Ashley Tellis News: Ashley Tellis, considered an expert on India and South Asia affairs, has been arrested. He has been accused of leaking confidential American information and holding secret meetings with Chinese officials. He has been arrested on charges of espionage. The US Justice Department said that Tellis illegally kept top secret documents from his home in Virginia and took them out. Ashley Tellis worked as a senior advisor at the State Department and as a contractor for the Department of War (formerly the Office of Net Assessment). He used to advise the American government on Indian affairs. He is also a defense expert.
Documents revealed Tuesday show he was arrested over the weekend and charged on Monday. According to US federal prosecutors, during the search of Tellis’s house, more than a thousand documents were recovered, which were marked Top Secret and Secret. These contained information related to the capabilities, weapon systems and strategic technologies of the US Air Force. Let us know some important facts related to Ashley Tellis and his arrest.
Why was Ashley Tellis arrested?
Charged with violating federal law: According to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ashley Tellis was charged in a Virginia district court on October 13 with violating federal law related to the storage of national defense information.
More than 1,000 classified pages found at home: According to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent, US investigators found more than 1,000 pages of documents marked Top Secret or Secret at Tellis’ home in Vienna, Virginia, during a search on October 11.
Documents kept in the basement: The documents say the confidential material was found on a desk in a locked filing cabinet in a basement office and in three large black garbage bags in an unfinished storage room.
Printing of confidential documents: According to the affidavit, Tellis was captured on video surveillance on September 25 by the State Department’s Harry S. He was observed accessing a classified computer system in the Truman Building and printing hundreds of pages of classified documents, including a 1,288-page file related to US Air Force strategy.
The file was renamed and deleted after printing: The affidavit states that Tellis changed the name of the file to ‘Econ Reform’ before printing selected pages, and then deleted the file after printing.
The footage shows the documents being hidden: According to court documents, surveillance footage obtained from a secure compartmented information center at the Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia on October 10 allegedly shows Tellis hiding confidential documents inside a notepad before placing it in his leather briefcase and exiting the center. Top secret was written on these.
Meeting with Chinese officials: The affidavit also details several meetings between Telis and Chinese government officials at a restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia, from September 2022 to September 2025. The document states that during a dinner on September 15, 2022, Tellis entered the restaurant carrying a manila envelope, which he did not have when he left.
Planning to travel abroad before arrest: According to the affidavit, Tellis was scheduled to go to Rome with his family on the evening of October 11. A search warrant was issued the same day. He was going to Rome on a business trip, from where he was planning to return via Milan on 27 October.
Ashley Tellis’s India connection
Ashley Tellis was born in Mumbai. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay University, before obtaining a doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago. Previously, he served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush on the National Security Council, Senior Director for Strategic Planning and Southwest Asia, and Senior Advisor to the US Ambassador to New Delhi. He helped negotiate the Bush administration’s civil nuclear deal with India, which was considered a milestone in building relations between the world’s two largest democracies. But in recent years, Tellis has become known in Washington as one of the most vocal opponents of the American courtship of India. In a recent article on Foreign Affairs, Tellis said that India often pursues contradictory policies with the United States, citing its relations with Russia and Iran and expressed doubt that India will be able to match China’s power in the near future.