US court releases Ashley Tellis, Indian-origin US policy expert charged with storing secret defence files | World News
A search of Tellis’ Vienna home reportedly turned up over a thousand pages of documents marked “top secret” and “secret”. (File Photo)
The United States Drict Court for the Eastern Drict of Virginia Tuesday ordered the release of Ashley Tellis, an Indian-origin foreign policy expert who was arrested last weekend, charged with illegally storing sensitive government records.
The court ordered Tellis to be kept under home detention where he will locally monitored, and required to comply with the directions of the court.
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Federal agents found more than 1,000 pages of “secret and top secret level” documents at the basement of his home in Vienna, Virginia, a statement the US Department of Justice read. According to court filings, surveillance footage showed Tellis leaving several federal buildings, including a State Department office, carrying a briefcase that investigators believe contained the printed materials.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the Eastern Drict of Virginia, said in a statement during Tellis’ arrest.
The 64-year-old policy expert has long worked at the very highest levels of the US government, including as an (unpaid) adviser to the US State Department, and a contractor in Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment. During the Bush years, Tellis was intimately involved in negotiating the civil nuclear agreement with India.
