Overview

• A judge ordered Tellis detained pending a detention hearing next week in the Eastern District of Virginia, according to court reports.
• Agents executed an October 11 search at his Vienna, Virginia home and recovered documents from locked filing cabinets, a basement desk, and large trash bags, with investigators saying he cooperated by providing keys and unlocking a device.
• An FBI affidavit details late September and October activity that allegedly included printing hundreds of pages, renaming a 1,288‑page Air Force tactics file to “Econ Reform,” deleting it after printing, and concealing documents in notepads before exiting secure facilities.
• Filings allege multiple meetings with Chinese government officials from 2022 to 2025, including an instance where a manila envelope was no longer seen after a dinner and a later meeting where he received a gift bag, though no charge alleges the transfer of secrets.
• Tellis is an unpaid State Department adviser, a Pentagon Office of Net Assessment contractor, and a Carnegie senior fellow; he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted, and his lawyer says the defense will present evidence at the hearing.