Scope and Content Note
The papers of David S. C. Chu (1944- ) span the period 1969-1993, with the majority of documents falling between the years 1981 and 1992. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, notes, office files, subject files, and speeches and testimony presenting an overview of Chu's professional career in the field of economics. The earliest papers date from his service as a member of the Economics Department of the Rand Corporation . They consist of memoranda and correspondence from 1969 to 1978 relating to studies Rand performed for various government agencies, particularly components of the Department of Defense and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The major studies include manpower requirements and alternative compensation for the Department of Defense, health issues such as the assessment of the demand for health care among retired and civilian military personnel on behalf of the air force, the impact of federal programs on medical schools and medical education and on the operation of health centers performed for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the appraisal conducted for the President's Biomedical Research Panel of future levels of doctoral training in biomedical sciences. The papers contain correspondence with medical school officials and exchanges with colleagues commenting on professional economic papers. Other topics documented in the papers are statistical surveys; evaluations of various health care programs, including physician staffing and organization of facilities; and visits to medical schools, military bases, and other localities to gather information. The correspondence also contains references to Chu's completion of his doctoral dissertation on the development of nontraditional manufacturing in Argentina and Colombia, 1920-1945.
Although Chu's Congressional Budget Office files, 1978-1981, focus on economic issues before the Congress, the majority of topics covered in the papers relate to military issues. These subjects include Department of Defense budgets, military force studies, planning for nuclear forces in the 1980s, and military planning and procurement. Some special studies featured in the files include changes in the way the federal budget accounted for costs of military retirement; a review of alternative military compensation systems; an analysis of requirements for ground forces with a comparison of the capability of existing forces to that requirement; possible changes in the United States reserve compensation package; and a manpower study on costs of alternatives for staffing the active duty military under an all-volunteer force. Other topics highlighted in the Congressional Budget Office files include the Economic Conversion Conference which focused on government's role in providing assistance to those harmed by economic dislocations, national security issues, and a study of foreign aid for the 1981 fiscal year budget.
The preponderance of the Chu Papers consists of his office and personal files as director and assistant secretary of defense for program analysis and evaluation (PA & E). About seventy-five percent of the documents in these files contain sensitive national security information and are restricted to readers with appropriate agency permission and security clearances. The bulk of these papers are office files containing correspondence, memoranda, testimony for congressional hearings, and subject files detailing the budgetary process employed by the Department of Defense.
Chu's position and special assignments kept him involved in most phases of the overall budget process. Specifically, his files provide insight into resource allocations, major force structure, and acquisitions during the administration of Ronald Reagan and the military downsizing after the end of the Cold War. Because preparation of the budgets was a dynamic process undergoing continual evolution, there may not be complete files for each step in the process for every fiscal budget. In some instances, a review or evaluation may have been conducted only for one fiscal year and discontinued or absorbed by another evaluation, or the inclusive time spans may have changed, or files may be missing from the collection.
All of the material in the Chu Papers directly related to specific budgetary periods are grouped under the heading, "defense budget system." Within the heading one can find the chronological fiscal year budgets, major budget issues, fiscal and planning guidances, reviews of programs and budgets, program adjustments and projections, and the program objective memoranda prepared by the agencies. The collection contains a fairly complete file of the program reviews and issue books for each fiscal year, except for "book seven" of each year, which had limited distribution because it dealt with intelligence matters.
This series of the Chu Papers also includes records of the Defense Resources Board, later the Defense Planning and Resources Board, which directs and supervises the secretary of defense's review of the service program and budget submissions. As its executive secretary, Chu managed the planning, programming, and budgeting system process for the board.
Documents relating to other functions of the Program Analysis and Evaluation Office are contained in the collection's extensive subject files. Several files pertain to the Department of Defense acquisition management system. Chu was a member of the Defense Acquisition Board, and his office was responsible for ensuring that comprehensive, analytically sound, cost-effectiveness assessments were developed for use at major system acquisition "milestones." Folders relating to costs and acquisition reviews, long-range weapon systems, and mission area affordability estimates are scattered throughout the files. Other subject files depict Chu's role as principal analyst in major interagency and internal Department of Defense studies of the defense mission, strategy, forces, weapons acquisition, and other studies involving economic issues as directed by the secretary of defense. Most of these studies are grouped under the heading "special studies and major reviews." They include the major aircraft and warship reviews performed in 1989 which led to revisions by the administration of George Bush of plans for the department's major conventional systems, follow-up materials from the strategic forces modernization study of 1981 which resulted in Reagan's strategic program proposals, the Congressionally Mandated Mobility Study of 1981 and subsequent studies which culminated in the proposed major expansion of military sealift, and the study mandated by Congress of the military medical care system.
Chu also participated in drafting testimony for the secretary and deputy secretary of defense to present before Congressional committees. His papers contain several copies of testimony by Richard B. Cheney, Caspar W. Weinberger, and Donald J. Atwood as well as copies of his own testimony. The program analysis and evaluation staff also contributed to the Department of Defense annual report by preparing the forces and program sections and by reviewing the section on policy and strategy.
The small group of personal files in the Chu Papers consists of invitations to social events, thank-you letters, congratulatory letters to military officials, telephone call records, travel arrangements, appointment books, and calendars.