Former BND intelligence chief August Hanning and a former senior aide were arrested Tuesday in Germany on suspicion of espionage, treason, and passing approximately 2,000 classified documents in exchange for remuneration over more than a decade.
German authorities arrested August Hanning, who led the Federal Intelligence Service from December 1998 to November 2005 before serving as state secretary at the Federal Interior Ministry until November 2009. The federal prosecutor’s office announced the arrests on Tuesday, describing the allegations against Hanning as treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and working as a secret service agent.
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office reports that former German spy chief August Hanning has been taken into custody on allegations of treason, espionage, and acquiring classified data for a foreign government. Between 1998 and 2005, Hanning led the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and he has subsequently worked as a private consultant. Investigators also conducted searches at properties linked to the former intelligence chief in Berlin and other locations.
August Hanning and Manfred D. Face Treason Allegations
Alongside Hanning, police arrested a second suspect identified under German privacy laws as Manfred D., who served as Hanning’s chief of staff during his tenure at the BND. Prosecutors charge Manfred D. with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.
After Hanning left the agency, Manfred D. remained inside the BND as chief of staff for successive agency presidents from March 2012 until March 2026. Investigators allege that the two men reached an agreement in the spring of 2010 to establish a continuous pipeline of confidential government papers. Following his departure from the BND in November 2005, Hanning assumed the role of head of security agencies under Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), while the informant linked to him had previously served as chief of staff to multiple BND directors.
Prosecutors state that Hanning used the information in his private consulting work.
Prosecutors Accuse Hanning of Sharing Intelligence with Foreign Spies
Investigators accuse Hanning of maintaining direct communication with representatives of foreign spy services. Prosecutors state that he was in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, passing along political information partially derived from the material supplied by Manfred D. over a period of several years.
In addition, federal prosecutors point to a specific instance where Hanning used classified intelligence provided by his former aide to draft an analytical report for an officer belonging to a foreign intelligence service. Prosecutors said it was not clear if the material reached the intended recipient
when Hanning sought to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service.
The prosecutor’s office has not publicly identified the foreign countries or intelligence services involved in the alleged espionage network. Both suspects are scheduled to appear before an investigating judge on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Christina Block Investigation Triggers BND Scrutiny
The probe that uncovered the classified documents stemmed from an unrelated legal proceeding involving Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block. Prosecutors in Hamburg accused Block of orchestrating the abduction of her two youngest children in 2023 amid a bitter custody dispute. The subsequent investigation into the Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block and two additional suspects, all linked to the alleged abduction of her biological children, ultimately led authorities to the pair. In that case, Mr Hanning and a retired police officer were accused of accepting a commission from Ms Block of more than €100,000 (£85,000) in exchange for returning the children from Denmark, where they were living with Ms Block’s ex-husband. Investigators previously examined Hanning’s alleged involvement in an earlier attempted kidnapping related to that case, which he denies.
During property searches connected to the Block investigation in September 2025, state criminal police discovered electronic storage devices containing sensitive BND materials. That discovery triggered the expanded espionage inquiry.
Parliamentary Reaction to the Arrests
Marc Henrichmann, who chairs the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, condemned the alleged security breaches in comments to the AFP news agency. He asserted that the government will not tolerate the betrayal of secrets.
Michaela Küfner, DW’s chief political editor, characterized the situation during her coverage of a government press briefing regarding the arrest as Germany’s biggest espionage scandal of the century unfolding in real time.
