Ashley Tellis, US State Dept Employee And India Expert, Accused Of Secret China Links: Report

Before joining the government, Ashley Tellis worked as a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation.

Senior US State Department official Ashley Tellis, one of Washington’s leading experts on India and South Asian affairs, has been accused of illegally removing classified documents from secure facilities and holding undisclosed meetings with Chinese officials.

Ashley Tellis, who also serves as a contractor with the Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment, is alleged to have removed sensitive materials and engaged in repeated contact with Chinese representatives without authorization dating back to 2023. The FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division are leading the investigation, Fox News reported.

Officials have not yet disclosed the nature of the classified information involved or whether any national security data was compromised.

Who Is Ashley Tellis?

Ashley Tellis is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on international security, defense policy and US foreign policy in Asia.

A respected scholar and policymaker, Ashley Tellis previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the National Security Council and as senior adviser to the US ambassador in New Delhi. He also played a key role in negotiating the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement during his assignment to the State Department.

Before joining the government, Ashley Tellis worked as a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation and taught at the RAND Graduate School. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago and degrees in Economics from the University of Bombay.

Ashley Tellis has not commented on the allegations so far.