FOCUS – Arrest of former German spy chief alarms American and British agencies

BERLIN, October 7 /ATSH-AA/ – The arrest of Germany’s former spy chief has revealed a possible leak of classified documents to foreign intelligence services, alarming American and British agencies.

As the newspaper “Die Welt” reports, August Hanning, who headed the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of espionage and treason.

Prosecutors say he received classified information from a former colleague for several years and used it in reports and exchanges with foreign intelligence contacts. Sources from German security circles told the newspaper “Die Welt” that some of the classified information the two men had handled had come from foreign partner services.

“This means that British and American intelligence information may also have been compromised,” the newspaper reported.

Hanning’s former office director, identified as Manfred D., was arrested the same day. Federal prosecutors say he had handed Hanning around 2,000 documents between 2010 and 2022, many of them classified for internal BND use, in exchange for payment.

The German newspaper reported that American services, together with Britain’s MI6 and its signals agency GCHQ, are verifying whether information shared with European allies, and even their sources, may have been put at risk by the alleged leak.

German authorities are reported to have warned partners about the possible compromise before the arrests.

– Judge orders pre-trial detention

A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecution said an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe today ordered Hanning to be held in pre-trial detention, putting into effect the arrest warrant against the 80-year-old.

Authorities say they have established that Hanning had used the confidential information at least once to prepare a security report as part of his work as a consultant, and that he had also had contacts with a foreign intelligence official. They have not disclosed the name of any country.

The public broadcasters WDR and NDR, together with the daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, reported that the service that had contacts with Hanning was not Russian, although the documents he is alleged to have received included materials on the Russian military and other classified issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme.