VIENNA, VA – Ashley Tellis, 64, a U.S. citizen residing in Vienna, was arrested on Oct. 11 for allegedly unlawfully retaining classified national defense information. Tellis appeared in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia for a detention hearing.
According to the Justice Department, Tellis, a senior advisor at the Department of State and a contractor for the Department of Defense, is accused of removing over 1,000 pages of classified documents from government facilities and storing them in his home. The materials reportedly included documents labeled SECRET and TOP SECRET, recovered from filing cabinets, a home office, and trash bags in his basement.
Tellis held a Top Secret clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information access and had been employed by the Department of State since 2001. Prosecutors allege he accessed and printed classified materials from secure systems and removed them from authorized facilities.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sue J. Bai stated that safeguarding national defense information “is a privilege and solemn responsibility.” FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky called the arrest “a stark warning to anyone thinking about undermining national security.”
The FBI Washington Field Office is leading the investigation with assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Schlessinger for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
