Visiting Fellow Tim Rieser

Tim Rieser served as senior foreign policy advisor to former US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont from 1995 to 2023, handling a wide range of issues. He began his career as a public defender in Vermont, his home state, and then spent a year as a teaching assistant at the Harvard Law School Project on Negotiation. In 1985, he joined Senator Leahy’s team, going on to become a professional staff member of the Appropriations Committee and Democratic clerk of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. He held the latter position until 2022, overseeing appropriations for the operations and programs of the Department of State, US Agency for International Development, and other federal agencies and commissions, as well as contributions to the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. Rieser attended Stanford University and Dartmouth College, receiving his BA from Dartmouth in 1976. He received his JD from the Antioch School of Law in 1979.