August Hanning, the former president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), appears as a witness before the NSA investigative committee at the German Bundestag in Berlin on October 1, 2015.
Michael Kappelle/DPA via AP
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Michael Kappelle/DPA via AP
BERLIN — A former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence service, federal prosecutors said.
August Hanning, who headed the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005, is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying on state secrets, attempted treason and espionage,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Hanning, 80, was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen, southern Germany. A former aide, identified as Manfred D., was also arrested on Tuesday in Steinfurt, western Germany, and was charged with complicity in attempted treason and treasonous espionage.
Former employee allegedly provided BND documents to Hanning
“In one case, it is suspected that Mr. Hanning used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service,” Ines Peterson, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor’s office, told German broadcaster RTL on Tuesday.
“In another case, he allegedly passed on information following an in-depth exchange, also with an employee of another intelligence service.”
Neither Peterson nor the prosecutor’s office’s earlier statement revealed for whom exactly the two men were suspected of spying or for which foreign intelligence services they provided classified information.
The premises belonging to the two men were searched on Tuesday.
Former employee allegedly provided BND documents to Hanning
The prosecutor’s office said Manfred D. worked as Hanning’s chief of staff and then as chief of staff of several subsequent BND presidents from 2012 to 2026.
“As part of his duties, he had access to confidential information,” the prosecution said.
The two suspects allegedly agreed in 2010 that Manfred D. permanently transmitted valuable information from the BND to Hanning in exchange for payment, the statement said.
“Current findings suggest that over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained classified information intended for use exclusively by the Federal Intelligence Service for internal purposes, particularly for executive intelligence briefings,” the statement said.
Hanning used the information in private consulting work and Manfred D., who under German confidentiality rules cannot be identified by his full name, provided Hanning with classified information until June 2022, Peterson said.
Hanning suspected of involvement in major child kidnapping case
Hanning was the subject of a separate investigation into the kidnapping of Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block’s children from her ex-husband in Denmark in January 2024, part of a years-long custody battle.
The investigation into the case led to Tuesday’s arrests.
The current proceedings stem from evidence found during a search of Hanning’s home in connection with the case, federal prosecutors said.
Hanning and a retired official from the Hamburg state criminal police are suspected of having accepted a contract from Block in 2022 to kidnap his children while they were managers of a security company, the prosecutor’s office announced in the fall of 2025, according to the German news agency dpa.
The Blocks are a prominent Hamburg family, best known for their popular national chain of Block House steakhouses. The custody trial received a lot of attention in the country, with German tabloids providing extensive media coverage of the court.
A message to the BND for comment was not immediately returned.
German opposition lawmaker calls for rapid investigation
German opposition lawmaker Konstantin von Notz said he was shocked by the allegations against Hanning and called for a swift investigation.
“This is a hard-hitting and deeply disturbing story,” said von Notz, a member of the Green party and a member of the German parliamentary committee that oversees the intelligence services.
“We hope for a quick and thorough investigation into the blatant allegations against former BND leader Hanning,” he told Spiegel Online.
“We have been criticizing questionable and high-profile lobbying activities of former high-ranking officials and those with the highest security clearances in Germany for years,” he said, calling for a ban on former officials with security clearances from pursuing private consulting work after leaving office, Spiegel Online reported.
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