Ex-spy chief is arrested in Germany on suspicion of trading state secrets and treason

Oct 6, 2026 · The Associated Press

Originally published by NPR News Read the original

Ex-spy chief is arrested in Germany on suspicion of trading state secrets and treason

August Hanning, the former president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), appears as a witness before the NSA investigative committee at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin on Oct. 1, 2015.

A former head of Germany 's foreign intelligence service was arrested on suspicion that he had passed state secrets to a foreign intelligence service, the federal prosecutor's office said.

(Image credit: Michael Kappeler)