Germany’s former foreign intelligence chief was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason in an alleged scheme involving roughly 2,000 internal intelligence documents.
August Hanning, who led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005, allegedly obtained confidential material from a former aide and used it in his private consulting work, according to The Associated Press.
Hanning sought to sell information from the documents to at least one foreign power, The Washington Post reported, citing German prosecutors.
German officials also arrested the former aide, identified only as Manfred D., who is alleged to have aided Hanning in procuring the classified information in exchange for payment. That man, according to the report, had worked as an office manager and former bureau chief — and had served as Hanning’s chief of staff for a time as well. He had allegedly made a deal with Hanning to provide information in exchange for money.
“Both suspects are believed to have agreed in the spring of 2010 to have Manfred D. continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the Federal Intelligence Service to Hanning in exchange for remuneration,” the federal prosecutor said in a statement. “Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage.”
Prosecutors said Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, including executive briefings meant for internal BND use only, and that Hanning used the material in his private consulting work and, on at least one occasion, to prepare an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service. Prosecutors did not identify the service, and it is unclear whether the analysis reached its recipient.
Current BND President Martin Jäger said internal investigations began immediately when the suspicions came to light, adding, “There can be no compromises on internal security.”
The investigation into Hanning began in 2025, as The New York Times reported, with a separate investigation into heiress Christina Block, who’d allegedly arranged the abduction of her own children from her estranged husband. That investigation led to a search of Hanning’s home — and the subsequent discovery of classified material there.
Other reports indicated that he’d been struggling financially in recent years, losing much of his pension in a bank investment that had gone poorly.
While Hanning is the first former agency head to be arrested on espionage allegations, prosecutors arrested a BND manager in 2022 — Carsten Linke — who was alleged to have sold state secrets to Russia. The case against Linke is still ongoing and is expected to conclude in January.
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