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He is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out
state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage,” the federal
prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Hanning was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen in southern
Germany. A former aide of his, identified only as Manfred D.,
was also arrested Tuesday in Steinfurt in western Germany.
He is charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and
treasonous espionage.
The statement did not reveal who the two men were suspected of
spying for.
The prosecutor's office said Manfred D. worked as Hanning's
chief of staff. After Hanning's tenure at the BND, he went on to
serve as chief of staff for several subsequent presidents of the
BND from March 2012 until March 2026.
“In his role, he had access to confidential information,” the
prosecutor's office said.
Both suspects are believed to have agreed, in the spring of
2010, to have Manfred D. continuously transmit valuable
intelligence from the BND to Hanning “in exchange for
remuneration.”
“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,
particularly for executive intelligence briefings,” the
statement alleges.
Hanning used the information in his private consulting work, the
statement added.
The office said “on one occasion, Hanning used classified
intelligence provided by Manfred D. to draft an analysis for an
officer of a foreign intelligence service.”
The office did not say which country the foreign agent worked
for and added that “it has yet to be determined if the material
reached the intended recipient.”
The premises of both men were searched Tuesday.
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