Police arrested the former head of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency, August Hanning, on suspicion of espionage, the federal prosecutor’s office announced Tuesday. Hanning was head of the agency from December 1998 to November 2005, before moving to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where he worked as secretary of state until November 2009. According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, the 80-year-old faces charges including alleged espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason and working as a secret service agent. He did not say which foreign intelligence service he is suspected of working for. The statement added that another former high-ranking BND employee was also arrested on suspicion of providing hundreds of classified documents to Hanning after his tenure as spy chief ended in exchange for payment. DW’s political editor-in-chief Michaela Küfner, speaking at a government press conference about the arrest, called the case “the biggest spy scandal of the century in Germany, unfolding in real time.” Hanning’s alleged informant worked as chief of staff for several BND bossesImage: Joko/Picture Alliance What else do we know about the investigation? Police arrested Hanning early Tuesday at his home in Nordwalde, near the western German city of Münster, according to information from WDR, NDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Hanning’s alleged accomplice, identified only as Manfred D. in accordance with Germany’s privacy laws, was detained in Bavaria. Authorities were conducting searches at both suspects’ properties as well as in Berlin, the prosecutor said. During Hanning’s tenure as spy chief, D. served as his chief of staff. He later also worked with Hanning at the Home Office until 2009. He faces charges of “aiding and abetting treason and espionage attempts against the State.” Marc Henrichmann, who chairs the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, said after the arrests that Germany “will not tolerate the betrayal of secrets.” “Whoever allies himself with the enemies of our liberal democracy will be discovered,” he said in statements to the AFP news agency. German opposition lawmaker Konstantin von Notz, also a member of the oversight committee, said the allegations were “deeply worrying” and called for a “prompt and thorough investigation.” The investigation into Hanning reportedly began because of his connection to a high-profile trial involving businesswoman Christine Block. 2,000 documents supposedly delivered to Hanning According to the prosecution, Hanning and Manfred D. would have reached an agreement in 2010. From 2012 to March 2026, D. was chief of staff for Hanning’s successors at the BND spy agency, where he had access to a large number of classified documents, according to the prosecutor’s statement. “The current findings suggest that, over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the Federal Intelligence Service for internal purposes,” the statement said. He added that D. allegedly provided Hanning with information until at least mid-2022, and that Hanning used that information in his private consulting work. Hanning is also accused of being “in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, to whom he passed political information, in part based on material provided by Manfred D., for several years,” the statement said. The two suspects are expected to appear before an investigative judge on Tuesday and Wednesday. Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher Don’t let the algorithm hide the news. If you trust our team for trustworthy reporting, please take a moment to select us as your preferred source on Google, so you always see our verified news first.
