Former BND chief Hanning arrested over a suspected purchase of 2,000 secret files

German federal prosecutors said on Tuesday that August Hanning, who led the Federal Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2005, had been arrested on suspicion of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, and attempted treason. Police also arrested a former BND employee identified as Manfred D, accused of passing Hanning about 2,000 classified documents for money. Prosecutors have not named the foreign services they say were involved.

Hanning has worked as a private consultant since leaving the service. Local media said he was arrested at his home in Nordwalde, near Munster. Manfred D was arrested in Bavaria. The BBC reported that Hanning was due in court on Wednesday and Manfred D on Tuesday. Prosecutors say Manfred D was Hanning's bureau chief and remained inside the BND until this year, serving as chief of staff to Hanning's successors between 2012 and 2026. They say he used that access to take highly confidential material and hand it to Hanning in exchange for payment.

The suspected papers, prosecutors told reporters, include BND material and intelligence briefings prepared for the chancellery. Hanning is accused of using classified intelligence to draft an analysis for one foreign service and of keeping contact with a second. Spiegel reported late on Tuesday that investigators were looking at a possible link to Azerbaijan and that Hanning had been in contact with an agent from that country. The federal prosecutor's office declined to comment on the Spiegel report. The Azerbaijan line is therefore a magazine account, not a charge.

Why a former chief is a different case from a walk-in

Germany has prosecuted intelligence officers before. It has not, in the public record of the post-war service, put a former BND president in a cell on a treason suspicion. A senior security lawmaker told Reuters that the arrest was unprecedented and could damage Berlin's intelligence relationships with allied services. The damage, if it comes, will not be from the charge sheet alone. Partners share material on the assumption that a former chief no longer inside the building cannot buy the current briefings. Prosecutors say that assumption failed, and that the channel was a man who stayed in the building until this year.

The number that matters is the 2,000 documents, not the two arrests. A single leaked cable can be contained. A multi-year flow of chancellery briefings, if the suspicion holds in court, means partners have to assume that assessments written between 2012 and 2026 may have left the building. BND chief Jaeger said the service had opened internal investigations after the suspicions emerged. Those inquiries are the part allies will ask to see. A public arrest without a list of compromised streams does not tell a partner whether its own reporting was in the stack.

What is charged and what is not

The prosecutor's wording is careful. Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage. Manfred D is accused of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage. Neither man has been convicted. The foreign power, or powers, are not in the public statement. Spiegel's Azerbaijan reporting is the only country name in circulation, and it is unconfirmed by the office bringing the case.

Hanning ran the BND for seven years, from 1998 to 2005, covering the Kosovo war, the early years after the 11 September attacks, and the start of the Iraq war. None of that period is what prosecutors describe. They describe a consultancy, a former bureau chief who stayed on until 2026, and a purchase of current paper. The court dates this week will show whether the suspicion is enough to keep both men in custody. The question for the service is older than those hearings: how a chief of staff could move about 2,000 classified documents out of the building, for money, across the terms of more than one president.