Ashley J. Tellis, a 64-year-old senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former National Security Council staffer, was arrested in Vienna, Virginia and charged with unlawful retention of national defense information under 18 U.S.C. § 793(e), according to a Justice Department complaint dated October 14, 2025. Prosecutors allege agents recovered more than 1,000 pages of classified materials from his home—some stored in filing cabinets and trash bags—with several documents marked Secret or Top Secret; Tellis is being held pending a detention hearing, and he remains presumed innocent.
Affidavit details reported by major outlets say Tellis allegedly printed or had colleagues print classified files and removed them from secure facilities in a briefcase; surveillance purportedly captured repeated removals in recent weeks. Media accounts also note multiple meetings with Chinese officials in recent years, though no charge alleges transmission of secrets; if convicted on the current count, Tellis faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per the DOJ, with a hearing reportedly set for October 21.
