The case against the former head of German Intelligence, August Hanning, is seriously sketchy.
Hanning, 80, was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen in southern Germany. His former Chief of Staff, Manfred D., was also arrested Tuesday in Steinfurt in western Germany and has been charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.
Police were investigating Hanning in 2025 in relation to his involvement in organizing a kidnapping plot. When police searched his residence, they found documents outlining his activity in receiving state secrets from inside German intelligence and selling classified analysis to a foreign government (not Russia).
Apparently when Hanning left as head of German intelligence, his chief of staff “Manfred” remained at work. Manfred then continued to give Hanning information from inside German intelligence, which Hanning then used to sell his services to foreign enterprises.
The information Manfred gave Hanning related to intelligence on Russia and Iran that Germany gathered from partnerships with the USA and Israel. In essence, Hanning was selling 5-eyes secret intelligence on Russia and Iran, to foreign interests. Hanning was receiving the intelligence from Manfred, his former chief of staff.
GERMANY – A former German spy chief was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and treason, an embarrassing case at a time when the country is seeking to broaden the powers of its intelligence agencies.
August Hanning, who ran Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency from 1998 to 2005, is accused of espionage, treason and working for foreign intelligence services, federal prosecutors said.
They did not say which foreign powers were involved. However, AFP understands it was not Russia.
The news magazine Spiegel, citing unnamed sources, reported that Hanning had been in contact with an intelligence operative for Azerbaijan.
Hanning’s former chief of staff, partially named as Manfred D. who continued working for the spy agency until March 2026, was also arrested.
He is accused of obtaining classified information while working for Hanning’s successors and selling them to his former boss, who was working as a private sector consultant.
Hanning then allegedly used the information in his private consulting work, which included preparing a briefing for a foreign spy and passing information to an agent of another foreign intelligence service, prosecutors said.
[…] According to prosecutors, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many with classified information.
Hanning — who served as the top civil servant in the interior ministry from 2005-2009 — used classified intelligence “to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service”, although it is not clear if “the material reached the intended recipient”.
He is also accused of being “in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, to whom he passed on political information, partially based on material provided by Manfred D., for several years”.
According to the ARD broadcaster, the information that Manfred D. passed on included material on the Iranian nuclear programme and the Russian army.
It quoted security sources as saying some of the information came from partner intelligence agencies abroad. (read more)
These are the German intelligence units currently selling the Russian “hybrid attack” stories.
These are the German intelligence units who previously created the Russian interference narrative used to annul the Romanian election victory of Călin Georgescu, a nationalist who campaigned against the European Union.
This is the conduct of “German Intelligence.”
Comrade Suspicious Cat remains, well, increasingly suspicious.
100% BS as noted.
Cui bono? Is he attached to someone in AfD somehow?
😒
Here is an interesting article….😳
The link —past well documented associations-
is worth reading! 😳 May shed some light 💡
Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
ZeroHedge
Germany’s Former Spy Chief Arrested In Biggest Espionage Scandal Of The Century | ZeroHedge
That ZeroHedge article said, “In short, it appeared he not only illegally held on to thousands of classified documents, but used them over the years to peddle influence…”
For a moment there I got confused and thought he was talking about FJB.
When they caught Hanning’s chief of staff…
That Manfred man…
He claimed he was ‘Blinded by the light!’ 🙂
Another runner in the night.
Here is a link to the lyrics…
https://genius.com/Manfred-manns-earth-band-blinded-by-the-light-lyrics
Had a friend that didn’t quite get last word right in the line…
Revved up like a du….
Had to explain it was not massingill.
It is deuce, as in two
😂🤣😅😆
Written by Bruce Springsteen
Glad you selected their recording as opposed to that lesbian soccer players.
Did wa diddi….
There’s a great big mystery
It sure has worried me
It’s diddy wah diddy
It’s diddy wah diddy
I wish somebody’d tell me what diddy wah diddy means
goo goo g’joob
As much as I H8 to be a party pooper, “Blinded by the light” was written by the complete idiot Bruce Springsteen.
Now Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had someone who could actually sing.
So when they did a cover version on Springsteen’s song people could actually listen to it for a change.
Bruce’s version is just terrible – not only because of his voice, but the way he arranged and produced the song was almost gibberish.
Manfred Mann capitalized and made the song HUGE and they did it FAR better than the idiot Brucy ever did.
So I am correcting the history on this song, But I like the way you went with this and the play on words.
Thank you, you beat me to it. The cover is miles better than the Freehold Fartbrain’s original (out of) tune. Thank heavens Brucie gave “Because The Night” to Patti Smith to record.
He got rolled up by a deuce.
Cheech and Chong smoked a labrador deuce. “The Boss” is a deuce.
Do wah diddy diddy dum
The group began its string of successes with Dylan songs with a track on the best-selling The One in the Middle, “With God on Our Side“, next reaching No. 2 in the UK with “If You Gotta Go, Go Now”
Manfred Lubowitz was born into a well-to-do family on October 21st, 1940, in Johannesburg, South Africa. As a child he studied piano and while in his teens .
1977
I wish our DOJ could arrest our current and former high level gov’t gangsters.
IKR
You’re pretty bold with using a plural. Let’s start with baby steps and see if they can get one gangster.
Hope is permitted.
If even one of the gangsters actually faces serious consequences for misdeeds, the Limited Hangout parade will freeze as others refuse to “take one for the team”.
Can’t allow that to happen, it would heighten the risk of exposing the veiled puppeteers’ methods* for controlling the puppets, creating additional work to keep things covered up. In addition to depriving the puppeteers of a vital mass distraction mechanism.
Here’s another Limited Hangout “taking one for the team”, feeding the mass distraction mechanism:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/10/06/former-cia-senior-officer-enters-guilty-plea-after-stealing-millions-from-government/
(*In the spirit of the model portrayed by The Godfather movies, “making them an offer they can’t refuse”.)
Government, by definition, is dominate and separate from the ‘people’, unfortunately, regardless what the law provides. Ain’t no such thing as “Representative” government. We are subjects to the whim of the elected and unelected people who we think are acting in our best interests.
and try them for treason and seditious conspiracy – there, I finished it for you! 🙂
They are preparing to execute the Ft. Hood Muslim murderer by firing squad, we can hope that portends things to come for the high level treasonous traitors in government.
So far, its still just talk. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Hasan admitted he committed the crime. He was court-martialed and found guilty by a military jury.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended the execution by firing squad and President Donald J. Trump has approved it. Who’s going to stop it?
For a month leading up to the final day his meals should be all pork, dip the bullets in bacon fat make sure he knows.
Before he’s blindfolded, he should be made to watch each member of the firing squad dip their bullets in a mixture of grease and blood from an on-site freshly killed pig.
And wrap his remains in pork hide with the last words spoken to him being “what a stench you’ll be to your god”!
I wish we could send Krista Pike to join in. My tax dollars will have to keep that POS up for another 35 years.
Yes, the solution to their failure isn’t difficult.
Glad it’s Texas and not Tennessee ! Lol just saying
At the time of the shooting I suggested that he be placed in a manure spreader feet first on a pig farm.
Only took 15 years for it to be discussed!
I believe every monster who does not choose to take the cowards way out, will be held accountable.
NO WAY to do so with or current Judiciary Branch of Government. Nearly every one of those scoundrels would get off with nary a blemish.
They must be tried in Military Courts, and when found Guilty, Justice MUST come swift and hard!
Could be they’re breaking a sweat if there was collusion…
I think one set of bad guys arrests another set of bad guys when the first set of bad guys feels there is a risk from the second set of bad guys.
They can. But they refuse to.
I’m increasingly suspicious too but the government officials aren’t in Germany.
Quite a nice touch that….
A Russian blue moggie 😎
He’s so good looking!
😻
So was Benedict Arnold….
I noticed that too sis!!
Sundance doesn’t miss a thing!
🤗😼
No he does not.
This is the retirement plan for just about every single CIA and FBI employee.
As long as the USAID money holds out.
Anti-AfD battle space prep.
So Hanning and his inside man Manfred worked together to leak intelligence. Manfred provided the intel and Hanning picked up the money, to split it with Manfred. Hanning left in 2005, so this has probably been going on for 20 years.
Why the arrests now? Have Hanning/Manfred outlived their usefulness? Do they want too much money to keep quiet? Something’s hinky.
They must have missed a couple of kickback payments.
Someone leaked …
This is so vague and so easily media-manipulatable that I’m not sure I’ll end up believing anything about it.
Here’s all we really know: Two former German government officials were arrested by the current German government.
Yeah, this is a battle of who do you trust the least: the current german government, current and former german spies who may or may not have leaked stuff to foreign governments, or current german spies who leaked info – true or not we don’t know – to german media about alleged former spies who leaked stuff to foreign governments. And of course, no doubt the german media put their own spin on whatever was leaked to them about what did or did not happen here.
It’s lies all the way down, I’m afraid.
Another “don’t know” is whether all the intel Hanning shared with foreign governments came through the BND/Manfred channel. Perhaps some came from other foreign governments, other German or foreign spies or unauthorized leakers (including 5 eyes? Including our IC or unauthorized leakers?) who may be the actual targets of this investigation/arrest. As someone above said “this has been going on 20 years-why now?” Seems to me more likely the target is a current thorn in the side of the globalist cabal than the 80 year old who’s been at it for years. And who could very well have been fed false intel (knowingly or unknowingly to him) to share with his clientele (the useful idiot role). Sundance is right-very sketchy. If our own MSM goons cover it, that will tell us something about who the target is.
Hanning is 80 years old, he could have been turned by the Russians decades ago, prior to German reunification. Hell, Puten may even have been this guy’s handler, back in the day, when he worked East Germany. Azerbaijan may simply be acting as a cutout for Russian intel.
But, there is no telling what the hell is going on, without more details and, what few details we get, may simply be a cover story.
Or this is BND closing a loop on whoever they were using to leak 5-Eyes intel to Ukraine to be used *against* Russia, before AfD takes over and figures it out. 80 year old takes the fall and his kids get a payout when he dies.
Doubtful. Azerbaijan is another Ukraine, a corrupt country which is trying to join the EU and which is rather hostile towards Russia.
Russia, Russia, Russia. We have seen that movie plot before.
Especially when it’s really China China China.
And just as this handy dandy arrangement is coming to an end we have Carney signing up new blood with Canada and our ‘special membership’ with EU all set to continue the 5 eye leaks!!
Heck, I’m beginning to believe it’s Britain, Canada and the EU
Hmmm, was he communicating with muzz Valerie Jared?… was there a Mrs Clooney at the table? /s
If God lets me live to 80, then I hope it’s so I can enjoy years of leisure, peace, and happiness. I wonder who he was selling to, that it seemed so much more worthwhile than enjoying retirement.
Maybe it was how he financed his enjoyment.
The link below is to his wiki Bio.
He is not friend of the current EU nor German Governments and he had some unsavory associations in the past. The kidnapping is related to the US Rendition Kidnapping of a Turkish Citizen during the Bush Years.
It was his INTEL assessment that helped create the WMD’s in Iraq assessment by the Bush Administration.
He also served as the President for the German Ministry of the Interior and he even published a 10 point plan to handle (stop and reverse) the flow of immigrants, to include closing German Borders.
He knows where allot of bodies are buried on ALLOT of HOT “INTERNATIONAL” TOPICS.
The commercial INTEL Services company where he worked was a SWISS Company … likely tied to finance and banking.
August Hanning – Wikipedia
He either knows something learned from his INTEL Business ties or the information passed to him is something the current EU and German Governments cannot afford to have exposed.
He was in German INTEL 1986 to 2004, starting out in Counter INTEL
He was Secretary for Ministry of the Interior 2005 to 2009 before retiring.
Did t former pm Blair also work hard to stear W towards the Iraq invasion, that turned mission creep and nation building? Since it was GB … and France … only 70 years prior that greatly mucked up the ME
The UK and France are in dire financial straits now just like they were before and during both world wars. And Germany on the other side-dire straits. (Try to contain your urge to reply with their song lyrics 😊). Their actions around the Russia/Ukraine war leave no doubt they need another financial rescue yesterday. Civil war in the streets has certainty turned up the urgency. A NATO war with Russia, with lots of U.S. taxpayer dollars trickling down to keep the pension funds solvent and schools running, seems to be the rabbit they’re chasing now, but maybe they’ve cooked up other Plans B and C with the help of their new kamikaze leader Carney. Maybe their current strategy is to use the arrest to threaten the U.S. they will expose some secret known to the 5 eyes only (ie we knew there were no WMDs, etc) unless we fall back in line as their benefactor. Sounds more plausible than it took them 20 years to identify an 80 year old spy.
Appreciate your addition to the discussion Doc00
It just doesn’t end with these people, does it?
As Sundance says “there are trillions at stake”. And if the natives get any more restless in Western Europe, some of the cabal may feel their lives at stake as well.
This guy, apparently, did quite a bit of intelligence advisory and “diplomacy” in the private sector after leaving his position. That seems like a nasty loophole that Germany needs to address on a general level. Judging by which countries he touched base with publicly after leaving his position, I’m going to suggest Latvia (money laundering worse than Ukraine believe it or not….and very Anti-Russia)….and / or The United Arab Emirates, who don’t depend on legwork for their intelligence as much as they depend on buying it. The UAE buys military equipment and even fighters from Germany and EU as well.
It is likely to include the activities you suggest or something similar related to other foreign actors, which are serious enough … the real hot topic is the EU-German NAMES and Names of EU-German related Governments and NGO’s associated with whatever information he has.
….. with all the volatile EU-German elections in progress or about to occur, he has something damaging.
So how much was Mossad paying him for his info?
Selling their info back to them….sweet.
In this case it was the greatest ally that was the sixth “I”.
Seems the elections in Deutscheland haven’t been going so well.
The Gray Zone is staying silent on this so quite unlikely there is any link to Israel.
If he was leaking to Israel (and maybe the US re Iranian nukes) I don’t care
Germans may feel they have a Holocaust debt to pay
Maybe/possibly his father was a Nazi and this was his was of atoning
He could have been leaking to the UK and Biden govt re Russia
Just saying
It’s everyone else but “us”
Check his phone. See if John Brennan is on speed dial…
Lord knows there is NOTHING Brennan would stop at to get Trump and end the threats to the cabal.
The BND German intelligence is totally corrupt like the CIA. After WW2 Democrats formed it with Hitlers Nazi spy at its head. Reinhardt Gehlen then went on work for the CIA at the same time. And all along he was selling American secrets to the USSR. Nothing new. It was so from the beginning of the organization.
“Hanning, 80, was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshusen…”
Maybe he would have been safer in GOOD Toelz-Wolfratshausen.
Maybe the Germans arrested him because he was helping the U.S.
When i worked at Langley, one of my old mentors told me: A German would sell his own mother into white slavery for a buck. Some tropes are true.
Klink!! “Vat is dis man doink heeya???”
I love this current version of “Suspicious Cat”. He looks slightly annoyed as well as suspicious. Tired of the endless non-sense we are being fed. He’s a good boyeee………:)
They found these files in September of 2025 but didn’t open an investigation until May of 2026. Obviously, his usefulness has run to an end.
Sharp stick in the eye to all 4 of the other eyes.
No more Intel sharing with anyone except at director level and never below it.
Need a suspicious bad toed wolf rat picture for this one.
Love Suspicious Cat #2
Seems treason has become the fashionable norm in Europe as well
Who was buying his stuff ?
The wheels on the bus go round and round…
A major German study has found substantial levels of support for a series of Islamist-affine and antisemitic statements among Muslim respondents in 2025.
According to the University of Hamburg’s Menschen in Deutschland study:
– 44.8% agreed that Western societies’ sexual morality is “completely depraved,” up from 30.8% in 2021.
– 44.3% said only Islam is capable of solving the problems of our time, compared with 31.7% in 2021.
– 28.6% agreed that “Jews cannot be trusted,” more than double the 12.6% recorded in 2021.
– 27.7% said Christian religions in Germany are incapable of securing morality, up from 23.2%.
– 25.1% said the rules of the Quran are more important to them than German laws, roughly unchanged from 26.1% in 2021.
– 23.8% said an Islamic theocracy is the best form of government, up from 18.7%.
https://nitter.netbub.com/visegrad24/status/2107544418366734459#m
Germany is so screwed unless AfD wins
?name=small&format=webp
Red—Green alliance?
(Red = communist, Green = Islamist)
The population of Azerbaijan is 97.3% Muslim.
If it was Azerbaijan, then it was Turkey. Azerbaijan is, for all intents and purposes, a province of Turkey.
Azerbaijanis are Turks, though not of the Osman (Ottoman) tribe.
Heard this today from a smart European:
Europe has subcontracted security to America.
Its economy to China.
Energy to Russia and its labor force to the Islamists.
This model now has completely collapsed.
https://nitter.netbub.com/mdubowitz/status/2107521428954472557#m
Excellent information and analysis.. thank you, Sundance.
“The information Manfred gave Hanning related to intelligence on Russia and Iran that Germany gathered from partnerships with the USA and Israel”
try him selling and sharing state secrets to Mossad:
from ZeroHedge
International reports at the time: “According to prosecutors, August Hanning, who once headed Germany’s domestic intelligence service, allegedly approached Peri [ex-Shin Bet head], now owner of the Israeli consulting firm CGI Group, to organize a team of Israeli operatives for the abduction. The team allegedly assaulted Hänsel, kidnapped the children, smuggled them into Germany, and handed them over to Block. A Danish court later ordered her to return the children to their father.””
Is it odd that ZH relies so heavily on Max’s words, but Max stays quiet on his very own Gray Zone?
“…“The information Manfred gave Hanning related to intelligence on Russia and Iran that Germany gathered from partnerships with the USA and Israel”…..”
Seems unusual that a German “spy” would share intelligence with the very country that helped them acquire the intelligence in the first place.
Germany, like France, like Britain, like Spain, is circling the drain.
Since the end of WWII, Germany has been a can of worms. It was reported to have the highest number of intelligence assets, per square kilometer, working on both sides of the wall during the Cold War. Even German civilians were getting in on the fun there. Those following the news at that time might remember all the ones the civilian hackers they caught in places like Hannover and West Berlin, just the tip of the iceberg would be my guess. It’s an exercise in reading history books and past news stories, but who’s to say the place isn’t as much of a can of worms today as it was then for all we know.
Maybe…..Shin Bet……Israel…..????
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/german-spy-chief-arrested-treason
of course it’s all classified…..
What about the child abduction part of the story?
The Suspicious Cat always gets me, lol.