The Manila Files: How FBI nabbed Indian-origin expert in tango with the Chinese

New Delhi,UPDATED: Oct 15, 2025 15:01 IST

For years, the FBI kept quiet watch over Ashley Tellis, the influential India-born foreign policy scholar once celebrated as a bridge-builder between Washington and New Delhi. Behind his polished lectures and policy essays, investigators suspected something darker: that he may have been surreptitiously walking classified secrets out of government buildings before rendezvousing with Chinese officials.

This week, Tellis was arrested from his Virginia home and charged with illegally retaining top secret information. An affidavit filed by the FBI has accused Tellis of printing top secret documents at US government buildings he had access to as part of roles he held with the US government and taking them away. The FBI said that a search of his home revealed over a thousand pages of documents marked "top secret" or "secret".

The FBI also claims that Tellis met Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years. The agency suggests, without saying it outright, that Tellis may have passed along "manila envelopes" in return for "gift bags" at these meetings.

Interestingly, while the FBI affidavit mentions the meetings with Chinese officials, it stops short of accusing him of espionage and passing secret information to the Chinese. The affidavit, however, does note that it does not include "all" the information available with law enforcement agencies.

As of now, Tellis is only charged with "unlawful retention of national defense information". He faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000.

PRINTING AND EXTRACTION

The FBI affidavit details how Tellis, a naturalised US citizen residing in Vienna, Virginia, printed and took away secret documents from the US Department of State and Department of Defense buildings on at least three occasions in recent weeks. Notably, Tellis had accesses to both the buildings and the documents due to security clearances he possessed as part of his unpaid role at the Department of State and a contractor profile at the Department of Defense.

On September 25, this year, surveillance cameras allegedly captured Tellis entering the State Department's headquarters after hours. He logged onto a classified computer system and accessed a 1,288-page Air Force manual and renamed the file "Econ Reform" before printing dozens of pages. Tellis allegedly deleted the renamed file minutes later.

Two weeks later, on October 10, Tellis is accused of visiting a Pentagon facility where cameras recorded him slipping what the FBI believes were top secret documents between the pages of a notepad. He was seen to have flattened the papers to align them perfectly before sliding them into his leather briefcase. Hours later, he drove straight to his Virginia home.

MANILA ENVELOPES AND RED GIFT BAGS

Perhaps the most interesting part of the FBI affidavit is what it says (and doesn't say) about Tellis's meeting with Chinese government officials. The probe agency has recorded at least four meetings since September 2022 -- giving an indication of the length of the agency's surveillance.

At the September 15, 2022 meeting, Tellis was seen entering the restaurant with a "manila envelope" while the Chinese officials arrived with a "gift bag". At the end of the meeting which lasted for two hours, Tellis "did not appear to have the manila envelope in his possession".

At two other meetings, the FBI says Tellis was overheard talking about "Iranian-Chinese relations and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence" and "US-Pakistan relations". And at the final recorded meeting -- in September this year -- Tellis was seen being given a "red gift bag" by the Chinese officials.

THE BASEMENT TROVE

Finally, the affidavit recounts happenings from this past weekend when the FBI carried out a search of Tellis's Virginia home. During the search, agency sleuths discovered over a thousand pages of documents that were either marked "TOP SECRET" or "SECRET". The documents were recovered from various locations at his house, including locked cabinets and a desk in the basement and black trash bags in a storage room.

All this has led the FBI to believe that there is "probable cause" to charge Ashley Tellis with "unlawful retention of national defense information". He was placed under arrest this week, a development that has sent shockwaves through the strategic affairs and think tank community.

STRATEGIST OR SABOTEUR?

For much of his career, Ashley Tellis was one of Washington’s foremost voices on South Asia. He was a key architect of the US-India civil nuclear agreement and a champion of strategic partnership between the two nations.

But in recent years, his tone hardened. Tellis became an India hawk, describing New Delhi as an unreliable partner that "often pursues policies at odds with US interests".

Now, in light of the allegations against him, India watchers are suspecting Tellis of a darker agenda – a motivated undermining of New Delhi’s standing in Washington from within.

- Ends