A federal grand jury in Virginia has issued a new indictment against Ashley J. Tellis, a prominent Indian American scholar and former US government adviser. Tellis faces 11 charges of willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act. The indictment, filed on February 12 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, supersedes the previous criminal complaint that led to Tellis’s arrest in October 2025.
Tellis, who was employed by the US Department of State from 2001 until October 11, 2025, and also worked as a contractor at the Department of Defense, held a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information. The indictment alleges that Tellis unlawfully removed US government property, including classified documents, over the years.
According to the superseding indictment, Tellis retained 11 classified documents at his residence without authorization. These documents, dated between 2018 and 2025, contain information on Chinese nuclear capabilities, assessments of foreign military forces, vulnerabilities of a US military facility, and projections of future nuclear capabilities of foreign governments. Each count in the indictment corresponds to a specific classified document retained by Tellis.
Prosecutors emphasize that Tellis did not attempt to deliver the classified documents to any US government official during the period in question. The charges focus on unauthorized retention rather than transmission. Authorities are seeking the forfeiture of property linked to the alleged offenses, including materials seized from Tellis’s residence in October 2025 and any digital media used to store such information.
Court records confirm that Tellis is currently out on bond and is being represented by retained counsel. The prosecution is led by Assistant US Attorney Seth Schlessinger. Tellis, aged 64 and a US citizen born in Bombay, India, is known for his expertise in US–India strategic relations and his past roles in the State Department and the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration.
