Who is Ashley Tellis? India-born US advisor arrested over China link, retaining classified records

64-year-old Tellis of Vienna was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with the unlawful retention of national defence information

64-year-old Ashley Tellis, a well-known US scholar on India, has been arrested and charged with unlawfully retaining classified information and allegedly meeting Chinese officials.

Tellis, who has spent over two decades working with or advising the US government, was discovered to have more than 1,000 pages of top-secret and secret documents stored at his home, according to a criminal affidavit cited by AFP.

The affidavit also mentions that Tellis met with Chinese government officials multiple times.

Who is Ashley Tellis?

- Tellis, a naturalized US citizen originally from India, is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served in senior positions under former president George W Bush.

- He helped negotiate the Bush administration’s civil nuclear accord with India, a breakthrough that marked a new era in ties between the two democracies.

- If convicted, Tellis is subject to a maximum of ten years’ imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment and forfeiture, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.

- Previously he was commissioned into the US Foreign Service and served as senior adviser to the ambassador at the US Embassy in New Delhi. He also served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to President George W Bush and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia.

- Tellis is a member of several professional organizations related to defense and international studies including the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the United States Naval Institute, and the Navy League of the United States.

- During a search of Tellis’s home in Vienna, Virginia last week, authorities discovered more than a thousand pages of classified materials bearing top secret and secret markings.

Charges against Ashley Tellis

US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, said 64-year-old Tellis of Vienna was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with the unlawful retention of national defence information, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e).

“We are fully focused on protecting the American people from all threats, foreign and domestic. The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” said US Attorney Halligan. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”

Late in the evening of September 25, Tellis entered the State Department, where he served as an unpaid advisor, and appeared to print from a secret document on US Air Force techniques, according to the affidavit cited by AFP.

It said Tellis met multiple times with Chinese government officials at a restaurant in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia.

At one dinner, Tellis entered with a manila envelope but did not appear to leave with it, and on two occasions the Chinese officials presented him a gift bag, the affidavit said.