Indian-origin American analyst and long-time advisor on South Asia policy Ashley Tellis was arrested in America. He is accused of keeping confidential documents with himself and meeting Chinese officials. According to documents filed in the court, 64-year-old Tellis is accused of illegally possessing information related to national security. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in jail and a fine of $2.5 lakh.
The US Justice Department said that thousands of pages of ‘Top Secret’ and ‘Secret’ documents were found from Tellis’s Virginia home. These documents were kept in his house in Vienna. Tellis was arrested last week and formally charged on Monday. The FBI report said he was working as an unpaid advisor to the State Department and a contractor to the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment.
Famous names regarding US-India policy
Ashley Tellis is also a Senior Fellow of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joined the US government in 2001 and advised both Republican and Democratic administrations on India and South Asia policy. He was born in Mumbai and studied at St. Xavier’s College. After this he did MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago. For years, he has been counted among the most influential analysts of US-India-China policy.
Serious allegations in court filings
According to court records, in September and October 2025, Tellis extracted secret documents from Defense and State Department buildings, printed them and brought them home. In surveillance footage, he was seen leaving the building carrying a leather briefcase. When the FBI conducted a search warrant at his home on October 11, secret files were recovered from several locations, including a locked filing cabinet, a table in his basement office, and black trash bags kept in a storage room. According to the FBI, Tellis had a Top Secret security clearance and had access to sensitive compartmented information.
ChinaSecret meetings with officials
The matter became more complicated when investigation revealed that Tellis had met Chinese officials several times in the last few years. The FBI claims that on September 15, 2025, Tellis met with Chinese officials at a restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia. He was seen entering with a manila envelope and coming out without the envelope. Similarly, during a dinner meeting held in a suburb of Washington DC in April 2023, people sitting nearby heard that Tellis and Chinese representatives were discussing Iran-China relations and artificial intelligence technologies. The documents also mention that on September 2, Tellis had received a ‘gift bag’ from Chinese officials.
US prosecutors said ‘serious security threat’
America US Attorney Lindsay Halligan of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a statement and said, we are committed to protecting the American public from every foreign or domestic threat. The allegations made in this case represent a serious risk to the safety of our citizens. According to the Justice Department, if convicted, Tellis could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $2.5 million.
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