Ashley J. Tellis is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specializing in international security and U.S. foreign and defense policy with a special focus on Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
While on assignment to the U.S. Department of State as senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for political affairs, he was intimately involved in negotiating the civil nuclear agreement with India.
Previously he was commissioned into the U.S. Foreign Service and served as senior adviser to the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. He also served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to President George W. Bush and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia. Prior to his government service, Tellis was senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation and professor of policy analysis at the RAND Graduate School.
He is a counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research, the research director of its Strategic Asia program, and co-editor of the program’s eighteen most recent annual volumes, including this year’s Strategic Asia: Reshaping Economic Interdependence in the Indo-Pacific.
He is the author of Striking Asymmetries: Nuclear Transitions in Southern Asia (2022) and India’s Emerging Nuclear Posture (2001), the co-author of Interpreting China’s Grand Strategy: Past, Present, and Future (2000), and the co-editor of Getting India Back on Track (2014) and Grasping Greatness: Making India a Leading Power (2022). Other significant publications include Revising U.S. Grand Strategy Toward China (2015, co-author), Balancing Without Containment: An American Strategy for Managing China (2014), Atoms for War? U.S.-Indian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation and India's Nuclear Arsenal (2006), India as a New Global Power: An Action Agenda for the United States (2005), Measuring National Power in the Post-Industrial Age (2000, co-author), and Stability in South Asia (1997). In addition to many more Carnegie and RAND reports, his academic publications have appeared in several edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals.
Tellis is a member of several professional organizations related to defense and international studies including the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the United States Naval Institute, and the Navy League of the United States.
He earned his PhD in political science from the University of Chicago. He also holds an MA in political science from the University of Chicago and both BA and MA degrees in economics from the University of Bombay.
Thirty years ago, the idea that China could challenge the United States economically, globally, and militarily seemed unfathomable. Yet today, China is considered a great power. How did China manage to build power in an international system that was largely dominated by the United States? What factors determined the strategies Beijing pursued to achieve this feat?
An examination of President Joe Biden’s legacy for India-U.S. ties and the potential impact of a Donald Trump or Kamala Harris administration on bilateral relations.
Nuclear power represents an unfulfilled promise in India. Yet the ambition to become a developed economy by 2047 and achieve net zero emissions by 2070 will require large investments in nuclear energy—which in turn demand bold reforms in India’s nuclear estate and greater foreign participation in its nuclear industry.
Darshana Baruah’s new book discusses the Indian Ocean region.
Ashley J. Tellis joins Milan Vaishnav for the premiere of Grand Tamasha's 12th season to reflect on the Biden administration's handling of U.S.-India relations and the challenges at hand for the next presidential administration.
The Military Value of Beijing’s Growing Arsenal
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win a record-equalling third consecutive term in office on Tuesday when the 642 million votes cast in the world's largest election are counted.
The divisions in contemporary geopolitics are an inevitable consequence of colliding ideas and interests against the backdrop of American primacy. The United States should accept their reality while advancing its own interests in a competitive strategic environment.
India will soon hold the largest national election in recorded history and it is likely to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi in office for a third term. The last ten years in India’s history have witnessed conspicuous transformations. What do the next five years hold for India’s trajectory?
Join Ashley J. Tellis in conversation with Jason Furman, Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, and Mary Lovely for a discussion of how America’s foreign economic policy is changing, its global impact, and its implications for the near future.
