James Rothwell, Joe Barnes and Alexandra Snow
Berlin: The former head of Germany’s top intelligence service has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and treason, in what could amount to Europe’s gravest postwar spy scandal.
August Hanning, 80, is suspected of spending 16 years illegally collecting classified documents and selling some of the information to an undisclosed foreign power.
Hanning – who was president of the Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, until 2005 – was arrested at his home on Tuesday morning (German time) in Steinfurt county, near the Dutch border. He was taken into custody under orders from Germany’s federal prosecutor.
During a separate raid, a senior BND official – named only as Manfred D under German privacy laws – was arrested at his home in Bavaria on suspicion of aiding in treason.
“Both suspects are believed to have agreed in the spring of 2010 to have Manfred D continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the Federal Intelligence Service to Hanning in exchange for remuneration,” German prosecutors said.
They also alleged that Hanning drafted an analysis for an officer of a “foreign intelligence service”, without identifying them, and said it was unclear if the material reached its recipient.
German magazine Der Spiegel alleged in a report on Tuesday that the analysis was prepared for the intelligence services of Azerbaijan, one of Turkey’s closest allies. Hanning is reportedly a member of the board of the “German-Azerbaijani Forum”.
The explosive allegations against Hanning are the latest embarrassment for the BND, which is still reeling from the 2023 arrest of Carsten Linke, a BND desk chief, for allegedly passing material to Moscow. Linke was charged with treason and his trial is ongoing.
According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, the data obtained by Hanning allegedly includes “highly sensitive situation assessments, classified material from foreign partner agencies, and reportedly also papers on the Iranian nuclear program and the Russian military”.
Nicknamed “Mr Security”, Hanning led the BND from 1998 to 2005, steering German intelligence agents through 9/11, the second Gulf War and the invasion of Afghanistan.
During his term, he led about 6000 agents on foreign intelligence work, worked closely with the CIA and MI6, and took part in a key weekly security meeting in the German chancellery.
Across all three roles, he would have been privy to highly sensitive intelligence gathered by allied agencies, as well as state secrets involving German security weaknesses.
German security sources said some of the high-level information the pair handled came from partner intelligence agencies abroad, raising fears that other nations’ human sources – either agents or informants operating in the field – could be identified through information that has been shared.
British intelligence agencies are now investigating whether their classified information or spies were compromised. Several US agencies are also believed to be undergoing a systematic internal review of all sensitive information shared with European allies during the relevant period.
The investigation into Hanning began virtually by accident in 2025, when police raided the ex-BND chief’s home in connection with an unrelated abduction case.
Police had been investigating Hanning’s links to Christina Block, the heiress of a German steakhouse restaurant chain who was suspected of abducting her children amid a custody battle.
During the raid on Hanning’s home, police allegedly found 2000 highly sensitive security documents which at that time he had no right to possess, having left the agency two decades prior.
Among the cache, reports on the BND’s senior leadership and briefing materials for the weekly intelligence meeting at the German chancellery were allegedly found.
Germany’s ARD broadcaster claimed that some of the information that Manfred D passed on to Hanning included material on the Russian army and from partner intelligence agencies abroad.
A key focus of the investigation is likely to be Hanning’s alleged links to Russia and whether any of the material he handled had fallen into the hands of Moscow.
Hanning made at least seven trips to Russia after leaving the BND, The Insider claimed in a report. He made the trips, often spending just a single day in Moscow, between 2015 and 2019, the news website alleged.
Manfred D was Hanning’s chief of staff at the BND and later also went on to work at the German interior ministry.
After Hanning’s departure, Manfred D served as chief of staff for several BND presidents between March 2012 and March 2026.
Hanning used the information he received from Manfred D in his private consulting work, German prosecutors said.
“On one occasion, Hanning used classified intelligence provided by Manfred D to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service,” their statement said. “It has yet to be determined if the material reached the intended recipient.”
Marc Henrichmann, the chairman of the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, said on Tuesday that Germany would “not tolerate the betrayal of secrets”.
“Whoever allies themselves with the enemies of our liberal democracy will be found out,” he told AFP. He said Hanning’s alleged behaviour would represent “trampling his official duties underfoot”.
Martin Jäger, the president of the BND, said the agency had “initiated comprehensive internal investigations at an early stage and without delay. These have confirmed the suspicion. The federal public prosecutor general has taken over the investigation.
“For the BND and for me, there can be no compromises when it comes to internal security. None of my goals or priorities are being called into question by this incident.”
Hanning has been a hawkish voice on Moscow in Germany’s national security debate. In a 2024 interview with The Telegraph, he warned that his country was “naive” and needed to “wake up” to the reality of a potential war. “Many haven’t realised that we are in a conflict with Russia – that’s been underestimated,” he said.
Hanning is known to have kept close relations with various Russian businessmen and organisations since his time as a diplomat in East Berlin in the late 1980s.
He appeared as a witness in a London court in support of Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch, who was known to be closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the time.
He also worked as a consultant on Russia issues for G3, a London-based consultancy firm.
According to Der Spiegel, one of Hanning’s favourite perks as BND president was being ferried around on a private jet.
But when police closed in on him on Tuesday, a much less glamorous form of transport was waiting outside his home to transport him to custody: a blue and grey Polizei wagon.
