German intelligence chief sold secrets for 12 years... “Biggest spy case since WWII”

[Financial News] A former director who headed Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), was arrested on suspicion of stealing around 2,000 internal documents over 12 years and selling some to a foreign intelligence agency.
There are also suspicions that intelligence provided by allied agencies, including those of the United States and Britain, may have been passed to a third country. Local media called it “the worst security breach” and described it as Germany’s biggest spy case since World War II.
According to the weekly Der Spiegel and other outlets on the 6th local time, German federal prosecutors are investigating in custody whether August Hanning, 80, a former BND chief arrested on suspicion of obtaining around 2,000 BND documents through an insider, sold information to foreign intelligence agencies.
Prosecutors believe Hanning also used the materials he had obtained to produce new intelligence reports for foreign intelligence agencies. Der Spiegel reported that Hanning had contact with Azerbaijani intelligence operatives. Until recently, he was active in the Germany-Azerbaijan Forum, an organization promoting exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.
Hanning was taken into custody on the 6th on suspicion of attempted treason, obtaining classified information for espionage, collecting state secrets, and spying for a foreign intelligence agency.

He served as director of the BND from December 1998 to November 2005, then served as deputy interior minister and remained a civil servant until 2009. After retiring, Hanning ran a private consultancy and paid Manfred D, who worked at the BND, to obtain numerous documents through June 2022. Manfred D, who was arrested alongside him, had served as Hanning’s chief of staff and in other roles while Hanning was BND director.
The documents were briefing materials for security meetings organized by the Federal Chancellery, and many were classified.
Manfred continued working as BND office director even after Hanning left the agency, giving him access to classified information. Prosecutors believe the two agreed in the spring of 2010 to buy and sell documents.
Security officials said some of the leaked materials had been shared by allied intelligence agencies. The UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and U.S. intelligence agencies are reportedly planning internal investigations amid concerns that the incident may have exposed their own secrets and intelligence sources.
The Telegraph reported, citing Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, that the leaked materials included documents from foreign partner intelligence agencies and were also said to contain information on Iran’s nuclear program and the Russian military.
The BND has long been viewed as having weaker intelligence capabilities than allied agencies because of oversight by the federal government and parliament. As a result, the German government drew up a reform plan last August to significantly expand the powers of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies. The daily Die Welt noted that the case “has unsettled Western intelligence agencies” and “could seriously damage intelligence cooperation among Western countries.”


Local media suspect that Hanning engaged in “trading in intelligence” for money. After retiring, he reportedly ran a real-estate business in Latvia and was driven to the brink of bankruptcy. Some have even raised suspicions that foreign intelligence agencies recruited him while he was still in office. From 1986 to 1990, during the division of East and West Germany, Hanning worked as a special officer for the protection of classified information at West Germany’s mission in East Berlin.
Hanning was investigated on suspicion of involvement in Christina Block’s abduction of her children during a 2023 custody dispute. Block is the daughter of the founder of the well-known steakhouse Block House. Authorities reportedly began investigating him on espionage suspicions after finding a trove of BND documents while searching his home last year.
News of the arrest emerged as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was taking steps including appointing current director Martin Jaeger and strengthening the agency’s powers. The BND was established in West Germany in 1956 during the Cold War. Its role has continued since German reunification.
Professor Lee Geun of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies said, “Confidence in German intelligence is plummeting,” adding, “As recently as 2022, a BND employee was investigated on suspicion of passing classified information to Russia during the Russia-Ukraine war.”
Professor Lee noted, “I get the sense that confidence in our National Intelligence Service is also being seriously eroded, and we cannot take this German case lightly.”
[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, international affairs correspondent Reporter