During
World War II, Riedel served in the
United States Army Signal Corps. Riedel was a professor of political science at SUNY Albany for 50 years. {{cite web Riedel also served as book review editor for the
Journal of Northeastern Political Science Associations. {{cite web After retiring from teaching, Riedel was a director of research for the Defense
Personnel Security Research Center (PERSEREC) of Monterey, California, a division of the
United States Navy, for whom he oversaw research and publication of many reports. ==Personal life and death==