The Ties that Bind: A Data-Driven Analysis of Oceania’s Dependency on China
Dr. Christopher Ford • December 7, 2024
The inaugural issue of Defense & Strategic Studies Online (DASSO), the online journal of the Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University, was published on December 7, 2024. It includes an article co-authored by Dr. Ford and Dr. Alex Memory of the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. You can find the whole first issue of DASSO by clicking here, or you can use the button below to download a PDF of the Ford/Memory article.


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 .
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 .)






