Who is Ashley Tellis, Indian-origin expert in US, who came under fire for Chinese link?

Indian-origin , who worked as a consultant with the State Department and held many significant positions in the US government in the past, has been accused of removing classified documents from secure locations and meeting Chinese officials dating back to 2023. An expert on India and South Asian affairs, Tellis is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Cited evidence against Ashley Tellis

His house was searched recently and authorities found more than a thousand pages of documents marked 'Top secret' and 'secret. According to the government affidavit, Tellis got multiple classified documents from a government facility printer on September 12.


On Sept. 25, he allegedly printed U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft capabilities.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Tellis met with Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years.

In September 2022, he met with Chinese officials at a Virginia restaurant while holding a manila envelope, prosecutors said.

During a meeting on April 11, 2023, Tellis and Chinese officials were heard talking about Iranian-Chinese relations and emerging technologies while dining at a restaurant, authorities said.

Also Read: Ashley Tellis

Who is Ashley Tellis?

Born in 1961 in Mumbai, India, Tellis completed his BA and MA in economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, under the University of Bombay. He then earned a PhD and an MA from the University of Chicago. He served as a senior adviser to the US Ambassador in New Delhi and was involved in strategic planning and Southwest Asia on the National Security Council staff during the George W. Bush administration. As a senior adviser to the US Department of State, Tellis played a key role in negotiating the US- India civil nuclear agreement. Before his government service, he was a senior policy analyst and professor of policy analysis at the RAND Graduate School. He currently holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and serves as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

His latest article on geopolitics was about 'India's great power delusions', where he wrote how New Delhi's grand strategy thwarts its grand ambitions.