This was reported by the German broadcasters WDR and NDR and the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, citing sources in government circles. The notice reached the BND several days after the detention of 80-year-old Hanning, who was suspected of espionage, attempted treason, and disclosure of state secrets.
According to the sources, the warning caused serious concern at the BND. The service considered such a scenario a “catastrophe”, since it has depended on cooperation with the US for decades, and the end of transatlantic intelligence sharing cannot be compensated for.
Several BND employees said that the volume of information passed by the Americans and its quality had already declined, and more sharply than after the alleged case of treason involving the former head of a BND department, Karsten L., who was arrested at the end of 2022 on suspicion of selling secret information to Russia. German security agencies said that information sharing with American partners continues as usual and that only several working meetings were postponed.
Hanning was detained in early October together with the former head of his office, 64-year-old Manfred D., who, according to prosecutors, for money handed the former chief about 2,000 agency documents, including classified ones. Among them were materials on Iran’s nuclear program and the Russian army, as well as information from foreign partner intelligence services.
Der Spiegel magazine wrote that Hanning may have been preparing a report for Azerbaijani intelligence. Hanning headed the BND from 1998 to 2005, then served as State Secretary in Germany’s Interior Ministry, and before that worked in the Federal Chancellery and coordinated the work of German intelligence services.
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