A foreign-policy expert who had an advisory role with the State Department is being accused of stealing classified information and meeting with Chinese officials several times.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday the arrest of Ashley Tellis, a well-respected scholar specializing in Asia and India, for unlawfully possessing national defense information.
“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,” said eastern Virginia U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, an appointee of President Trump.
“The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
Tellis was an unpaid adviser at the State Department and a contractor with the Department of War’s Office of Net Assessment, Fox News reported based on a Justice Department affidavit.
He is currently a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a prominent foreign-policy think tank that opposes the Trump administration. Tellis published analysis for the think tank as recently as last week.
Several left-wing foundations including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have funded the Carnegie Endowment, according to the Capital Research Center.
NR has reached out to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for comment.
Federal prosecutors said Tellis held a top-secret security clearance, giving him access to sensitive information. Tellis worked for the State Department dating back to 2001.
When authorities searched his home in northern Virginia, they found over a thousand pages of classified documents with “TOP SECRET” and “SECRET” markings, Fox News reported. Some of the documents he allegedly possessed contain information about Air Force capabilities, according to CNN.
Federal prosecutors allege Tellis met with Chinese officials multiple times over the past few years. On September 2, Tellis received a gift bag during a meeting with Chinese officials, court documents allege. It is unclear what information he gave to his Chinese connections.
China is one of the world’s leading threats to U.S. security and conducts espionage operations across American institutions.
Tellis made his initial court appearance Tuesday and has a detention hearing scheduled for next week. He was arrested and charged over the weekend in Vienna, Va., a suburban town close to Washington, D.C.
If convicted, Tellis faces up to ten years in prison.