#BND whoopsie
German police arrested August Hanning, the former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND).

Hanning is suspected of espionage against the state, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason and working as a secret service agent.

Hanning led the Federal Intelligence Service from December 1998 to November 2005, then served as state secretary at the Interior Ministry until November 2009.

Prosecutors allege he received around 2,000 documents, many of them classified, from a former senior employee of the agency, identified only as Manfred D. under German privacy rules.

Manfred was Hanning's chief of staff at the agency and followed him to the Interior Ministry. From 2012 to March 2026 he served as chief of staff to several successive heads of the Federal Intelligence Service, which gave him access to a large volume of sensitive material.

Prosecutors say the two men struck their arrangement in 2010 and that Manfred supplied the documents for money, up until at least mid-2022.

Manfred was arrested in Bavaria and faces charges of aiding attempted treason and espionage.

Reports say Hanning used the material in his private consultancy work, and that investigators are examining whether any information reached foreign powers.

The case is already being called Germany's biggest espionage scandal of the century.
https://x.com/commandante_/status/2107399220411916339