Germany has jailed the man who once ran its foreign intelligence service. An investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ordered August Hanning, 80, president of the BND from 1998 to 2005 and later a deputy interior minister, held in pretrial detention on suspicion of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and acting as an agent of a foreign intelligence service.
Masked federal police officers detained Hanning at his home in Nordwalde, near Münster, on Oct. 6. His longtime aide, identified only as Manfred D., was arrested the same day in Geretsried in Bavaria and is accused of aiding and abetting attempted treason.
Secrets for cash
According to the Federal Prosecutor General, the two men agreed in spring 2010, shortly after Hanning retired and set up as a consultant, that Manfred D. would supply him with information for money. Manfred D. went on to head the private office of several BND presidents from 2012 until March 2026, giving him access to a large volume of classified material.
Prosecutors say he handed over roughly 2,000 documents until June 2022, many classified as state secrets. Reports by WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung say they included top-secret briefings prepared for the chancellor’s office, assessments of Iran’s nuclear program and the Russian military, and material shared by allied intelligence services.
Which country?
Prosecutors say Hanning used the material at least once to write an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service and for years passed political information to an officer of another country’s service, but they did not name the countries. German outlets report the beneficiary was not Russia. Der Spiegel reported that documents are suspected of reaching an Azerbaijani intelligence officer; Hanning sat on the board of the German-Azerbaijani Forum. The magazine also said investigators are examining a possible link to Chinese intelligence.
The scandal surfaced by chance. Hamburg prosecutors investigating the New Year’s Eve 2023–24 abduction of steakhouse heiress Christina Block’s children from Denmark, in which a team linked to an Israeli private security firm allegedly took part, searched Hanning’s home in September 2025 and found a storage device holding current classified BND files. Hamburg prosecutors allege Hanning brokered the Israeli firm’s involvement for more than 100,000 euros, which he denies. Hanning has also served on the advisory board of the U.S.-based group United Against Nuclear Iran.
"No compromises"
BND President Martin Jäger said internal investigations had confirmed the suspicions and that "there are no compromises when it comes to internal security." Marc Henrichmann, the CDU lawmaker who chairs the parliamentary intelligence oversight panel, said Germany would not "tolerate the betrayal of secrets." Never before in the history of the Federal Republic has such a senior former official been accused of treason. Hanning faces up to life in prison if convicted; both suspects are presumed innocent.
