Germany arrests former BND chief August Hanning over alleged espionage
Germany’s federal prosecutors have arrested former BND chief August Hanning and ex-agency aide Manfred D. over alleged espionage, attempted treason and the handling of state secrets. Prosecutors say Manfred D. supplied Hanning with about 2,000 internal documents for payment; the case puts the security of intelligence shared with Germany’s partners in focus, though investigators have not named the foreign services involved.
Bottom line — Prosecutors allege the document transfers continued until 2022; whether intelligence reached a foreign service remains unresolved.
Go deeper 6
-
Prosecutors say the men agreed in 2010 that Manfred D. would provide BND intelligence for payment, which Hanning intended to use in private consulting.
-
According to prosecutors, D. had access to confidential material while serving as chief of staff to successive BND presidents from 2012 to March 2026.
-
Prosecutors say Hanning used classified material to draft an analysis for a foreign intelligence officer, but it is not known whether the analysis reached its intended recipient.
-
Germany’s federal prosecutors have not identified the foreign intelligence services involved.
-
German public broadcasters WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the investigation began after sensitive BND documents were found during a separate investigation linked to businesswoman Christina Block.
-
The prosecutor’s office says Hanning also passed political information to a representative of another foreign intelligence service over several years.