A German judge ordered former Federal Intelligence Service chief August Hanning held in pretrial detention on October 7, a day after his arrest on suspicion of passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence service.
Hanning, 80, led the BND from 1998 to 2005. Federal prosecutors say he is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets and attempted treason. They allege that he maintained contacts with foreign intelligence services from 2010 while working as a private consultant.
Investigators suspect that Hanning obtained about 2,000 sensitive documents from a former bureau chief, who has also been arrested. The Associated Press reported that prosecutors have not identified the country or intelligence service that may have received the information. Hanning’s former aide, identified as Manfred D., is suspected of aiding espionage and attempted treason.
The case recalls earlier intelligence scandals in which officers betrayed national secrets. British MI6 officer Kim Philby secretly worked for the Soviet Union for decades and was the best-known member of the Cambridge Five. He passed information on Western operations, diplomatic and military plans, and agents to Moscow before fleeing to the Soviet Union in 1963.
Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB colonel, worked with British intelligence for more than a decade. His information helped Britain and its allies understand Soviet concerns during NATO’s 1983 Able Archer exercise. MI6 smuggled him out of the Soviet Union through Finland in 1985. He died in Britain in 2025.
FBI agent Robert Hanssen passed secrets to the Soviet Union and later to Russian intelligence from 1979 to 2001. He was arrested in 2001 after investigators linked him to leaks that led to the deaths of U.S. intelligence sources. Hanssen pleaded guilty and died in prison in 2023.
Former CIA officer Alexander Yuk Ching Ma was convicted of passing secrets to China. He pleaded guilty in 2024 and is serving a 10-year sentence. German prosecutors have not yet said which foreign intelligence service, they believe, was meant to receive documents in the Hanning case.