German authorities arrested August Hanning, a former president of the country's foreign intelligence service, on Tuesday on suspicion that he passed state secrets to a foreign intelligence agency, federal prosecutors announced. The arrest marks a rare and dramatic case involving one of the most senior figures in German intelligence history.
Hanning, who is 80 years old, led the Federal Intelligence Service, commonly known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005. He was taken into custody in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen, a town in the southern German state of Bavaria, according to a statement from the federal prosecutor's office in Berlin.
Prosecutors said Hanning is "strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage." The charges carry significant weight in Germany, where the protection of classified intelligence material is treated as a matter of national security.
A second suspect, identified only as Manfred D. in line with German privacy conventions, was also arrested Tuesday. He was detained in Steinfurt, located in western Germany, and faces charges of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage. Authorities searched the premises of both men the same day.
According to the prosecutor's office, Manfred D. served as Hanning's chief of staff during his tenure at the BND and later held the same role for several subsequent BND presidents, continuing in that position from 2012 until 2026. Prosecutors emphasized that his long-standing role gave him regular access to confidential information.
The investigation alleges that the two men reached an agreement in 2010 under which Manfred D. would continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the BND to Hanning in exchange for payment. The arrangement, according to current findings, allegedly persisted for years and involved a substantial volume of sensitive material.
Prosecutors stated that Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents over the years. Many of those documents contained classified information intended exclusively for internal use by the federal intelligence service, particularly for executive intelligence briefings. Such briefings are among the most sensitive products of any intelligence agency, summarizing high-priority information for senior government decision-makers.
The statement further alleges that Hanning used the information in his private consulting work. On at least one occasion, he is believed to have used classified intelligence supplied by Manfred D. to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service. The prosecutor's office did not disclose which foreign intelligence service the two men are suspected of spying for, leaving key questions about the scope and direction of the alleged operation unanswered.
The case is particularly striking because Hanning spent decades at the heart of Germany's intelligence apparatus. Before becoming BND president, he held senior positions within the agency and was deeply involved in some of the most sensitive areas of German security policy. After leaving the BND in 2005, he remained a prominent public commentator on intelligence and security matters, frequently appearing in German media and before parliamentary committees.
In 2015, Hanning appeared as a witness before the Bundestag's investigative committee examining the National Security Agency surveillance affair, a parliamentary inquiry that probed the extent of cooperation between German and American intelligence services. His testimony at that time underscored his continued role as an authoritative voice on German intelligence matters.
The arrest of a former spy chief is likely to raise serious questions about internal oversight and security vetting at the BND. The allegation that a former president and a long-serving chief of staff could have maintained a covert intelligence-sharing arrangement for more than a decade — from 2010 onward — suggests potential vulnerabilities in how the agency monitors access to its most sensitive material.
Under German law, treasonous espionage and the passing of state secrets to a foreign power are among the most serious offenses related to national security. Prosecutions of this nature are handled by the federal prosecutor's office, which has sole jurisdiction over cases involving espionage and threats to the constitutional order.
The arrests also carry political implications. German lawmakers have in recent years debated reforms to intelligence oversight, including the powers of the parliamentary control committee that supervises the BND. A case involving a former agency president could intensify calls for stricter vetting, better internal controls, and greater transparency regarding how retired officials handle knowledge gained during their service.
Details about the case remain limited, as prosecutors have not named the foreign intelligence service allegedly involved or described the nature of the classified material beyond its internal status. The investigation is ongoing, and both suspects are presumed innocent until proven otherwise in German courts.
The full source article was cut off before all details could be reviewed, so additional information about the suspects' legal representation, potential court proceedings, or reactions from the BND and the German government was not available at the time of writing. Further developments are expected as prosecutors continue their inquiry into what may become one of the most significant espionage cases in modern German history.
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