Ex-Dir. August Hanning of Germany's BND intelligence service was arrested on Oct. 6 on suspicion of illegally obtaining 2,000 classified documents, using them in his capacity as a private security consultant and working as an agent for a foreign intelligence service. Der Spiegel said that this scandal came at a particularly bad time because of efforts by the German government to augment the BND's powers. In the Czech Republic, the powers of the BIS counterintelligence agency have already in effect been increased. A Chinese journalist went on trial yesterday for suspicion of violating a new law against engaging in unauthorized activity for a foreign power. The man is accused of taking people to dinner, giving them small gifts and extracting useful information from them. No one has been charged with providing him with any classified information or documents. Part of yesterday's hearing in Prague Municipal Court was closed to the public. Officially, the reason was that secrets were to be discussed. Could it be, though, that prosecutors and BIS didn't want the public to see how thin their case really is? Without a smoking gun of 2,000 leaked documents, they'll have to give the public more than they have so far.