Douglas A. Brook

Douglas Alan Brook (born January 15, 1944) is visiting professor of public policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He was United States Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) from 1990 to 1992 and Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller) from 2007 to 2009.

Biography
Douglas A. Brook was born in Chicago and raised in East Detroit, Michigan. He was educated at the University of Michigan, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science in 1965 and a Master of Public Administration degree in 1967. After college, he served in the United States Navy from 1968 to 1970, and remained an officer in the United States Naval Reserve retiring in 1998 at the rank of captain. In 2013 he was named a distinguished alumnus by the Navy Supply Corps Foundation.

In 1971 he joined the National Association of Manufacturers first as director of public finance and later as assistant vice president for public affairs. In 1977, Brook joined Libbey–Owens–Ford in 1976 as vice president of government affairs. He completed the executive education program at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration in 1977. He left Libbey-Owens-Ford in 1982 to found Brook Associates, Inc., a public affairs consulting business, serving corporate and trade association clients. During this time, he lived in Vienna, Virginia, and served two elected terms on the Vienna Town Council.

In 1990, President of the United States George H. W. Bush nominated Brook to be Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) and, after Senate confirmation, Brook held that office from 1990 to 1992. He also served as acting director of the United States Office of Personnel Management in 1992.

Brook left government service in 1992, becoming vice president of government affairs for LTV Corporation. He held this position until the liquidation of LTV Corporation in 2002. In 2001 he received his Ph.D. in public policy from George Mason University. In 2002, he became dean of the Graduate School of Business & Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. He stepped down as dean in 2005, but remained a professor of public policy and director of the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Defense Management Research. In 2006 Brook was elected as a Fellow of National Academy of Public Administration (United States).

In 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Brook to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller) and Brook held that office from 2007 to 2009. He was also acting Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) from 2008 to 2009.

At Duke University he has taught an array of public policy courses on topics including policy analysis, public budgeting and national security. He has received awards for teaching and mentoring from both the Duke Sanford School and the Naval Postgraduate School.

In 2020, Brook, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."

Brook is an active choral singer. He has sung tenor with the Front Street United Methodist Church Chancel Choir in Burlington, North Carolina, under the direction of Choirmaster Laura Sam, the Monterey Symphony Chorus, San Jose Symphonic Choir, New Dominion Chorale, Greensboro Choral Society and in London with Goldsmith's Choral Union. 
 * "Steel: Trade Policy in a Changed Environment," in Alan V. Deardorff and Robert M. Stern, eds., Constituent Interests and U.S. Trade Policies, (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1998), 133-144.
 * "Merit and The Civil Service Reform Act," in James P. Pfiffner and Douglas A. Brook, eds., The Future of Merit: Twenty Years After the Civil Service Reform Act, (Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2000), 1-11.
 * "Audited Financial Statements: Getting and Sustaining 'Clean' Opinions", monograph, (Washington: The PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government, July, 2001).
 * (with C. King), "Civil Service reform as national security: The Homeland Security Act of 2002", Public Administration Review, 67 (3), 2002, 399-407.
 * "Administrative Reform in the Federal Government: Understanding the Search for Private Sector Management Models – An Annotated Bibliography," Public Administration and Management: An Interactive Journal, vol. 7, no. 2 (2002): 117–165.
 * "Trade Policy Strategies and Enforcement Choices: An Examination of the 1992 Steel Antidumping Cases", The International Trade Journal, vol. XVII, no. 1 (Spring, 2003): 81–100.
 * "Dumping and Subsidy Cases at the ITC: Voting Discretion and Commissioner Attributes", International Trade Journal, XIX (4), 2005, 309-336.
 * "Meta-Strategic Lobbying: The 1998 Steel Imports Case", Business and Politics, 7 (1), 2005, 1-25.
 * (with C. King), "Civil Service Reform as National Security", Public Administration Review, 2007, 397-405.
 * (with P. Candreva), "Business Management Reform in the Department of Defense in Anticipation of Declining Budgets", Public Budgeting and Finance, 2007, 50-70.
 * (with P. Candreva), "Business Management Reform in the Department of Defense in Anticipation of Declining Budgets", Public Budgeting and Finance, 27 (3), 2007, 50-70.
 * (with P. Candreva), "Transitions in Defense Management Reform: A Review of the Government Accountability Office’s Chief Management Officer Recommendation and Comments for the New Administration", Public Administration Review, 2008, 1043–1049.
 * (with C. King), "Federal Personnel Management Reform: From the Civil Service Reform Act to National Security Reforms", Review of Public Personnel Administration, 28, 2008, 205-211.
 * (with C. King), "Federal personnel management reform from the Civil Service Reform Act to DHS and NSPS", Review of Public Personnel Management, 28, 2008, 205-221.
 * (with P. Candreva), "Whither the Defense Budget? Countervailing Pressures and Process Challenges", Journal of Government Financial Management, 2009, 10-15.
 * (with C. King), "The Department of Homeland Security: A case study in legislating innovation in Human Capital Management", in Legislating Innovation in Human Capital Management: Lessons from The Department of Homeland Security, Sistare, H. & Buss, T. (eds). M.E. Sharpe, 2008.
 * "Audit Financial Statements in the Federal Government: Intentions, Outcomes and On-Going Challenges for Managers and Policy-Making", Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, 22 (1), 2010.