A leading expert on US-India relations who has advised multiple US administrations has been arrested and charged with unlawfully retaining national defence information, including more than a thousand pages of classified material, court documents showed.
Ashley Tellis, 64, who served on the National Security Council under former President George W. Bush, was arrested over the weekend and charged on Monday, according to an FBI affidavit.
Tellis is listed as an unpaid adviser to the State Department and a contractor for the Pentagon.
He is also a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed the arrest but declined to comment further, while a Pentagon official said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
The FBI affidavit said that in September and October this year, Tellis entered Defence and State Department buildings and was observed accessing and printing classified documents, including materials related to military aircraft capabilities.
He was later seen leaving the premises with a leather briefcase or bag.
During a search of his home in Vienna, Virginia, on Saturday, agents discovered more than a thousand pages of classified documents, many marked "top secret" or "secret," according to the affidavit.
The document also said Tellis had met Chinese government officials on several occasions in recent years, including at a dinner in Fairfax, Virginia, on September 15.
It said Tellis arrived with a manila envelope that he did not appear to have when he left.
Due to his employment with the State Department and the Pentagon, Tellis held a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information, the affidavit added.
The Justice Department said that if convicted, Tellis faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
"We are fully focused on protecting the American people from all threats, foreign and domestic," said Lindsey Halligan, US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
"The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens."
