Indian-American expert Ashley Tellis espionage case dismissed by US judge

WASHINGTON: A federal judge in Virginia has dismissed without prejudice an Espionage Act case against Indian-American strategic affairs scholar Ashley J. Tellis, ruling in favour of a defence argument that prosecutors used the wrong statutory provision in charging him with unlawful retention of classified documents.

US District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff granted Tellis’ motion to dismiss on April 16 after hearing arguments from both sides in Alexandria, Virginia. The brief court order said the motion was “GRANTED” and that the case was “DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”

Tellis, a well-known scholar of international security and US foreign policy, had been charged under Section 793(e) of the Espionage Act with wilful retention of national defence information. Prosecutors alleged he removed and stored classified documents at his residence while serving in senior positions linked to the US State Department and the Department of War.

The superseding indictment accused Tellis of retaining 11 classified documents containing national defence information. The government alleged that he “exploited his access to classified information related to the national defence by secreting NDI from his secure workplaces and storing said NDI at his personal residence in hard copy and digital form.”

But Tellis’ legal team argued that the government charged him under the wrong subsection of the Espionage Act. In a detailed filing, his lawyers said Section 793(e) applies only to people in “unauthorised possession” of classified information, while the indictment itself acknowledged that Tellis held a high-level security clearance and had been “entrusted” with access to sensitive material.

The defence argued that Tellis “was entrusted with the relevant documents” and therefore could not legally fall under the subsection prosecutors chose.