BERLIN — A former chief of Germany’s foreign intelligence service was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason amounting to potentially one of the greatest intelligence breaches in the country’s post-Cold War history.
An allegedly paid informant who held high positions inside the foreign intelligence agency, or BND, is accused of providing August Hanning — the former head of the agency from 1998 to 2005 — with nearly 2,000 documents, many of them classified, over a period of a dozen years up to 2022, according to the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
Hanning is alleged to have used the information to profit as a private consultant, according to prosecutors. In at least one case, prosecutors say Hanning allegedly used classified information to create an assessment for an employee of a foreign intelligence service.
“The accused Hanning is under strong suspicion of espionage constituting treason,” the prosecutors’ statement read.
The allegations amount to a huge embarrassment for Germany’s scandal-plagued foreign intelligence agency. The BND has a history of being infiltrated by other foreign intelligence services — at times making Western spy agencies reluctant to share sensitive information with the agency.
In 2022, authorities arrested former BND department head Carsten L. on suspicion of spying for Russia, charges he denies in a court case that is still ongoing.
The allegations come at a particularly sensitive moment for the BND as the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz moves to grant it major new powers to hit back at Moscow, giving the agency much broader authority to perpetrate acts of sabotage, conduct offensive cyber operations and carry out espionage more aggressively.
Many questions will now be raised in Germany about how such a massive intelligence breach could have gone on undetected for more than a decade.
The alleged informant accused of having worked with Hanning was identified as Manfred D., Hanning’s former chief of staff. Following Hanning’s departure, Manfred D. went on to serve as chief of staff to several subsequent BND presidents from March 2012 to March 2026, according to prosecutors.
The material Manfred D. provided Hanning was used to brief the agency’s leadership for regular meetings at the federal chancellery attended by senior officials from federal ministries and various German security agencies, according to prosecutors.
Manfred D. is charged with “aiding and abetting attempted treason and espionage in the interest of a foreign power,” according to the prosecutors’ statement.
This story has been updated.
