A Fox News guest terrorism analyst was arrested on Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on charges of falsely claiming to have been a CIA agent for decades, US prosecutors said.

Wayne Simmons, 62, of Annapolis, Maryland, bogusly portrayed himself as an "Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer" for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1973 to 2000, the US Attorney's Office for Virginia's Eastern District said in a statement.

Simmons allegedly tried to use that claim to get government security clearances and work as a defense contractor. At one point he was deployed overseas as an intelligence adviser to senior military officers, the statement said.

He faces charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud and making false statements to the government.