Table of Contents
- Classified Documents Found at Home
- Who Is Ashley Tellis?
- FBI Raid and Criminal Charges
- Political Tensions and Prosecutorial Turmoil
- What This Means for National Security
- Sources
Classified Documents Found at Home
In a case echoing high-profile mishandling of government secrets, Ashley Tellis—a senior State Department adviser and renowned expert on South Asian affairs—has been arrested for allegedly storing more than 1,000 pages of classified documents at his Virginia residence.
Federal agents from the FBI discovered the sensitive materials during a search of Tellis’s home in Vienna, Va., on October 11, 2025. The documents, marked “Top Secret” and “Secret,” were found stashed in locked cabinets, a desk, and even three large trash bags in an unfinished basement storage room.
Who Is Ashley Tellis?
Ashley Tellis, 64, is no obscure bureaucrat. He is a respected scholar and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs. His expertise in Indian and South Asian geopolitics has made him a go-to voice in Washington for decades.
Tellis previously served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush and currently works as an unpaid adviser to the State Department while also serving as a contractor for the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment.
FBI Raid and Criminal Charges
According to an FBI affidavit, Tellis allegedly printed or instructed colleagues to print classified documents over the past month. These included highly sensitive information on U.S. military aircraft capabilities.
Surveillance footage reportedly shows Tellis leaving federal buildings—including a State Department office—carrying a briefcase believed to contain the printed materials. Some of the documents were removed from a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), a secure space designated for handling classified intelligence.
Tellis was charged in federal court with the unlawful retention of national defense information. He appeared in court on October 15 and was ordered detained pending a hearing scheduled for October 21.
Focus on Classified Documents Raises Alarm
The discovery of classified documents in a private home is especially alarming given recent national security concerns. The Justice Department emphasized the severity of the breach, with U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan stating: “The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens.”
Political Tensions and Prosecutorial Turmoil
The arrest comes amid significant upheaval in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia—one of the nation’s most influential federal prosecutor offices.
Halligan, a former White House adviser with no prior prosecutorial experience, was appointed by President Trump after her predecessor, Erik S. Siebert, resigned under pressure for failing to indict political adversaries like former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Since then, the office has seen a wave of resignations. Michael P. Ben’Ary, the longtime head of the national security section, recently accused the department of prioritizing political vendettas over genuine threats to national security.
What This Means for National Security
While the full scope of the compromised information remains under investigation, the incident underscores persistent vulnerabilities in how classified materials are handled—even by seasoned policy insiders.
Unlike cases involving elected officials, Tellis’s role as a contractor and unpaid adviser blurs the lines of accountability. Experts warn that without stricter oversight of non-governmental personnel with security clearances, such breaches may become more common.
For now, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has declined to comment on the arrest of one of its most prominent scholars.
