Former Bush adviser charged with amassing top secret files | US national security

A prominent Indian American academic and former US government advisor has been arrested and charged with unlawful detention of national security information, including thousands of pages of top-secret documents found in his home.

Ashley Tellis, 64, who served on former US president George W Bush’s national security council and is known to have helped negotiate the US-India nuclear deal, was arrested and charged over the weekend.

According to court documents, FBI agents searched his Virginia home and found thousands of pages of classified and top-secret records. Because of his work at the State Department and the Pentagon, Tellis had a top-secret security clearance.

Tellis allegedly broke into a U.S. state department and defense department facility and “raided government computers or asked a colleague to print classified documents on topics including U.S. military aircraft capabilities.”

The FBI also accused Tellis of meeting with Chinese officials multiple times over the years and handing over documents in envelopes.

Tellis denied the accusations. In a statement, her lawyers said: “Ashley J Tellis is a widely respected academic and senior policy advisor. We will vigorously contest the allegations made against her, particularly any suggestion that she is operating on behalf of a foreign adversary.”

Tellis served in the U.S. foreign service and is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank in Washington, where he became a noted strategic expert on U.S.-India relations.

In India, where Tellis was born and where he is a regular foreign policy commentator, news of his arrest sparked a political storm. “The forces working against India are starting to unravel in ways few could have imagined,” said Amit Malviya, head of IT, the digital and social media arm of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), who took issue with Tellis’ critical writings on some BJP policies.

Tellis’ arrest comes as Trump administration officials, including national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, have vowed to prosecute people who mishandle classified information.

Lindsey Halligan, U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, said “charges such as those alleged in this case pose a serious risk to the safety and security of our citizens.”

A State Department official confirmed Tellis’ arrest on Saturday but declined to comment further. The Pentagon said it would not comment on ongoing litigation.