Indian-Origin US Advisor Ashley Tellis Arrested Over Classified Documents, Alleged China Links
Ashley Tellis, an Indian-born American foreign policy expert and long-time advisor to the US State Department, has been arrested for allegedly retaining classified national defence documents and holding undisclosed meetings with Chinese officials.
The 64-year-old, known for his key role in shaping the India-US civil nuclear deal, was charged on October 13 in a Virginia district court.
Investigators discovered over 1,000 pages of top-secret and secret documents at his residence in Vienna, Virginia, stored in filing cabinets and rubbish bags. Surveillance footage reportedly showed Tellis printing and concealing classified materials, including a 1,288-page Air Force tactics file he renamed “Econ Reform.”
Court documents reveal that Tellis met with Chinese officials multiple times between 2022 and 2025, where discussions included sensitive geopolitical topics such as US-Pakistan relations and Iran-China ties. Before his arrest, he served as an unpaid senior adviser at the State Department and a contractor with the Defence Department’s Office of Net Assessment. He also held a senior fellowship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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