US: Indian-American Ashley Tellis arrested in the US on espionage charges

Washington. Ashley Tellis, an American analyst of Indian origin and a longtime advisor on South Asia policy, has been arrested in the US. He is accused of possessing classified documents and meeting with Chinese officials. According to court documents, 64-year-old Tellis is accused of illegally possessing national security information. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The US Justice Department reported that thousands of pages of “top secret” and “secret” documents were recovered from Tellis’s Virginia home. These documents were stored in his Vienna home. Tellis was arrested last week and formally charged on Monday. The FBI report states that he was working as an unpaid advisor to the State Department and a contractor for the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment.

A well-known name in US-India policy
Ashley Tellis is also a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joined the US government in 2001 and has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations on India and South Asia policy. Born in Mumbai and educated at St. Xavier’s College, he earned an MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago. For years, he has been considered one of the most influential analysts of US-India-China policy.

Serious allegations in court filings
According to court records, in September and October 2025, Tellis removed, printed, and brought secret documents home from Defense and State Department buildings. Surveillance footage showed him leaving the building with a leather briefcase. When the FBI raided his home on October 11th under a search warrant, secret files were recovered from several locations, including a locked filing cabinet, a basement office table, and black trash bags in a storage room. According to the FBI, Tellis held a Top Secret security clearance and had access to sensitive compartmented information.

Secret Meetings with Chinese Officials
The matter became more complicated when the investigation revealed that Tellis had met with Chinese officials several times over the past 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 leaving without one. Similarly, during a dinner meeting in a Washington, D.C., suburb in April 2023, bystanders heard Tellis and Chinese representatives discussing Iran-China relations and artificial intelligence technologies. The documents also mention that on September 2, Tellis received a “gift bag” from Chinese officials.

US prosecutors called him a “serious security threat.”
US Attorney Lindsay Halligan of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a statement, saying, “We are committed to protecting the American public from all threats, foreign or domestic. The allegations 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 $250,000.