WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Indian-American analyst Ashley Tellis, who was arrested by the FBI earlier this month, has allegedly removed more than a thousand pages of classified national defense information from government facilities and storing them in his home, Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division told the court.
Ashley Tellis, 64, a senior advisor at the Department of State and a contractor within the Department of Defense, was arrested on October 11 in connection with his alleged unlawful retention of classified national defense information. Tellis appeared Tuesday in the Eastern District of Virginia for a detention hearing.
According to court documents, Tellis held a Top Secret security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information access. He has worked for the U.S. Department of State since 2001 and currently serves in addition as a contractor for the Department of Defense's Office of Net Assessment. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
As alleged, Tellis accessed classified documents on multiple occasions from secured facilities, including a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility at the Department of Defense and a secure computer system at the Department of State. In one instance, Tellis altered the filename of a classified document, printed portions of it under the altered title, and then deleted the re-named file. In another incident, he was observed placing classified materials into a notepad and concealing them within his personal briefcase before leaving a secured government facility.
During a court-authorized search of Tellis's residence, investigators recovered more than 1,000 pages of documents with classification markings, including materials labeled SECRET and/or TOP SECRET. These documents were found in locked filing cabinets, in a basement home office, and in trash bags stored in a basement utility area.
The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with valuable assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service.
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