Ashley Tellis, senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, photographed on March 15, 2014, in Mumbai, India. (Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint/Getty Images)
Tellis began working for the State Department in 2001, court documents state. He is accused of unlawful retention of national defense information, according to an affidavit.
"We are fully focused on protecting the American people from all threats, foreign and domestic. The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens," Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.
Tellis held a top-secret clearance and had access to sensitive information, federal prosecutors said in court documents.
During a search of his Vienna, Virginia, home, authorities found more than a thousand pages of documents marked "TOP SECRET" and "SECRET," the court documents added.
On Sept. 12, Tellis had a coworker at a government facility print multiple classified documents for him, authorities said.
On Sept. 25, he allegedly printed U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft capabilities. Federal prosecutors allege that he met with Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years.
In September 2022, he met with Chinese officials at a Virginia restaurant while holding a manila envelope, prosecutors said.
US DIPLOMAT FIRED FOR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH WOMAN WITH TIES TO CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
Dr. Ashley Tellis stands with U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on May 9, 2024. (X/@USAmbChina)
"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," it added.
"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," the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
It also described Tellis as 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."
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pentagon-advisor-accused-hoarding-classified-docs-placed-leave-prominent-dc-think-tank