State Department adviser Ashley Tellis charged with hoarding classified documents at home [View all]

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 14 October 2025 23:18 EDT


A senior adviser at the State Department and expert on Indian and South Affairs is accused by the Justice Department of printing out classified documents and storing more than 1,000 pages of highly sensitive government records in filing cabinets and trash bags at home.

Ashley Tellis, who has also worked as a contractor in the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment, was charged in federal court in Virginia with the unlawful retention of national defence information after FBI agents who searched his home over the weekend found what they said was a trove of records marked as classified at the secret and top secret levels.

He was ordered detained on Tuesday pending a detention hearing next week. One of his lawyers, Deborah Curtis, told the Associated Press that “we look forward to the hearing, where we’ll be able to present evidence" but declined to comment further. An FBI affidavit cites several instances over the last month in which Mr Tellis is alleged to have printed on government computers, or asked a colleague to print, classified documents on topics including US military aircraft capabilities.

Surveillance video shows him on several occasions exiting the State Department and a Defense Department facility with a briefcase in which he was believed to have stashed the printed-out papers, according to court documents.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/us-state-department-classified-records-b2845559.html