Federal Prosecutor's Office Germany is investigating the former head of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), August Hanning, on suspicion of high-treasonous espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted high treason and acting for a foreign intelligence service, he announced Deutsche says.
According to information obtained by the journalists of the public broadcasters WDR, NDR and the newspaper Zeitung, investigators of the Federal Criminal Service (BKA) arrested Hanning early in the morning at his home in Nordwalde near Münster.
At the same time, another former senior official of the BND was arrested in Bavaria. We are talking about Manfred D, the former chief of staff of August Hanning, who worked in the BND until the spring of 2026.
Thousands of confidential documents
According to the investigators, at least until 2022, Manfred D. allegedly delivered top secret information from the BND to Hanning in exchange for money. It is suspected that the former intelligence director used that information in at least one case to create a security analysis for a foreign intelligence service. According to available information, in this case it is not about Russia.
In another case, Hanning allegedly used information from internal BND documents during communications with a foreign agent.
Investigators believe that approximately 2.000 classified documents were passed on to the former head of the BND. Among them, allegedly, were reports that were prepared for the so-called intelligence situation in the Chancellor's Office, that is, regular meetings of the heads of the German security services.
Documents on Iran and Russia
According to the results of the investigation, among the documents were extremely sensitive materials about the Iranian nuclear program and the Russian armed forces. Security sources say that among them was information that German services received from foreign partner intelligence agencies.
The release of such data is considered one of the most serious security incidents possible. There is a fear in the intelligence world that partner services could lose confidence in BND and limit the exchange of important information.
A case discovered entirely by accident?
According to the media, the investigation against Haning was launched after the search of his home and offices in September last year. That search was originally unrelated to intelligence work. The regional criminal service of Hamburg was then looking for evidence in the famous "Block" case. The prosecutor's office in Hamburg suspects that the heiress of the restaurant chain Kristina Blok ordered the kidnapping of her two younger children at the end of 2023 as part of a custody dispute. Investigators claim that Hanning was connected to an earlier kidnapping attempt, which he denies.
During the analysis of the seized data, the police allegedly found an electronic medium with very sensitive content. In it, BND documents were discovered, which Hanning was not allowed to dispose of under any circumstances.
His mandate at the head of the service ended in November 2005.
Secret investigation since May
After the disputed documents were handed over to federal authorities, the Federal Prosecutor's Office launched a secret investigation in May 2026 against Hanning and his alleged source in the BND.
For now, it is not known how long the former director received classified materials. According to security sources, the latest documents found date from June 2022.
Investigators are still trying to determine how the suspected official managed to get the documents out of the strictly secured premises of the BND.
An affair of historic proportions
For Germany's foreign intelligence service, this could be the second major espionage scandal in just a few years. The trial against the former head of one of the BND departments, who was accused of spying for Russia in 2022, is already underway before the court in Berlin. In that case, it was a matter of leaking top-secret data on cyber operations of the BND.
If the suspicions against August Hanning are confirmed, the case could turn into one of the biggest intelligence affairs in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Never before has such a high-ranking former government official been suspected of high treason.
A career at the top of the German security apparatus
August Hanning held key positions in the German security system for decades. Before coming to the head of the BND, he was in charge of the protection of classified information in the West German representative office in East Germany. Later, he worked in the Chancellor's Office, where, among other things, he coordinated the work of the federal intelligence services.
He became the head of BND in 1998. After leaving the service at the end of 2005, he became a state secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior. He retired four years later.
In recent years, Hanning has worked as an entrepreneur and security consultant. Until May of this year, he was part of the management of a controversial security company based in Switzerland. The German subsidiary of that company was also involved in the custody dispute between Kristina Blok and her ex-husband.
According to the prosecution, Hanning and a former provincial criminal police officer allegedly planned in 2023 to discredit Christina Block's ex-husband with false accusations of pedophilia. Investigators suspect that they tried to plant a hard drive with child pornography on him. That procedure has not yet been completed. Hanning previously denied all charges related to the Block case.
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