August Hanning is accused of helping foreign governments. His arrest shook the German political world and had roots in a steakhouse-heiress kidnapping plot.

Item 1 of 3 August Hanning, state secretary at the German Interior Ministry and former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), attends a parliamentary committee of investigation in Berlin, Germany, November 30, 2006. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo

[1/3]August Hanning, state secretary at the German Interior Ministry and former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), attends a parliamentary committee of investigation in Berlin, Germany, November 30, 2006. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

BERLIN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Former German foreign intelligence chief August Hanning was arrested ​on Tuesday on suspicion of attempted treason for allegedly paying to access secret ‌documents and using them to prepare an analysis for a foreign spy service, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not identify the foreign intelligence service, and it was not immediately clear whether the analysis reached its intended recipient.

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"Hanning is strongly ​suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage," the prosecutor's office said ​in a statement.

Five years after his seven-year tenure as head of the BND ⁠intelligence service ended in 2005, Hanning agreed with a former BND office manager to receive confidential ​intelligence information in exchange for payment, according to prosecutors.

The office manager, identified as Manfred D. in line ​with privacy rules, was also arrested on Tuesday and both were due to appear before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice.

'NO COMPROMISES'

Prosecutors said D. is suspected of having supplied around 2,000 documents over the years, including ​classified material intended solely for internal use within the BND and senior-level intelligence briefings at the ​chancellery.

According to prosecutors, Hanning used classified information supplied by D. to prepare an analysis for an officer of a ‌foreign ⁠intelligence service and for years shared political information with a representative of the spy agency.

According to information obtained by the SZ newspaper, the case does not involve Russia.

BND President Martin Jaeger said the agency had launched extensive internal investigations as soon as suspicions emerged, adding that "there can be no compromises ​on internal security."

Hanning did ​not respond to a ⁠request for comment from Reuters. The chancellery declined to comment.

PAST SPY SCANDALS

Hanning's arrest is the latest in a series of notorious espionage scandals in Germany.

West ​German Chancellor Willy Brandt was forced to resign in 1974 after it ​was revealed ⁠that an East German spy had worked as his close aide for nearly two years. In 1990, a senior West German counter-intelligence official was exposed for spying for East Germany throughout the 1980s and was ⁠later ​convicted of treason.

More recently, former domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen ​said in 2024 he was now being monitored by the security agency he once ran over alleged right-wing political extremism, which ​he denied.

Adds quote from prosecutors' statement in paragraph 3, BND statement in paragraph 9, background on past spy scandals in paragraph 11

Reporting by Friederike Heine, additional reporting by Andreas Rinke; editing by Linda Pasquini and Alexandra Hudson

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AI Mode Conversation: august hanning

Police have arrested the former head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, August Hanning, on suspicion of espionage, the federal prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

Hanning served as the agency's chief from December 1998 to November 2005, before moving to the Federal Interior Ministry where he worked as state secretary until November 2009. 

According to a statement from the prosecutor's office, he is facing charges including alleged espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason, and working as a secret service agent.

The statement added that another former high-ranking employee of the BND had also been arrested on suspicion of providing Hanning with hundreds of classified documents in exchange for payment.

DW's chief political editor Michaela Küfner, reporting from a government press briefing on the arrest, described the case as Germany's "biggest espionage scandal of the century unfolding in real time."

What else do we know about the investigation?

Police arrested Hanning early Tuesday at his home in Nordwalde near the western German city of Münster, according to information from WDR, NDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Hanning's alleged accomplice, who was identified only as Manfred D. in line with Germany's privacy laws, was taken into custody in Bavaria.

Authorities were conducting searches at both suspects' properties, as well as in Berlin, the prosecutor said.

During Hanning's tenure as spy head, D. served as his chief of staff. He also subsequently worked under Hanning at the Interior Ministry until 2009.

He is facing charges of "aiding and abetting attempted treason and espionage against the state."

Marc Henrichmann, who chairs the German parliament's intelligence oversight committee, said following the arrests that Germany "will not tolerate the betrayal of secrets."

"Whoever allies themselves with the enemies of our liberal democracy will be found out," he said in comments to the AFP news agency.

The investigation in Hanning reportedly began due to his connection to a high-profile trial involving businesswoman Christine Block.

2,000 documents allegedly handed over to Hanning

The prosector's office said Hanning and Manfred D. are believed to have come up with their arrangement in 2010.

From 2012 to March 2026, D. served as chief of staff to Hanning's successors at the BND spy agency, where he had access to a wealth of classified documents, according to the prosecutor's statement.

"The current findings suggest that, over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the Federal Intelligence Service for internal purposes," the statement said.

It added that D. is alleged to have provided Hanning with information until at least mid-2022, and that Hanning used that information in his private consulting work.

Hanning is also accused of being "in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, to whom he passed on political information, partially based on material provided by Manfred D., for several years," the statement said.

The prosecutor's office did not say which foreign intelligence service was involved.

The two suspects are expected to appear before an investigating judge on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has released a classified report to its workforce examining what it says are chapters from the bureau's history "where this institution fell short," according to an internal message obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

It was unclear what episodes from the FBI's past are chronicled in the new "Patel Report." But the document's existence is in keeping with Director Kash Patel's vocal criticism of the leaders who preceded him and with his determination to rid the FBI of agents he contends have politicized the bureau in the past. Patel's critics say he is the one who has weaponized the FBI and that his scrutiny of his predecessors and their decision-making is part of an effort to rewrite history in favor of President Donald Trump.

READ MORE: 3 FBI agents fired over Trump investigation get broad backing in lawsuit against administration

Patel pledged at his confirmation hearing last year that he would not look "backward," but as director, he has encouraged investigations of former senior officials and presided over sweeping terminations, including of employees who participated in years-old investigations of Trump, were photographed taking a knee during a 2020 racial justice protest and contributed to a disputed analytical memo about Catholic extremism.

"The Patel Report looks backward because accountability demands it," says a message to the workforce signed by the FBI's co-deputy directors, Christopher Raia and Andrew Bailey. The message describes the report as marking the "closing of one chapter in our history and the beginning of another complete with a brighter future ahead."

Bailey announced his resignation earlier this week, and his last day is Friday. The FBI declined to comment on the report.

The message also says: "We cannot change what happened before we arrived. But we can confront it honestly. We can recognize failures instead of protecting them. We can hold people accountable. We can fix what was broken. And we can build safeguards strong enough to ensure the mistakes of the past are never allowed to define this institution again. These steps are consistent with any institution of excellence that is constantly striving for improvement."

It was unclear if the report made recommendations or demanded any action to address what the FBI now regards as past shortcomings.

The FBI message says the report is meant to "promote fierce organizational accountability" and rebuild "public trust." But Patel's critics say the politically charged investigations into perceived adversaries of Trump that the FBI has embarked on under his watch, as well as the punishment of agents who participated in investigations into the Republican president to which they were assigned, have eroded faith in the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency.