Tony Cheesebrough, President and Chief Economist of Flatirons Economics, and former Chief Economist and Statistical Official for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been appointed as a CREATE External Senior Research Fellow. As Chief Economist for CISA, Tony applied benefit-cost analysis, economic impact analysis, modeling and simulation, risk analysis, and quantitative policy analysis to inform prioritization and resource allocation decisions for customers throughout DHS, the federal interagency community, state and local partners, and the White House.
Tony also previously served as Director for Risk and Capability Analytics in the DHS Office of Policy and Deputy Assistant Director for Risk Analytics in the DHS Office of Risk Management and Analysis, where he managed interdisciplinary teams of economists and operations research analysts. He led benefit-cost analyses for customers such as the Secretary’s Counterterrorism Advisory Board, and worked with CREATE on the pilot development of the first DHS computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for economic impact analysis. Tony also worked with CREATE on the application of CGE modeling to the DHS Terrorism Risk Assessments, and estimating the economic impacts of spillover effects of terrorism countermeasures at public assembly sites.
Before joining DHS, Tony was a Senior Analyst/Analyst-in-Charge at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, but began his government career as a Presidential Management Fellow at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and also worked in the private sector as a management consultant. Tony is a member of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis, American Economic Association, Economics of National Security Association, Society for Risk Analysis, and Institute for Operations Research and Management Science. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy with a concentration in applied microeconomic analysis from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as a B.A. in economics with the equivalent of a minor in mathematics from Swarthmore College.
Posted September 12, 2025
