A former State Department employee and Pentagon contractor has been charged with illegally keeping classified records, after federal agents said they found hundreds of pages of such documents in his home.
FBI agents arrested Ashley Tellis, who served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to President George W. Bush, after searching his home in Vienna, Virginia, on Saturday.
Tellis, who once worked as a senior adviser to the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, was charged with the unlawful retention of national defense information. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to an FBI affidavit, on multiple occasions Tellis printed or asked colleagues to print classified documents about topics including U.S. military aircraft capabilities, news outlets reported.
Investigators also monitored Tellis meeting with Chinese officials, the affidavit states.
Tellis specializes in Southwest Asia and, in his previous roles, he was tasked with negotiating civil nuclear agreement with India, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he has been the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs. The think tank is aware of the allegations against him and has placed Tellis on leave, said Katelynn Vogt, the vice president for communications at the Carnegie Endowment.
“Ashley J. Tellis is a widely respected scholar and senior policy advisor,” Tellis’ attorneys Deborah Curtis and John Nassikas told MSNBC in a statement. “We will be vigorously contesting the allegations brought against him, specifically any insinuation of his operating on behalf of a foreign adversary.”
The Pentagon declined MSNBC’s request for comment, and the State Department did not immediately respond.