Ashley Tellis, a long-serving official with a Top-Secret security clearance who worked as a senior advisor at the Department of State and a contractor for the Department of Defense, was arrested on October 11 in connection with the alleged unlawful retention of classified national defense information.

Mr. Tellis, 64, of Vienna, Virginia, appeared last week in the Eastern District of Virginia for a detention hearing.

During a court-authorized search of his residence, investigators reportedly recovered over 1,000 pages of documents with classification markings, including those labeled SECRET and TOP SECRET. These highly sensitive materials were allegedly found in locked filing cabinets, a basement home office, and even in trash bags stored in a basement utility area.

“For those entrusted

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