Who is Ashley Tellis, Indian-origin expert held in US over China links?

Ashley Tellis, a leading US-India policy expert, was arrested for keeping over a thousand pages of top secret defence documents at his home

Ashley Tellis, an expert on US-India relations who has advised multiple US administrations, has been arrested and charged with unlawful retention of national defence information. Court documents reveal that over a thousand pages of top secret documents were found at his home in Vienna, Virginia, news agency Reuters reported.

 

Tellis, 64, served on the National Security Council under former Republican President George W. Bush. He is also listed in an FBI court affidavit as an unpaid adviser to the US State Department and a Pentagon contractor. He was arrested over the weekend and formally charged on Monday, according to documents obtained on Tuesday.

 

 

Apart from his government roles, Tellis is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a leading Washington think tank.   

 

Who is Ashley Tellis?

 

Born in 1961 in Mumbai, Tellis earned his BA and MA in economics from St Xavier's College, Mumbai, affiliated with the University of Bombay. He later pursued further studies in the United States, completing both an MA and a PhD at the University of Chicago.

 

Tellis has held significant roles in both academia and government. He served as a senior adviser to the US Ambassador in New Delhi and worked on strategic planning for Southwest Asia while on the National Security Council staff during George W Bush’s presidency.

 

As a senior adviser to the US Department of State, he was instrumental in negotiating the US-India civil nuclear agreement. Prior to joining the government, Tellis was a senior policy analyst and professor of policy analysis at the RAND Graduate School. He is an active commentator on geopolitics.

 

Tellis is now a naturalised US citizen. He has been advising the State Department since 2000, served on the National Security Council under President George W Bush, and continues to be listed as an unpaid adviser to the State Department and a Pentagon contractor.