Nuclear Weapons Ethics and a Critique of the "Strong Case" for Disarmament
Dr. Christopher Ford • July 6, 2023
The Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has just published a new volume of essays discussing the morality and ethics of nuclear weapons and deterrence: Morality and Nuclear Weapons: Practitioner Perspectives, edited by Brad Roberts. Dr. Ford's contribution to that volume – a chapter entitled “Nuclear Weapons Ethics and a Critique of the ‘Strong Case’ for Disarmament” – appears on pages 64-83. You can find the entire book on CGSR's website here, or by using the button below to download a PDF of Dr. Ford's chapter.
From page 65:
“As my contribution to this volume, I will ... offer an outline of the most emphatic possible case that I believe can be made for the abolition of nuclear weapons. I will then examine the assumptions upon which the elements of that argument are premised—assessing their relative strengths and weaknesses—before offering my own thoughts about how to approach these ethical debates and to think morally about nuclear weaponry.”
Below is an edited version of the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford based his oral comments at a conference on “U.S. Future Options for Deterrence and Arms Control,” in Washington, D.C., on September 29, 2026, sponsored by the Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding of the Geneva Graduate Institute on International and Development Studies.
Below is an edited version of prepared text upon which Professor Ford based his shorter oral remarks on a panel on “Arms Control and Nuclear Risk Reduction” at the India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue held in New Delhi on September 18, 2026, sponsored by MIT’s Center for Nuclear Security Policy and the Observer Research Foundation .
Below follows the prepared text upon which Professor Ford based his remarks to a Defense Department audience near Las Vegas on September 3, 2026.
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.