Former top German spy chief August Hanning was detained on Tuesday on charges of espionage, treason and providing classified intelligence to foreign services.
Hanning, who headed the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005, has since worked as a private consultant. Prosecutors allege that he used his knowledge to draft an analysis for a foreign intelligence officer and kept contact with another abroad, though the identities remain undisclosed.
Co‑accused former BND employee Manfred D., once Hanning’s bureau chief and later chief of staff for his successors, is charged with passing roughly 2,000 classified documents for payment. He was arrested in Bavaria; Hanning was taken in Nordwalde, near Münster.
Investigators say 2,000 pages of sensitive material were transferred, some of which were used to prepare an intelligence report. In one case, Hanning drafted an analysis for a foreign officer, though it is unclear if the piece reached its intended recipient.
The arrest came amid separate scrutiny over former BND insiders. In 2023 a senior officer was charged with treason for passing Ukraine‑war intel to Russia, and recent investigations involve alleged Russian weapons caches in Germany.
Hanning will appear in court Wednesday, while Manfred D. is set to hear charges Tuesday. The case raises fresh questions about the security of German intelligence assets and the reach of foreign espionage networks.
