Former German spy chief arrested on espionage charges

August Hanning, who spent seven years running Germany's Federal Intelligence Service before moving into private consulting work, was arrested at his home in Nordwalde near Münster on suspicion of espionage and treason. The German Federal Prosecutor's Office alleges that the former spy chief obtained classified information and passed it to foreign powers—a charge that has sent ripples through the country's intelligence establishment and raised fresh questions about how closely the BND guards its secrets.

The investigation centers on a relationship between Hanning and Manfred D, a longtime BND employee who served as Hanning's bureau chief and later as chief of staff to his successors. Prosecutors say Manfred D, who worked at the intelligence service until this year, handed over approximately 2,000 classified documents to Hanning in exchange for money. Many of these documents were marked for internal BND use only—the kind of material that, in the hands of a foreign intelligence service, could reshape strategic calculations. Manfred D was arrested in Bavaria and faces charges of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.

The specifics of what Hanning did with this material remain partially obscured. Prosecutors allege he used classified intelligence to draft an analysis for an officer working for one foreign intelligence service, though they have not disclosed whether the material actually reached its intended recipient. They also say he maintained close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service over several years, passing along political information—some of it drawn from documents Manfred D had provided—in what appears to have been an ongoing arrangement. The identities of these foreign powers have not been made public.

The case came to light in an unexpected way. Investigators discovered the classified documents on an electronic storage device while investigating a separate matter involving Christina Block, a Hamburg steakhouse heiress accused of orchestrating the kidnapping of her two youngest children in 2023 as part of a custody dispute. Hanning was allegedly involved in an earlier attempted kidnapping of the same children, which he denies. It was during this investigation that police found the sensitive BND materials.

Hanning headed the Federal Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2005, a period that included the post-9/11 years when German intelligence was reshaping its operations. After leaving that post, he moved into private consulting—work that apparently gave him both the motive and the opportunity to monetize his knowledge and connections. Manfred D's position as chief of staff to Hanning's successors between 2012 and 2026 meant he had access to the kind of highly confidential information that foreign intelligence services would pay for, and prosecutors say he used that access systematically, delivering documents to Hanning over a period of years.

Both men are due in court this week—Manfred D on Tuesday, Hanning on Wednesday. The case arrives at a moment when Germany's intelligence community is already under scrutiny. In 2023, a high-ranking BND officer named Carsten L was charged with treason for allegedly sharing intelligence about the war in Ukraine and details about the Wagner mercenary group with Russia. He reportedly received roughly €400,000 for the information, and his trial is still ongoing. That case suggested vulnerabilities in how the BND monitors its own people; this one suggests those vulnerabilities may run deeper than previously understood, reaching into the ranks of former leadership.