BERLIN — A former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service who is charged with passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence service was ordered held in pretrial detention after a judge issued an arrest warrant on Wednesday.
August Hanning, 80, who is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage,” led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005. He was arrested on Tuesday.
A former aide of Hanning, identified only as Manfred D. in line with privacy rules in Germany, was also arrested Tuesday and is already in pretrial detention. He's accused of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.
Prosecutors didn't reveal who exactly the two men were suspected of spying for or which foreign intelligence services they provided with classified information.
Here's what to know about one of the biggest security breaches in German history:
Germany's former top spy allegedly received 2,000 intelligence documents over 12 years
The two men allegedly agreed in 2010 that Manfred D. would continuously provide Hanning — who had left office five years earlier — with valuable foreign intelligence information in exchange for payment. Manfred D. served as chief of staff for several subsequent BND presidents from 2012 until this year.
The federal prosecutor's office says that Hanning allegedly used this information to his financial advantage in his private consulting work.
Based on the current status of the investigation, Manfred D. is said to have provided his former boss with approximately 2,000 documents over a 12-year period through June 2022.
In one instance, Hanning is alleged to have used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. However, “it has not yet been possible to determine whether the report reached its intended recipient,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
“In another instance, Hanning is alleged to have passed on information following an extensive exchange — also with an employee of another intelligence service,” a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
Leon Kruse, a lawyer for the former spy chief, disputed the allegations on Wednesday, German news agency dpa reported.
Kruse was quoted as saying by dpa that while Hanning was indeed in possession of confidential documents, “the allegation that he passed on information contained therein to the detriment of Germany — let alone in exchange for payment — is unfounded.”
“My client is being wrongfully prosecuted,” Kruse said, according to the report.
Stolen documents intended exclusively for spy agency's internal affairs
Hanning may have had access to information intended exclusively for use within the BND, according to prosecutors. Many of the documents contained classified information for executive intelligence briefings.
Beyond that, prosecutors haven't given any further details about the mostly classified material and aren't expected to do so in the near future.
“No further information beyond what is contained in the press statement is currently being provided,” Ines Peterson, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, said Wednesday.
German officials vow a full investigation
“The federal government takes this case extremely seriously and is providing full support to the investigating authorities,” a spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Wednesday.
“The allegations being made are serious. We need to analyze the situation and get to the bottom of it,” Sebastian Hille said. “We must await the results of the investigation in order to determine whether any changes are needed” to how the intelligence services should work and be controlled in Germany.
The chair of the parliamentary committee that oversees intelligence agencies said that the security breach has shocked both the German and international intelligence community. He said that Germany needs to reach out to allied intelligence agencies who may have lost their trust in the BND after the spying scandal became public.
“Although this has caused quite a stir, I am quite confident that the German services enjoy a very high reputation internationally,” said Marc Henrichmann, who is also a national lawmaker with Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union.
Hille, Merz’s spokesperson, said that he wasn't aware if foreign intelligence services had reached out to Germany about the incident.
Several German politicians have also called for stricter rules banning former officials with security clearances from engaging in private consulting work after leaving office.
Germany has a history of spying scandals
There have been previous spying scandals at Germany's foreign intelligence agency.
In 2022, Carsten L., a former BND employee, allegedly passed internal documents to the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, with the help of an accomplice. The trial for particularly serious treason, which Bruno Kahl, the BND director at the time, said caused “serious damage” to the German service, is still ongoing, dpa reported.
In 2014, BND employee Markus R. was exposed as a spy for the CIA. He had passed on more than 200 documents to the U.S. intelligence agency and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016.
In the 1960s, Heinz Felfe headed the Counterintelligence: Soviet Union division at the BND in West Germany while also working for the KGB. He was arrested in November 1961 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason in 1963 before he was released in a prisoner exchange to communist East Germany in 1969, dpa reported.
Germany works on beefing up intelligence agencies as threats rise
The huge intelligence breach comes at a time when the German government is working on a reform designed to grant its intelligence agencies broader powers to take measures such as countering sabotage and hacking attempts — in response to a growing threat from powers such as Russia and extremists.
In August, the Cabinet approved draft legislation aimed at strengthening the BND and its domestic counterpart, the BfV, and reducing the reliance of Germany, which is the most populous country in the European Union, on intelligence from its allies.
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