Ex-German Intelligence Chief Arrested for Espionage, Suspected of Leaking Secrets

August Hanning, the former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service (BND), has been arrested on suspicion of espionage, the federal prosecutor's office in Berlin announced Tuesday, September 6. Hanning is accused of state treason, collecting classified state secrets, attempted grave state treason, and acting as an agent for a foreign intelligence service. He led the BND from 1998 to 2005, later serving as a state secretary in the Interior Ministry and then as a private security consultant.

His former colleague, identified as Manfred D., is accused of aiding Hanning's espionage activities. German media initially reported that Hanning's actions were not linked to Russia, but later reports suggested the prosecutor's office was investigating whether he had passed information to China and Russia, with whom he had direct contact. Documents concerning Iran's nuclear program and the Russian army were reportedly found during a search of Hanning's property.

According to the federal prosecutor's office, Hanning and Manfred D. agreed in the spring of 2010 that D. would provide Hanning with valuable information about the BND's work for financial compensation. Hanning intended to use this information in his private consulting business. By June 2022, Manfred D. allegedly supplied Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of them classified and intended for internal BND use. These materials were reportedly used to prepare for intelligence briefings at the federal chancellor's office, attended by high-ranking government and security officials.

In at least one instance, Hanning allegedly used secret information obtained from Manfred D. to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service, though it is unclear if the material reached its intended recipient. Hanning also maintained intensive contact with an employee of another state intelligence service, sharing political information partly derived from the documents he received from Manfred D.

Separately, Hanning was previously investigated in connection with the alleged attempted kidnapping of children belonging to heiress Christina Block. In autumn 2025, prosecutors stated that Hanning and a retired Hamburg criminal investigation official were suspected of leading a security company that accepted a contract from Block in 2022 to abduct her children. The investigation began after a search of Hanning's home in September 2025 as part of the case against Block. In early May 2026, the case files were transferred to the federal prosecutor's office. Reports from November 2025 indicated that an Israeli national, David Barkai, who arrived in Germany to testify in the kidnapping case, admitted receiving money from Block to help her take the children from her ex-husband. Barkai, 68, is a former member of the IDF's special reconnaissance unit 504 and reportedly also worked for Israel's Mossad. The children's father claimed that Hanning, acting on Block's orders, involved not just a "Mossad agent" but former Mossad chief Dani Yatom in the operation. German media had also explored a theory involving Yaakov Peri, former head of Israel's Shin Bet, who allegedly assembled a group of Israeli intelligence veterans for the task.