Germany arrests a former foreign intelligence chief on spying allegations

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said a former foreign intelligence chief was arrested Tuesday on espionage allegations.

August Hanning, 80, served as president of the Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, from December 1998 to November 2005.

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.

柏林（美联社）——德国联邦检察官办公室周二表示，一名前外国情报局长因涉嫌间谍活动被捕。

80岁的奥古斯特·汉宁曾于1998年12月至2005年11月担任联邦情报局（BND）局长。

联邦检察官办公室在一份声明中表示，他“被强烈怀疑犯有叛国间谍罪、窃取国家机密罪、叛国未遂罪和间谍罪”。

汉宁在德国南部巴特特尔茨-沃尔夫拉茨豪森被捕。他的前助手曼弗雷德·D（仅知其姓名）也于周二在德国西部施泰因富特被捕。

他被指控协助和教唆未遂叛国罪和叛国间谍罪。

声明没有透露这两名男子涉嫌为谁从事间谍活动。

检察官办公室称，曼弗雷德·D曾担任汉宁的幕僚长。在汉宁卸任德国联邦情报局局长后，他从2012年3月至2026年3月期间，先后担任多位德国联邦情报局局长的幕僚长。

检察官办公室表示：“他担任的职务让他有机会接触到机密信息。”

据信，两名嫌疑人在 2010 年春季达成协议，让曼弗雷德·D 不断向汉宁传递来自德国联邦情报局的宝贵情报，“以换取报酬”。

声明称：“目前的调查结果表明，多年来，曼弗雷德·D向汉宁提供了大约2000份文件，其中许多文件包含机密信息，这些信息仅供联邦情报部门内部使用，特别是用于高层情报简报。”

声明还补充说，汉宁将这些信息用于了他的私人咨询工作中。

该办公室表示，“有一次，汉宁利用曼弗雷德·D.提供的机密情报，为一名外国情报机构官员起草了一份分析报告。”

该办公室没有透露这名外国代理人为哪个国家工作，并补充说“目前尚无法确定该材料是否已送达预期的接收者”。

周二，两名男子的住所均遭到搜查。