A State Department contractor stole thousands of pages of “TOP SECRET” classified documents and met with Beijing officials.
Ashley Tellis, an expert on India and South Asian affairs, removed the top secret documents from secure locations and met with Chinese officials.
The classified documents were located in Tellis’s Virginia home during a raid.
Prosecutors said in September 2022 that Tellis brought a manila envelope with him when he met with Chinese officials in a Virginia restaurant.
Fox News reported:
A State Department employee is accused of removing classified documents from secure locations and meeting with Chinese officials dating back to 2023.
The Justice Department said Ashley Tellis was an unpaid senior adviser to the State Department and also a contractor with the Office of Net Assessment at the Department of Defense, recently renamed the Department of War. He is considered a subject-matter expert on India and South Asian affairs in his role at the Office of Net Assessment.
Tellis began working for the State Department in 2001, court documents state. He is accused of unlawful retention of national defense information, according to an affidavit.
He held a top-secret clearance and had access to sensitive information, federal prosecutors said in court documents. He was also employed as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
RAID EXPOSES SECRETS: A State Department employee is accused of removing classified documents from secure locations and meeting with Chinese officials dating back to 2023. pic.twitter.com/M06TeGbNDA
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 14, 2025
Trump U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan is already firing on all cylinders.
Over the last several weeks, she charged two leading Lawfare Democrats.
This week, she charged a Chinese spy.
And she’s just getting started. https://t.co/Afsd3yf33N
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) October 14, 2025
(Read more: Gateway Pundit, 10/14/2025) (Archive)
Comments:
Vienna Man Arrested, Charged with Unlawfully Retaining National Defense Informationhttps://t.co/FdVQTm59p6
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) October 14, 2025
Bombay born guy has his own Wikipedia page https://t.co/KBOqjmBr1t
— Patrick Abbott, Author (@PatrickKAbbott) October 14, 2025
More context on the charges and arrest date 👇🏻 https://t.co/PddI0KFUNs
— Sougat Chakraborty (@sougat18) October 14, 2025
DOGE: Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached the U.S. Treasury Department’s computer security guardrails this month and stole documents in what Treasury called a “major incident,” according to a letter to lawmakers.https://t.co/hR9hEQJcSF
— @amuse (@amuse) February 7, 2025