State Department adviser Ashley Tellis charged with hoarding classified documents at home

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 14 October 2025 23:18 EDT


A senior adviser at the State Department and expert on Indian and South Affairs is accused by the Justice Department of printing out classified documents and storing more than 1,000 pages of highly sensitive government records in filing cabinets and trash bags at home.

Ashley Tellis, who has also worked as a contractor in the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment, was charged in federal court in Virginia with the unlawful retention of national defence information after FBI agents who searched his home over the weekend found what they said was a trove of records marked as classified at the secret and top secret levels.

He was ordered detained on Tuesday pending a detention hearing next week. One of his lawyers, Deborah Curtis, told the Associated Press that “we look forward to the hearing, where we’ll be able to present evidence" but declined to comment further. An FBI affidavit cites several instances over the last month in which Mr Tellis is alleged to have printed on government computers, or asked a colleague to print, classified documents on topics including US military aircraft capabilities.

Surveillance video shows him on several occasions exiting the State Department and a Defense Department facility with a briefcase in which he was believed to have stashed the printed-out papers, according to court documents.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/us-state-department-classified-records-b2845559.html

[Irish_Dem]

1. Are they legit or bogus charges? We no longer know.

[kerouac2]

2. Should have stored it at maralago

In a spare room. That would have been fine...

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Reality Winner was sentenced to 5 years for one document.

[slightlv]

10. And I'll lay odds Mr. Tellis

receives nothing more than slap on the wrist, if that. When the big man, himself, is not only let off completely and even makes it a campaign point in his favor, how in the hell can they charge ANYONE else? Rule of law for thee but not for me? Is that the standard we're now living under?

[sinkingfeeling]

12. They're going after Bolton for that as well.

[FakeNoose]

4. I always scratch my head when I read about "printing documents out on paper"

There are many easier, safer ways to steal documents. Was she really trying to get caught?

.... ....

[Blues Heron]

5. He not she

[slightlv]

11. Weird name for a guy, tho... my first thought was female, too...

I don't think I've ever heard of, let alone known, a male Ashley. In fact, I would have figured it was woman around the ages of 30-40 because of the way the names run generationally.

[FakeNoose]

13. "Ashley Wilkes" is the male character in Gone With The Wind

But yes, it would be normal to assume someone named Ashley is a woman.

Be that as it may, my point was the printing of secret documents on paper. That's how he got caught, because they were printed out. There are many easier ways to steal documents that don't include creating a paper trail.

[travelingthrulife]

6. So Trump did the same thing only a lot more and a lot longer.

[rzemanfl]

7. Is this the Eastern District?

Asking for myself.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Yup it is

(confirmed in a NYT article)

The same one with the "fake" U.S.Attorney!

[rzemanfl]

9. Thanks.

I suspected that, but am on a tiny device and couldn’t check myself.

The “he had a briefcase” sounded really dumb.