Allied services are checking whether secrets shared with Germany were exposed after the arrest of former BND chief August Hanning and his former chief of staff.
European intelligence services are checking whether information they shared with Germany was compromised by former BND chief August Hanning, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing intelligence officials. Hanning, 80, was detained on Tuesday. A judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe issued a formal arrest warrant on Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that in 2010 Hanning agreed to pay an official identified as Manfred D. for confidential documents. Manfred D., chief of staff to successive BND heads, retired in March 2026 and is also in custody. Reuters said he is accused of supplying nearly 2,000 documents, at least some classified confidential, through June 2022.
Hanning left the BND in 2005 and later ran a private consultancy. His lawyer has said he partly admitted the allegations but denied selling information. Prosecutors allege he used documents in an analysis for a foreign intelligence service. Azerbaijan’s media regulator called the claims groundless.
The Thursday development is the allied review, not the arrest itself. Germany’s interior ministry is also looking at possible confidentiality breaches during Hanning’s time at the agency, Reuters reported. Officials have not said which partners’ material, if any, was exposed.
No trial date was given. The accounts come from federal prosecutors and unnamed intelligence officials, not from a published charge sheet.
People Sentiments Negative
- Hanning’s lawyer said he partially admitted the allegations but denied selling information.
- Azerbaijan’s media regulator called the allegations groundless disinformation.