Dr. Christopher Ashley Ford

Dr. Christopher Ford was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation on January 9, 2018. In his current capacity, Dr. Ford was additionally delegated the authorities and functions of the Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security on October 21, 2019. Before coming to ISN, Dr. Ford served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Weapons of Mass Destruction and Counterproliferation at the National Security Council.

Dr. Ford began his public service in 1996 as Assistant Counsel to the Intelligence Oversight Board and then served on several Congressional staffs, including the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2003, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Verification and Compliance (now the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance). In 2006, he was named U.S. Special Representative for Nuclear Non-Proliferation, where he was responsible for U.S. diplomacy with respect to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Ford was a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute, a foreign affairs and national security think tank. In 2013, Dr. Ford returned to Congress where he served on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Ford also served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1994 until 2011, receiving an Honorable Discharge at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

He is the author of three books and scores of articles and monographs.

Dr. Ford earned an A.B., summa cum laude, at Harvard University, a D.Phil. at Oxford University in the United Kingdom (as a Rhodes Scholar), and a J.D. at Yale Law School.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Ford lives with his family in Bethesda, Maryland.