Ashley Tellis, an Indian-origin foreign policy expert on US and South Asian affairs, was arrested over the weekend after more than a thousand pages of US top-secret documents were allegedly found at his home.
He has been charged with the unlawful retention of national defence information, the US Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Mr. Tellis, 64, grew up in Mumbai City before moving to the US to study. He has worked closely with the US government for years and is a senior adviser in the State Department.
His lawyers, Deborah Curtis and John Nassikas, have denied the charges against him, saying that they would be “vigorously contesting” them.
“Ashley J. Tellis is a widely respected scholar and senior policy advisor,” his lawyers said in a statement, and added that they would contest the allegations brought against him, specifically any insinuation of his operating on behalf of a foreign adversary.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” the DoJ statement quoted Lindsey Halligan, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as saying.
If convicted, Mr Tellis can face a maximum prison term of 10 years and up to a $250,000 fine, the statement added.
Mr. Tellis has held many important roles in the US government.
He served on the National Security Council of former President George W. Bush and is currently a contractor with the Office of Net Assessment at the Department of Defense, renamed the Department of War by the Trump administration.
His influential position gave him top-secret clearance and allowed him to access sensitive information, according to court documents accessed by the Reuters news agency.
The agency reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affidavit accompanying the charge document cites several incidents over the past two months where Mr. Tellis allegedly entered the State and Defence buildings and was seen printing classified documents, including information about US military aircraft capabilities.
Surveillance video reportedly captured him leaving the building with a briefcase or a bag.
The FBI also said that Mr Tellis met Chinese government officials many times in recent years. The affidavit noted one such meeting in September 2022 at a restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia, where Mr. Tellis is said to have arrived with a manila envelope but did not appear to have it when he left.
The affidavit also stated that a search of Mr Tellis’ residence in Vienna, Virginia, on Saturday uncovered more than 1,000 pages of classified documents with “top secret” and “secret” markings on them.
In the past, Mr. Tellis has commented extensively on US-India-China relations in the Indian and international press. He is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Earlier this month, he was interviewed by prominent Indian journalist Karan Thapar, during which he spoke about Trump’s steep tariffs on India and Delhi’s strategic importance to Washington.
