Tim Rieser is a senior foreign policy aide to Senator Patrick Leahy. He is one "of the most powerful staffers in Congress presiding over U.S. foreign policy and U.S. foreign assistance."^[1]

In 2015 he was listed as number 22 of Politico 50 - a "guide to the thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics".^[2]

Rieser graduated from Dartmouth College in 1976 and from Antioch School of Law, now the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, in 1979.^[3]

Rieser is a former public defender from Vermont. He has worked for Leahy since 1985. Since 1989 he has served as the Democratic Clerk for the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.^[1]

Rieser was one of the architects of the 1992 law that banned land mines.^[4][5]

Rieser also helped draft the 1998 Leahy Law which bans the United States from providing military assistance to foreign armies that violate human rights without being held to account.^[4] In 2014, Guatemalan President Otto Pérez made international news by attacking Rieser publicly for aid restrictions.^[6]

Rieser was influential in opening U.S. policy toward Cuba and played a "significant role" in getting USAID contractor Alan Gross released from prison in Cuba.^[7][8][4][9]

• Timothy S Rieser Professional Staff, Senate Committee on Appropriations