A former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service was taken into custody Tuesday on suspicion of attempted treason, with federal prosecutors accusing him of obtaining classified material and using it to prepare an analysis for a foreign spy agency.
August Hanning, who served as the leader of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, for seven years before stepping down in 2005, was detained along with a former BND office manager, according to federal prosecutors.
In a statement, prosecutors laid out the serious allegations against the former intelligence chief.
“Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage,” prosecutors said.
According to authorities, the alleged scheme dates back more than a decade. Prosecutors say Hanning reached an arrangement in 2010 with a former BND employee identified as Manfred D., who is accused of handing over confidential intelligence to Hanning in exchange for payment.
The scope of the alleged leak is significant. Prosecutors said the alleged accomplice supplied roughly 2,000 documents over the course of several years. Among them, authorities say, was classified BND material meant strictly for internal use, as well as senior-level intelligence briefings prepared for the German chancellery.
Prosecutors allege that Hanning used a portion of that material to put together an analysis for an officer working on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
The accusations do not end there. Prosecutors further allege that Hanning spent years passing political information to a representative of that same foreign agency.
Officials have so far declined to identify which foreign intelligence service is involved in the case. It also remains unclear whether the analysis Hanning allegedly prepared was ever actually delivered.
However, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the investigation does not concern Russia.
The arrest marks a stunning development for an agency that Hanning once led. A former chief of a nation’s foreign intelligence service is now suspected by prosecutors of using his access to secrets, through a former employee of that very agency, to benefit a foreign spy service.
The BND’s current leadership addressed the case on Tuesday. BND President Martin Jaeger said the agency launched a wide-ranging internal inquiry as soon as suspicions came to light.
Jaeger made clear that the agency is taking the matter seriously, stating that “there can be no compromises on internal security.”
The charges outlined by prosecutors include treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage. Hanning was detained alongside the former BND office manager, while Manfred D. stands accused of supplying the documents at the center of the case.
The investigation centers on an arrangement prosecutors say began in 2010, years after Hanning left his post atop the BND in 2005, and continued over a period of years as the alleged accomplice handed over thousands of documents.
Key questions remain unanswered, including the identity of the foreign intelligence service involved and whether the analysis at the heart of the case ever reached its intended recipient.
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