Ashley Tellis, an Indian-born American analyst and former US government adviser, has been arrested and charged with unlawfully retaining national defence information and allegedly meeting with Chinese officials, according to US prosecutors.

 

Tellis appeared in court following his arrest and a detention hearing has been scheduled for October 21, according to reports from US media.

 

Who is Ashley Tellis?

 

Tellis, 64, is a naturalized US citizen originally from India. He is a prominent scholar who has written extensively on India-US relations, international security, defence, and Asian strategic issues. For more than twenty years, he has advised the US government on policy towards India.

 

He holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His academic qualifications include a bachelor and master’s in economics from the University of Mumbai, along with a PhD and a master’s in political science from the University of Chicago.

 

According to court filings, Tellis has served as an unpaid senior adviser to the US Department of State and as a contractor at the Office of Net Assessment within the Department of Defense. These roles provided him with the necessary security clearances to access sensitive information. He has previously served on the National Security Council under former President George W Bush and worked as a senior adviser at the US embassy in New Delhi. Following his arrest, Tellis has been placed on administrative leave from Carnegie Endowment.

 

Tellis also played a significant role in negotiating the 2008 US-India civil nuclear agreement.

 

What is Tellis accused of?

 

US authorities have charged Tellis under 18 US Code Section 793, which relates to the unauthorized gathering, transmission, or retention of national defence information. According to the affidavit, surveillance footage showed Tellis using a computer inside a Department of Defense facility on September 12 and asking a co-worker to print documents for him. He was again observed on October 10 removing classified documents.

 

On September 25, Tellis entered a US Department of State building in Washington DC and accessed the department’s classified intranet system, ClassNet, for approximately an hour. ClassNet stores information ranging from unclassified to secret, including documents with distribution restrictions. Later that evening, he allegedly accessed a large US Air Force document, renamed it, printed sections, and took them home in a briefcase. Federal authorities searched his Vienna Virginia residence and vehicle on October 11 and reportedly recovered classified materials.

 

Did Tellis meet Chinese officials?

 

The affidavit also alleges that Tellis met Chinese officials multiple times in recent years. One meeting reportedly took place in September 2022 at a restaurant in Fairfax Virginia. Authorities are investigating these contacts as part of the case.