Tim Rieser is a senior foreign policy aid 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 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]
^Scott Pelley,
The Last Prisoner of the Cold War, 60 Minutes, (November 29, 2015). Released after five years of captivity in Cuba, Alan Gross talks with Scott Pelley in his first interview about his ordeal and the activities leading up to his arrest
