State Department Adviser Charged With Illegally Storing Classified Documents

A prominent foreign affairs analyst and senior State Department adviser was arrested over the weekend and charged with illegally storing sensitive government records after federal agents found more than 1,000 pages of secret documents at his home, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Ashley Tellis, 64, an unpaid adviser who also works as a contractor in the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment as an expert on Indian and South Asian affairs, was charged after F.B.I. agents searched his home in Vienna, Va., on Oct. 11, the Justice Department said.

Agents discovered more than 1,000 pages of documents marked “Top Secret” or “Secret” in two locked cabinets, a desk and three large trash bags in an unfinished storage room in the basement, according to an F.B.I. affidavit.

Mr. Tellis was charged in federal court with the unlawful retention of national defense information, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He appeared in court on Tuesday and was ordered detained pending a hearing on Oct. 21, according to court records.

Read more: New York Times