WASHINGTON D.C. – Ashley Tellis, a prominent Indian-American strategic analyst and long-time advisor on South Asian policy, has been arrested and formally charged in the United States. The 64-year-old faces charges for the unlawful retention of national defense information after classified documents were discovered at his home in Virginia.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that thousands of pages of “Top Secret” and “Secret” documents were recovered from various locations within Tellis’s Vienna residence, including locked filing cabinets, an office table, and black trash bags in a storage room, following an FBI search warrant executed on October 11.
Tellis was arrested last week and formally charged on Monday. If convicted, he faces a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Accusations of Classified Handling and Foreign Contacts:
Court filings reveal serious allegations regarding Tellis’s conduct:
- Illegal Removal of Documents: Court records allege that in September and October 2025, Tellis removed and printed classified documents from the Department of Defense and State Department buildings, later transporting them home in a leather briefcase, as captured by surveillance footage. The FBI confirmed that Tellis held a Top Secret security clearance and had access to Sensitive Compartmented Information.
- Meetings with Chinese Officials: The situation is complicated by revelations that Tellis has met with Chinese officials multiple times over the past few years. The FBI claims Tellis met with Chinese officials at a restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia, on September 15, 2025.
- Suspicious Exchanges: Furthermore, records mention that during a dinner in a Washington D.C. suburb in April 2023, Tellis and the Chinese representatives were overheard discussing Iran-China relations and artificial intelligence technologies. On September 2, 2025, Tellis was allegedly seen receiving a “gift bag” from Chinese officials.
Tellis, a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, served as an unpaid advisor to the State Department and a contractor for the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment. Born in Mumbai and educated at St. Xavier’s College, he holds an MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and is considered one of the most influential analysts of US-India-China policy.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsay Halligan, issued a statement declaring: “We are committed to protecting the American public from all threats, foreign and domestic. The allegations in this case pose a serious danger to the security of our citizens.”
