Berlin wants spies who can sabotage. Its ex-spy chief is accused of selling secrets.

August Hanning, Germany's former foreign intelligence chief, was arrested on October 6, 2026, accused by prosecutors of paying an insider for about 2,000 BND documents over 12 years. The alleged supplier served as chief of staff to successive agency presidents. The arrest came one day after the current chief promised lawmakers a "new BND" with wider powers. ^{[1] [2] [6]}

Federal prosecutors suspect Hanning, 80, of espionage, attempted treason and spying out state secrets. They say he used some of the documents in private consulting work, prepared an analysis using classified information for an employee of a foreign intelligence service and exchanged political information over several years with an employee of another foreign service. His former chief of staff, identified as Manfred D., was arrested the same day on suspicion of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage. ^{[1] [2]}

These are prosecutorial allegations, not findings. Neither foreign service has been named, and it is not established whether the analysis reached its intended recipient. No response from Hanning to the espionage allegations has been published. Both men were due before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice, with no custody decision yet reported. ^{[2] [5]}

The timing hurts Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government. It is asking parliament to authorise sabotage and offensive cyber operations by the BND, while prosecutors investigate whether secrets were bought from inside its executive offices. On October 5, BND president Martin Jäger warned lawmakers that Germany risked being drawn into a "violent conflict" with Russia. ^{[2] [4] [6]}

That warning does not establish any Russian connection to Hanning's alleged conduct. The political collision is nevertheless direct: Berlin must make the case for a more powerful intelligence service while explaining how its existing secrets were protected.

A paid channel into the president's office

The alleged arrangement began in spring 2010, shortly after Hanning left government. Prosecutors say he and Manfred D. agreed that the latter would continuously supply BND intelligence in return for payment. The transfers allegedly continued until June 2022. ^{[2] [5]}

Prosecutors describe a sustained supply of documents, not an occasional exchange of professional gossip. Many of the roughly 2,000 documents were classified for internal BND use, particularly for intelligence briefings prepared for the agency's leadership. Manfred D. served as chief of staff to several successive BND presidents from March 2012 until March 2026, giving him access to confidential information at the highest level. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The dates matter. The alleged supply arrangement began before that period of service and continued across changes at the top. If established, it would represent a prolonged failure to contain an insider with access to the executive offices, rather than the loss of a single file.

The material allegedly supplied was used to brief the agency's leadership for regular meetings at the chancellery attended by senior ministry and security officials. Subjects included the Iranian nuclear programme and assessments of Russia's armed forces. Intelligence from foreign partner agencies was also shared at those meetings. ^{[1] [3]}

That gives the damage assessment an international dimension. Germany would need to establish not only what happened to its own intelligence, but whether information entrusted to it by others was exposed. Deutsche Welle reported that the case could undermine those partners' trust in the BND. No public account establishes which partner information, if any, reached a foreign service. ^[3]

Hanning led the BND from December 1998 to November 2005, then served as state secretary at the Interior Ministry until November 2009 before entering security consulting. Prosecutors say he used information supplied by Manfred D. in that consulting work. The alleged route out of government is central to the case: expertise could be sold legitimately, classified documents could not. ^{[1] [3] [5]}

A lawyer by training, Hanning joined the Federal Chancellery in 1981, later worked at the mission to East Berlin and coordinated the federal intelligence services before becoming BND president. He spent decades close to Germany's security machinery before moving into private business. ^[5]

Federal prosecutor's office spokesperson Ines Peterson described the two alleged foreign-service connections in an interview with broadcaster RTL. One concerned the analysis prepared using classified information. The other concerned an "intensive exchange" of political information over several years. Prosecutors' public account does not establish that all the documents allegedly supplied to Hanning were passed abroad. ^[2]

A German intelligence official speaking anonymously to Politico about the ongoing investigation said neither Russian nor Chinese intelligence agencies were involved. Prosecutors have not publicly confirmed that account. The services' identities and the information they may have obtained remain unresolved. ^{[1] [2]}

A search opened a second investigation

The intelligence case began with evidence found during a search in a different criminal investigation. Prosecutors say the current proceedings stem from a search of Hanning's residence. That search took place in September 2025 in connection with a child abduction case. Hanning denies involvement in the earlier failed abduction attempt, according to Deutsche Welle. ^{[2] [3]}

Investigators found an electronic storage device containing top-secret BND documents, according to a joint investigation by NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung. The federal prosecutor's office took over the intelligence matter and opened a covert investigation in May 2026, according to that reported account. ^{[3] [5]}

On October 6, the Federal Criminal Police Office carried out the arrests on warrants issued by an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice. Both suspects were due to appear before that judge. The next procedural issue was custody, not a verdict on the allegations. ^[5]

Jäger said the BND opened extensive internal investigations as soon as the suspicions emerged and that those inquiries corroborated them. "For the BND and for me, there can be no compromises when it comes to internal security," he said. ^{[1] [3]}

His statement leaves concrete questions for parliamentary oversight. When did the agency first identify the suspected transfers? Which documents does it believe were exposed? And how did access remain protected while Manfred D. served successive presidents? An assurance that security matters is no substitute for that account.

More powers, a harder argument

The Merz cabinet adopted its intelligence reform on August 12, 2026. The bill would authorise sabotage, offensive cyber operations and more aggressive espionage, moving the BND beyond restraints rooted in Germany's postwar settlement. It still needs approval from both chambers of parliament and is intended to take effect by 2027. ^[4]

The government has already increased the BND's budget by about 26 percent to 1.51 billion euros this year, according to Politico. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the reform was about "being able to take active measures against our attackers and adversaries", rather than merely improving the ability to see and hear them. ^[4]

At the October 5 parliamentary intelligence oversight hearing, Jäger said Russia's "shadow war" had acquired "a new, more dangerous character". He welcomed the proposed powers and the greater responsibility they would bring. "We will be a different, a new BND," he said. ^{[1] [6]}

The Hanning allegations do not disprove the government's assessment of external threats. They strengthen the argument for testing internal safeguards alongside any expansion of operational powers. A service authorised to act more aggressively needs controls that can withstand people who know precisely how it works.

Lawmakers have demanded an account. Marc Henrichmann, the CDU chairman of the intelligence oversight panel, called the detention an important signal. He and Greens lawmaker Konstantin von Notz both called for a full explanation to parliament. ^[5]

Von Notz called the allegations "grave and appalling" and demanded a swift, comprehensive assessment of harm. He also called for a ban on private consulting work by former officials who had held the highest security clearances. His proposal addresses the boundary prosecutors say Hanning crossed, between holding state secrets and selling private expertise. ^{[1] [2]}

Günter Krings of the governing CDU said "the mere suspicion that a former BND chief is selling secrets is damaging to trust in our security agencies". Clara Bünger, the Left party group's domestic policy spokesperson, said the investigations showed that "the intelligence services themselves are a security risk". ^[3]

Bünger's conclusion is too sweeping. The allegations concern particular people and an alleged channel for documents. But they do demand scrutiny of the institution, because an insider's access is something the institution grants and must control.

What parliament needs next

The BND has faced infiltration before. Heinz Felfe ran its counterintelligence division on the Soviet Union while working for the KGB in the 1960s. A BND employee was exposed as a CIA spy in 2014. A trial is ongoing against former department head Carsten L., arrested in 2022 on accusations of passing secrets to Russia's FSB, which he denies. ^{[1] [3]}

The present investigation concerns an alleged arrangement lasting roughly 12 years and reaching material prepared for senior government briefings. That duration makes the sequence of detection and response essential to understanding any failure of safeguards. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The immediate next steps are a judicial custody decision, responses from the suspects and a fuller prosecutorial account. Parliament's oversight panel has asked for answers, while the reform bill still awaits passage through both chambers. ^{[4] [5]} Before lawmakers give the BND new authority to act abroad, they should demand a dated account of how these suspicions emerged, what investigators found and which safeguards must change.