Germany Arrests Former Head of Foreign Intelligence and His Assistant on Suspicion of Espionage

Listen to the article The audio text is automatically generated by a machine system

German authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of August Hanning, who led the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for more than six years, along with a former aide, on suspicion of espionage and treason for providing foreign agencies with sensitive security information.

Although the federal public prosecutor's office did not specify in its statement which countries may have benefited from this information, this case is an embarrassment for German intelligence agencies that are seeking to enhance their capabilities and improve their reputation, especially in the face of the increasing Russian threat that Berlin is monitoring through espionage and sabotage activities attributed to Moscow.

Hanning led the foreign intelligence service from December 1998 to November 2005. His office director, Manfred D., whose full identity has not been disclosed, also served as an aide to Hanning's successors in the presidency of the agency for about 14 years.

The public prosecutor's office stated in a statement, "There is strong suspicion that Hanning committed acts of espionage that constitute treason... and collected information that falls under state secrets," in addition to "attempting to commit high treason... and acting as an agent for an intelligence agency."

However, Moscow is not believed to be the party that benefited from the activities of the two suspects, according to information obtained by Agence France-Presse. Manfred D. is suspected of being involved in "aiding and abetting an attempt to commit treason and espionage."

The prosecution added, "It is believed that the two suspects likely agreed, probably in the spring of 2010, that Manfred D. would regularly provide Haning with valuable information sourced from the foreign intelligence service in exchange for payment. Haning was supposed to be able to exploit this information for profit in his work as a private consultant."

According to the same source, around two thousand documents were transferred in this way until at least June 2022.

The current head of the agency, Martin Jäger, under whom Manfred D. worked until March 2026, told the regional newspaper "Rheinische Post" that he would not accept "any leniency regarding internal security," refusing to make any additional comments due to the ongoing investigation.

A judge is set to decide on the possibility of placing the two men in pre-trial detention after they were arrested during operations in the Rhineland and Bavaria regions. The magazine "Der Spiegel" published photos of Haning surrounded by masked police officers on its website.

Search operations are being conducted at locations linked to both men in several places, including the capital Berlin.