Former German spy chief detained over suspected treasonous espionage

Former German spy chief August Hanning was detained on Tuesday on suspicion of attempted treason in a case that ranks among Germany's biggest intelligence scandals since the Cold War.

Prosecutors accused him of paying for secret documents and using them in an analysis for a foreign spy service. They did not identify the intelligence service and it was not immediately clear whether the analysis reached its intended recipient.

The arrest of a former head of Germany's foreign intelligence is unprecedented and could damage the country's intelligence relationships with allied nations, according to a senior security lawmaker.

"Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The Spiegel news magazine reported late on Tuesday that investigators were pursuing a possible connection to Azerbaijan. It reported Hanning had been in contact with an agent from the country.

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The federal prosecutor's office declined to comment on the report.

Hanning did not respond to a request for comment. The chancellery declined to comment.

Five years after his seven-year tenure as head of the BND foreign intelligence service ended in 2005, Hanning agreed with a former BND office manager to receive confidential intelligence information in exchange for payment, according to prosecutors.

The office manager, identified as Manfred D. in line with privacy rules, was also arrested on Tuesday, and both were due to appear before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice.

Manfred D. served as office manager to successive BND presidents until March 2026, potentially giving him access to some of Germany's most current intelligence at the time that prosecutors say documents were being siphoned from the service.

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'No compromises'

Prosecutors said D. is suspected of having supplied around 2,000 documents over the years, including classified material intended solely for internal use within the BND and senior-level intelligence briefings at the chancellery.

Those included documents relating to the Iranian nuclear programme and the Russian military, as well as highly sensitive material classified as secret by allied intelligence agencies in other countries, Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper reported.

Prosecutors said Hanning had used classified information supplied by D. to prepare an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service and for years shared political information with a representative of the spy agency.

The case does not involve Russia, according to information obtained by Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Conservative security expert Roderich Kiesewetter told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Tuesday that the case could strain relations with Germany's intelligence allies, saying espionage cases of this kind were "particularly burdensome for trust and particularly damaging for Germany".

BND President Martin Jaeger said the agency had launched extensive internal investigations as soon as suspicions emerged, adding, "There can be no compromises on internal security."

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Past spy scandals

Hanning's arrest is the latest in a series of notorious espionage scandals in Germany.

West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was forced to resign in 1974 after it was revealed that an East German spy had worked as his close aide for nearly two years. In 1990, senior West German counter-intelligence official Klaus Kuron was exposed as a Stasi spy and later convicted of treason.

More recently, former domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen said in 2024 he was being monitored by the security agency he once ran over alleged right-wing political extremism, which he denied.