Who is Ashley Tellis, US Policy Advisor on India Arrested Over Secret Files?
Ashley Tellis, a US expert on India, has been arrested and charged with retaining classified information and allegedly met Chinese officials, on Tuesday, sparking political debate in US as well as in India.
The Indian origin-US policy scholar was identified by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officer Jeffrey Scott in court filings. It alleged that the Indian-American geopolitical strategist may have passed down documents to People’s Republic of China officials on at least one occasion.
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The debate in India ranges from political parties blaming each other as Tellis has worked with both the Congress-led UPA and the NDA. The ruling BJP has alleged that he was part of the “anti-India” force and “celebrated by the Opposition”.
Who Is Ashley Tellins?
Born in Mumbai in 1961, Ashley Tellis completed his BA and MA in economics from St Xavier’s College. He went to the US for further education, and took an MA in political science from the University of Chicago as well as a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago.
After his studies, he choose a career in international relations and diplomacy, and became a senior policy analyst at RAND Corporation, an American non-profit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. He also served as a professor of policy analysis at the RAND Graduate School.
The 64-year-old man served as an adviser to the US state department since 2001. He has worked on the National Security Council of former Republican President George W Bush and is listed in an FBI court affidavit as an unpaid adviser to the state department and a Pentagon contractor.
He has helped the US several times to negotiate with India on key deals incuding the Bush administration’s civil nuclear deal. However, Tellis has been on the view that India was often pursuing policies at odds with the United States, pointing to its relations with Russia and Iran. He also doubted India would stand at China’s position soon.
The charges against Tellis includes the violation of federal law, discovery of classified pages at his home and in locked filing cabine in a basement office, priting out those data and file renaming and deletion after printing them. Apart from that, he is also accused of concealment of documents, meeting with Chinese officials, and planned overseas travel before arrest.
Tellis has authored books – India’s Emerging Nuclear Posture (RAND, 2001) and co-authored Interpreting China’s Grand Strategy: Past, Present, and Future (RAND, 2000).
