Former German spy chief August Hanning has been arrested on suspicion of espionage, treason and obtaining classified information for a foreign power, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office says.
Hanning ran the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005 and later became a private consultant. Prosecutors allege he used BND secrets to draft an analysis for an unknown foreign spy and kept in touch with another spying service. The identities of those foreign powers haven’t been released.
Police also detained Manfred D, a former BND employee who acted as Hanning’s bureau chief until last year. He is accused of passing roughly 2,000 classified documents to Hanning in exchange for money, and faces charges of aiding and abetting treason.
Hanning was taken into custody at his home near Münster, while D was arrested in Bavaria. Both are scheduled to appear in court next week. Investigators recovered an electronic storage device containing sensitive BND files during the raids.
This isn’t the first BND controversy. In 2023, a high‑ranking officer named Carsten L was charged with passing state secrets about the war in Ukraine and the Wagner mercenary group to Russia, earning nearly €400,000 in return. That case is still in court.
The arrests highlight growing scrutiny over intelligence leaks and foreign influence—an issue that could reshape how Germany protects its national secrets.
