A State Department employee is being accused of secretly removing classified materials from secure locations and later meeting with Chinese officials in an espionage scheme dating back to 2023.
According to the Justice Department, Ashley Tellis worked as an unpaid adviser to the State Department and also did work as a contractor with the Office of Net Assessment at the Department of Defense, which has since been renamed to the Department of War.
Tellis is considered a subject-matter expert on India and South Asian affairs in role at the Office of Net Assessment, Fox News reported. He had been working with the State Department as far back as 2001.
According to an affidavit, Tellis is being accused of unlawful retention of national defense information. He held a top-secret security clearance, which granted access to sensitive information on national security and related matters, prosecutors noted in a court filing.
He was also employed as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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During a search of his Vienna, Virginia home, federal investigators recovered more than 1,000 pages of documents marked “TOP SECRET” and “SECRET,” prosecutors allege. On September 12, Tellis asked a co-worker at a government facility print several classified documents for him, court documents further note.
A little more than a week later on September 25, he allegedly printed a number of U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft technology and capabilities. Federal prosecutors further allege that he also met with multiple Chinese government officials over the last several years.
In one example from September 2022, Tellis met with Chinese officials at a Virginia restaurant. He was seen holding a manilla envelope while heading to the meeting, prosecutors allege.
During another restaurant meeting on April 11, 2023, Tellis and Chinese Communist Party officials were heard discussing Beijing’s relationship with Iran and emerging technologies, authorities said. He also received a gift bag during a dinner meeting on September 2 while once again meeting with CCP officials, according to court documents.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” said Lindsey Halligan, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Tellis made an initial court appearance on Tuesday and is currently scheduled for a detention hearing on October 21.
