A former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service has been arrested on suspicion of attempted treason after allegedly obtaining thousands of classified documents and using them to prepare material for a foreign spy agency.
August Hanning, 80, led Germany’s BND intelligence service from 1998 to 2005 and later served as a senior official in the Interior Ministry.
He was arrested on Tuesday alongside his former office manager, identified by prosecutors as Manfred D.
The allegations are striking because Hanning once sat at the very top of Germany’s intelligence system.
Now prosecutors say he may have used the knowledge and contacts from that world to gain access to material he was no longer entitled to see.
According to federal prosecutors, Hanning allegedly paid for access to secret BND documents and used the information to prepare an analysis for an unnamed foreign intelligence service. It remains unclear whether that analysis was ultimately delivered.
German media have reported that roughly 2,000 internal documents may be involved.
Some of the material was allegedly intended for high-level intelligence briefings at the German chancellery, making the case particularly sensitive.
Prosecutors have not named the foreign intelligence service Hanning is accused of assisting. Hanning’s former aide allegedly continued passing him classified material long after Hanning left the BND, with prosecutors examining whether that information was then used in his private consulting work.
The BND said it launched an internal investigation after becoming aware of the suspected leak.
Its current president, Martin Jaeger, said the agency had acted immediately to protect national security and determine how sensitive information may have left the service.
Just one day earlier, Jaeger warned that Germany was facing an increasingly dangerous “shadow war”involving espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks and other hostile activity below the level of conventional warfare.
2026-10-06 20:56:00
