. Ford, “The Dangers and Limits of Cooperation Between the World’s Most Dangerous Dictators,” remarks at a National Security Institute event at the Rayburn House Office Building, U.S. House of Representatives (May 31, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/the-dangers-and-limits-of-cooperation-among-the-worlds-most-dangerous-dictators
- Christopher A. Ford, Dr. Ford’s
Commencement Address for the Class of 2023 at Missouri State University’s Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies (May 19, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/2023-commencement-address-missouri-state-university-graduate-department-of-defense-strategic-studies
- Christopher A. Ford, “Four Points to Keep in Mind in Strategic Competition with China,” remarks at Vanderbilt University’s 2nd annual Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats (May 4, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/four-points-to-keep-in-mind-in-strategic-competition-with-china
- Christopher A. Ford, “China’s Struggle for Technology Dominance and U.S. Responses: An Insider’s Account,” keynote address to the National Organization of Investment Professionals’ annual Washington, D.C. conference (April 20, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/chinas-struggle-for-technology-dominance-and-u-s-responses-an-insiders-account
- Christopher A. Ford, “Learning from the NPT’s Challenges,” remarks to the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center’s Public Policy Fellows Research Retreat (February 8, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/learning-from-the-npt-regime-s-challenges
Dr. Ford's article on "Thinking About Strategy in an Artificial Superintelligence Arms Race" -- co-authored with Dr. Craig Wiener -- was published in Defense & Strategic Studies Online (DASSO), vol. 1, no. 4 (Summer 2025). You can find the whole issue on the DASSO website here , or use the button below to download a PDF of the Ford/Wiener article. (Also, the home page for DASSO can be found here .)
Below are the remarks Dr. Ford delivered to a webinar sponsored by the National Institute for Deterrence Studies on August 29, 2025.
Over much of last year, Dr. Ford participated in the Senior Study Group (SSG) on Strategic Stability at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). Ably chaired by Brad Roberts of the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Rebeccah Heinrichs of Hudson Institute, the SSG completed its report in February 2025, only to immediately run into publication problems as a result of the government's effort to shut down the USIP. The litigation associated with that effort remains ongoing, but the SSG is pleased to be able now to publish its report. The report is not available on the USIP website, but you can use the button below to download a PDF.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford drew in his remarks to and discussions with a nuclear deterrence study group in London on July 28, 2025.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks on July 22, 2025, to a conference sponsored by the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford based his oral remarks at a conference sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at Cambridge University on June 17, 2025.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford drew in delivering his remarks at a conference on "Transatlantic Turbulence: What Next for European Defence?" held at the University of Birmingham on June 13, 2025.
Below are the remarks Dr. Ford delivered (virtually) to a conference in Beijing on June 12, 2025, sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN) and the Grandview Institution .
The National Institute for Public Policy published Dr. Ford's article "Thinking About Russian Nuclear Weapons Thinking" in volume 5, number 2, of the Journal of Policy & Strategy (2025). You can find the whole issue on the NIPP website here , or use the button below to download a PDF of the article.
In this article in Volume 1, Issue 3 of the Missouri State Univeristy's online journal Defense & Strategic Studies Online (pp. 1-89), Dr. Christopher Ford, John Schurtz, and Erik Quam offer a detailed analytical account of how cybernetic theories of social control developed by the scientist Qian Xuesen and his disciples were adopted by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and are today critical to understanding the Party’s domestic governance and foreign relations. You can see the whole issue on DASSO's website here , read the Ford/Schurtz/Quam article here , or use the button below to access a PDF of the article.