German authorities have arrested August Hanning, the former head of the country’s foreign intelligence service, and a former aide as prosecutors investigate the handling of classified intelligence.
The German federal prosecutor’s office said both men were arrested on Tuesday, 6 October, under warrants issued by a federal judge. Hanning led the Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, from 1998 to 2005. The second suspect has been identified only as Manfred D.
Prosecutors suspect that the men agreed, in around 2010 that Manfred D. to supply Hanning with BND information in return for payment. They allege that he passed on nearly 2,000 documents over the following years, many of them classified. Manfred D. continued working for later BND chiefs until March 2026 and had access to sensitive material, according to the prosecutor’s statement.
The statement alleges that Hanning used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. Prosecutors say they have not established whether that analysis reached its intended recipient. They have not named the foreign service.
ARD/Tagesschau, reporting an investigation with WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, first detailed the arrests and the suspected transfer of documents. Germany’s federal prosecutor subsequently confirmed the arrests and set out the allegations in its public statement.
The suspects were due to appear before a federal judge, who would decide on their continued detention. The investigation is ongoing. Neither man has been convicted in this case.
