Who Is Ashley Tellis, Indian-American Expert Charged Over Top Secret Files

Ashley J Tellis, a well-known US scholar on India who advised successive US administrations, has been arrested and charged with unlawfully retaining classified information and allegedly meeting Chinese officials. The US Justice Department has accused  Tellis -- who served on the National Security Council of former Republican President George W Bush -- of printing out classified documents and storing more than 1,000 pages of highly sensitive government records in filing cabinets and trash bags at his home.

Ashley Tellis, 64, is listed in an FBI court affidavit as an unpaid adviser to the State Department and a Pentagon contractor. 

Charges Against Ashley Tellis

According to an FBI affidavit, in September and October this year, Tellis was seen entering the Defence and State Department buildings and was observed accessing and printing classified documents, including about military aircraft capabilities, and leaving by car with a leather briefcase or bag.

The affidavit, sworn by FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Scott, details a meticulous surveillance operation that began after Tellis, late in the evening of September 25, was seen entering the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) at the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment (ONA) in Alexandria, Virginia. 

Video footage captured Tellis "printing multiple classified documents", including one marked top secret, and later concealing them within notepads.

"Tellis was observed... placing documents, including one classified at the TOP SECRET level, in and amongst his notepads, then straightening them so they aligned with the pages," the affidavit noted.

"He then placed the notepads containing the documents into his leather briefcase and left the facility."

On September 25, 2025, the affidavit said, Tellis accessed the Department of State's "Classnet" system, used for classified communications. Logs showed he opened and re-saved a 1,288-page US Air Force document, renaming it deceptively as "Econ Reform". He then printed sections of the file in multiple batches.

"Tellis clicked on the printer selection drop-down menu and selected a printer located at HST. At approximately 8:26 pm, Tellis pressed the print button," the affidavit said. He later deleted the file from the computer system.

Over the following weeks, investigators tracked his movements, culminating in an operation on October 10, 2025, when Tellis was once again observed entering the ONA SCIF carrying the same leather briefcase. Surveillance showed him reading what agents identified as previously printed TOP SECRET documents, which he again slipped into his notepads before leaving.

The following day, FBI agents executed a court-approved search warrant at his Vienna, Virginia, home. What they found was staggering. "Over a thousand pages of paper documents with classification markings at the TOP SECRET and/or SECRET levels", stored in locked cabinets, on his desk, and even in "three large black trash bags in an unfinished basement storage room."

Meeting With Chinese Officials And Arrest

It said Tellis met with People's Republic of China (PRC) government officials multiple times at a restaurant in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia, over the years. At one dinner on September 15, 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.

Prosecutors said that due to his employment with the State Department and Pentagon, Tellis possessed a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information.

A search of his home in Vienna, Virginia, on Saturday, October 11, uncovered over a thousand pages of classified documents with top secret and secret markings. The State Department said that Tellis was arrested on Saturday after searches at his home-- the same day the affidavit said he was due to fly to Rome.

Officials declined to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.

What Happens If Tellis Is Convicted?

The FBI's affidavit concludes that there is "probable cause" to believe Tellis wilfully retained classified defence information in violation of federal law.

Tellis faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the charges of unlawfully holding documents, the Justice Department said. 

"The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens," said Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for Virginia's Eastern District, who has become known for pursuing charges against critics of President Donald Trump. 

Who Is Ashley Tellis?

Tellis, a naturalised 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 deal with India that was seen as a landmark in building ties between the world's two largest democracies.

But in recent years, Tellis has become known as one of the most outspoken contrarians in Washington on the US courtship of India. In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs, Tellis said India was often pursuing policies at odds with the United States, pointing to its relations with Russia and Iran, and doubted that India would match China's strength anytime soon.