US Accuses Foreign Policy Expert Ashley Tellis of Illegally Keeping Secret Documents

New Delhi: Ashley Tellis, a 64-year-old voice on US-India relations and long-time adviser on South Asia policy was charged with possession of national defense documents illegally. The Justice Department verified that Tellis had over 1,000 pages of classified information, which contained the top-secret reports among other classified documents, in his home in Vienna, Virginia. Tellis has a reputation of advising various administrations of the US with matters that touch on India and South Asia.

Being a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace, he has served as a member of the National Security Council in President George W Bush administration and worked with the Pentagon and State Department in other aspects.

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What are the charges against Ashley Tellis?

Court documents indicate that Tellis broke into Defense and State Department facilities and stole classified documents towards the end of 2025. There is even surveillance footage of him walking out of one facility with a leather briefcase that has classified material on the US military airplane capabilities. In October 11, the executing authorities had a search warrant and allegedly discovered the documents in locked filing cabinets, a desk in the basement office, and even black trash bags in a storage room in his house.

He was in cooperation with the police, Tellis says, providing a laptop on which he unlocked it with his fingerprint and allowed the officers to access cabinets

The alleged meetings that Tellis had with Chinese officials.

This matter has caused some additional concerns considering the reports that Tellis met with the Chinese government officials on a number of occasions. The FBI claimed that one of such meetings took place on September 15, 2025, in Fairfax, Virginia. At the meeting, Tellis was caught violating the meeting with a manila envelope that he was found to have had but never carried away with him.

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Also witnesses state that in April 2023, they have overheard Tellis talk about Iranian-Chinese relations and new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, at a dinner with Chinese officials. In a second case, the FBI accuses Tellis of having been given a gift bag by the Chinese representatives at a September 2, 2025 meeting.

What is at stake for Tellis?

In case of conviction, Tellis would be faced with very grave consequences, which include a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of $250,000. The Justice Department has also been categorical that it will prosecute anyone who handles classified information in an inappropriate manner as it has been made clear that national security is a major aspect.

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