J. M. Ford, also known as Mike Ford, was a 23rd century human writer and Starfleet officer.

He was educated at the Makropyrios, apparently spending some time as a student of the distinguished scholar and ambassador, Dr. Emanuel Tagore.

Ford and Tagore collaborated as co-authors on An Informal Guide to the Klingon Empire, although like the more famous work discussed below, this may largely have been compiled by Ford from his mentor's notes. (FASA RPG modules: The Klingons, The Four Years War)

Unable to obtain on-the-record verification of certain suppressed details of events surrounding the Dissolution Babel crisis (due to tight lips by most knowledgable surviving persons and excessive classification of records), Ford assembled the facts as best he could and released the story as a novel, The Final Reflection. (TOS novel: The Final Reflection)

In his work, Ford displayed a quietly questioning attitude to the military-industrial complex of Starfleet and the Federation. However, by 2287, if not before, he was serving as an officer in Starfleet, holding the rank of Commander. Not surprisingly, his role was still as the Federation's leading specialist on the Klingons, but he was unable to attend in person on the mission of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) to rendezvous with Kor. Instead, he sent his own protege, Jamie Finney. (TOS comic: "Debt of Honor")

"J. M. Ford" is, of course, an in-universe counterpart of The Final Reflection author John M. Ford. When Chris Claremont referenced him in "Debt of Honor", he used his real-life nickname of "Mike".