Fairfax County, Virgina Senior State Department Official Daniel Rosen Arrest for Allegedly Trying to Have Sex With a Minor

Authorities in Virginia's Fairfax County are accusing a senior State Department official of soliciting sex from a minor.

Fox News reported Daniel Rosen, who serves as the department's director of counterterrorism programs and policy, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home in the nation's capital. He allegedly sought to arrange sex with a minor. A female officer working in Fairfax County's Child Exploitation Unit handled the arrest. The county detective had been posing as a minor in online exchanges with Rosen, police said. The State Department noted that it was aware that one of its employees was in custody, though it would not confirm Rosen's name due to confidentiality concerns.

"For issues related to department personnel and for privacy reasons, we are not able to confirm the identity of the individual or specific charges," the department's spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told Fox News on late Tuesday. "His security clearance will be suspended, and he will be put on administrative leave while this proceeds to its end through any judicial process. We are following standard procedure in this case."

Rosen could not immediately be contacted for comment, and it was not clear if he had hired an an attorney, Reuters noted. He was expected to be extradited from the District of Columbia to Virginia soon, the Los Angeles Times added.

It was not reported whether the diplomat is accused of having used State Department-issued devices in his alleged contact with the undercover detective.

Police refused to say whether any search warrants had been served at his home or work, but an unnamed source with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the State Department's security and law-enforcement arm, told Fox News that officers were "hitting (Rosen's) phones," meaning they were examining the devices for additional evidence. Such a procedure would indeed require a warrant.

Another unidentified State Department source, meanwhile, "downplayed" Rosen's role, Fox News said.

"Dan Rosen was not responsible for homeland security and foreign policy strategy and issues," the source insisted. "He was simply one of many office directors in the State Department's counterterrorism bureau."