Messiah or Madman? - Bent Corydon [Plaintext version 1.0, August 18, 1998] L. RON HUBBARD Messiah of Madman? Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf Dear Bookbuyer: SL This is not the jacket we planned for this book. We have been forced to use this makeshift design in order to safeguard our right to ship MESSIAH OR MADMAN? to the public. We consider it our duty to make this important book available to you as soon as possible--despite the ongoing legal harassment we are suffering. The contents of L. RON HUBBARD, MESSIAH OR MADMAN? justify the enormous legal and personal problems that we have gone through. We are convinced that this book must not be suppressed at any cost! Later editions will bear a jacket consistent with our usual high standards. But since a restraining order had been placed on our first printing because of litigation over jacket design, we felt it imperative to release books to the public immediately. We are sure that the bookbuying public will understand, and support us in our fight to protect First Amendment liberties. ISBN 0-8184-0444-2 L. RON HUBBARD Messiah or Madman? Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr. a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf L. Ron Hubbard wrote the 1950 bestseller Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health. This inspired a layman-oriented men- tal health movement which, ultimately, de- veloped into Scientology, the most profitable of the money-making new religions. Surrounded by adoring teenyboppers, uni- formed in mini-skirts, bikini tops and high heeled boots, Hubbard was a bigamist who masterminded Watergate-style break-ins. He was an opium addict who secretly regarded himself as the successor to Aleister Crowley, self-proclaimed "Beast 666." These are but some of the facts about the man covered in this unusual biography. At this writing, Dianetics is again on The New York Times' bestseller list. This, the re- sult of a massive advertising blitz which used television and thousands of billboards across the country. Bestseller lists frequently also include several of Hubbard's science fiction novels. Are Hubbard's followers the victims of a highly organised form of "spiritual crazy glue"? Not according to them. There is no shortage of celebrities who claim that Hub- bard's teachings and counseling techniques have made their lives happier and themselves (*Continued on back flap*) L. RON HUBBARD Messiah or Madman? by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr. *Lyle Stuart Inc. Secaucus, New Jersey* Copyright (c) 1987 by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. Published by Lyle Stuart Inc. 120 Enterprise Ave., Secaucus, N.J. 07094 In Canada: Musson Book Company a division of General Publishing Co. Limited Don Mills, Ontario All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review. Queries regarding rights and permissions should be addressed to: Lyle Stuart, 120 Enterprise Avenue Secaucus, N.J. 07094 Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Corydon, Bent. L. Ron Hubbard, messiah or madman? 1. Hubbard, L. Ron (La Fayette Ron), 1911 - 2. Scientologists--United States--Biography. 3. Church of Scientology--History. I. Hubbard, L. Ron. II. Title. BP605.S2C67 1987 299'.936'0924 [B] 87-10252 ISBN 0-8184-0444-2 Contents Note 7 Preface 8 Introduction 11 PART I (1967-1984) THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE 1. A Seafaring Messiah with a "Mission to Save the Planet" 19 2. Searching for Treasure Stashed in Previous Lives 38 3. L. Ron and the Beast 45 4. "Mankind's Only Hope" 57 5. The Liability Cruise and Other Adventures 66 6. Wogs Versus Operating Thetans 74 7. Fear in the Master's Eye 87 8. Crucifying the Evil Out! 95 9. The Brainwashing Manual 101 10. The Sea Org Goes Ashore 112 11. "I Let Him Undress Me Without Resisting" 123 12. Souls Turned Inside Out 132 13. Snow White and the Scientology 11 147 14. Freaking Out Paulette 164 15. "I Resigned in 1966" - Hubbard, from Secret Desert Command Post 171 5 6 CONTENTS 16. The Saviour Lives Just Down the Road! 110 17. Hubbard Derails a Reform Movement 191 18. Hubbard's "Billion Dollar Caper" 198 19. The Saviour's Revenge 203 20. Thousands Break from Hubbard's Church 211 21. Hubbard's PR Biographies Exposed 219 22. "Operation Juggernaut": Hubbard Targets Boston Lawyer 230 23. The Boss's "Withholds" Are Revealed in a Wog Court 238 PART II "UNSCRUPULOUS WOMANIZER" TO "ASCENDED MESSIAH" 1. Sex Magic in Pasadena 255 2. The Origins of Dianetics 262 3. Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health 274 4. The "Kidnapping" 281 5. Sara Speaks 287 6. Dianetics Abandoned 296 7. "The Blood of Their Bodies, the Blood of Their Souls" 304 8. Scientology in the Fifties 309 9. Lord of the Manor 315 10. Clay in the Masters Hands 319 11. Heads in Toilets 337 12. Are You Haunted? 349 13. Through the Wall of Fire! 360 14. The Sea Org Revisited 367 15. Typewriter in the Sky 375 16. Reflections 384 The Aftermath 390 Glossary 394 Note No human being exists who was close to L. RoIl Hubbard through- out his entire adult life. Ronald DeWolf aka L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., Hubbard's oldest son who co-authored this book is among the few living who spent a substantial stretch of time with him. Mary Sue Hubbard (Hubbard's third wife) is another, but she is not talking. During the critical formative years of Dianetics (the forerunner of Scientology), Hubbard was married to Sara Northrup, his second wife. An intelligent, literate and credible woman, Sara spoke with Bent Corydon shortly before the publication of this book. It was an exclusive interview. Fearing for the safety of her daugh- ter, she had said nothing publicly for thirty-five years regarding her former husband. She agreed to speak to Corydon because Hubbard had died, lessening the threat, and because of her confidence in her attorney, who encouraged the interview. Ron Jr. left the organization and his father in December 1959. Bent Corydon joined Scientology in 1961. Corydon was a member of the Church of Scientology for some 22 years and became one of the most successful "mission holders" (a non- profit Church "franchise" holder), building up the worlds largest single Scientology mission in Riverside, California, and also another in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Riverside mission occupied a forty thou- sand square foot building and, at its peak, had 180 full-time staff. During this time he made many close friends, some of whom held high positions in the Church where they spent thousands of hours working personally with Hubbard. In 1976 Hubbard secretly moved to Riverside County, near Cory- don's mission, setting off a maelstrom of events which eventually swept Corydon and others towards a confrontation with Hubbard; events which helped expose a great many of his secrets to view. This combination of people and events has finally made the telling of this amazing story possible. 7 Preface In 1979 Omar Garrison, a professional writer who had previously written three books at the request of L. Ron Hubbard's agents, was commissioned by him to write Hubbard's biography. He was given access to thousands of private documents, many of which Hubbard erroneously believed no longer existed. Garrison spent 18 months poring over them and interviewing people from Hubbard's past. As he gained more and more information, he came to a decision that he could not, in good conscience, write the "PR" biography that had been intended. In early 1984, disgusted by the entire affair and realizing he could not prevail over the inevitable harassment and legal/financial obstacle course awaiting him, Garrison accepted a large cash sum from Hubbard's agents not to write the biography which he was then plan- ning This one would have given what was, in his own estimation, a truthful account of Hubbard's life. Garrison's efforts to bring out the truth turned out not to have been in vain. The majority of the documents and information, on which he was to have based his biography, were revealed in a trial in a Los An- geles courtroom in mid-1984. Gerry Armstrong, who assisted Garri- son by locating thousands of Hubbard documents, and who was the subject of this trial, was consulted extensively. These revelations backed up many of the stories told to me by Hub- bard's first son, Ron Jr. In 1970 Paulette Cooper wrote, and had published, a book called The Scandal of Scientology containing some biographical matter on Hubbard. She was hounded by Church of Scientology agents for a decade and at one period was almost convicted on Federal felony charges, having been framed by Church agents. Recently, after the Church discovered that the book you are read- ing was being written, a roughly six foot four inch, 250 lb. man in 8 *Preface* 9 black leather jacket and gloves arrived at my workplace asking for me. Failing to locate me, he told one of my assistants, "Since Corydon's not here, you'll do." He then yelled, "You are standing in the way of Ron's bridge!"' and proceeded to punch him in the face and knock him around. Obscene and threatening phone calls to my home became com- monplace, often occurring while I was out and directed at my wife, telling her, "We know you're alone." L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. was contracted as co-author of this book and co-operated for more than half of its writing, providing information. He was then offered an undisclosed amount of money by Church of Scientology representatives to settle his claim against his father's es- tate. There was, however, also a requirement that he must cease any assistance on the book and remove his name from it. He signed papers to that effect. Lyle Stuart, the publisher, having in hand a prior signed contract, decided to go ahead regardless. The settlement ended a 26-year ordeal imposed upon him by his father. Less than a year after Ron Jr. left his father's organization in 1959, he was talking openly about his experiences. This was when his father wrote an official Church policy stating: If attacked on some vulnerable point by anyone or anything or any organization, always find or manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace. (Emphasis added) In 1972, Ron Jr. had signed a letter saying, in effect, that statements he had made about his father were false. He later claimed he did so after much harassment. Whenever Ron Jr. has spoken publicly since then, the Church has trotted out his "signed retraction." Unfortunately for the Church, many other documents have sur- faced in court that have backed up the majority of what Hubbard's son had.been saying. And nothing he has said about his father has, to my knowledge, been disproven. During my visits to his home in Carson City, Nevada, I found Ron Hubbard, Jr. a gentle man who showed enormous affection for his wife and now grown children. He claimed that the well-being of his then young family was the chief consideration in signing this specious document. *The "bridge" which would "Lead Man to a higher plateau of happiness and ability." 10 PREFACE I felt this had a ring of truth. Especially when added to what I knew of the sinister ability of Hubbard's agents to "persuade" others into complying with his intentions. Ron Jr. is a diabetic. During the six months prior to his '86 settle- ment he had had part of his foot amputated and hovered near death for three days during a subsequent operation on his abdomen. These events, besides causing physical and emotional trauma, had left him in a financially devastated condition. Nevertheless, though Ron Jr.'s lips were being sealed, he refused, this time, to sign any affidavit disclaiming his prior statements. Concurrent with "the Church making peace" with Hubbard's eld- est son, a woman - now in her mid-thirties with red hair and unmis- takable features distinguishing her as a Hubbard - whose first name is Alexis, was paid a sum of money to settle her claim to part of Hubbard's estate. She refused, however, to sign a document presented to her as part of the agreement by Church of Scientology representatives. It spelled out a bizarre claim that L. Ron Hubbard Junior is her real father. (The probate case being settled was based on the fact that the de- ceased L. Ron Hubbard Senior is her real father. His name is on her birth certificate.) This attempt to get L. Ron Hubbard's daughter by his second mar- riage to attest that Hubbard's son is her real father was the latest in a long series of often shockingly successful cover-ups. **** Who was Hubbard? What are the many secrets he worked (and now his Church works) so hard to keep concealed? The story of L. Ron Hubbard is a study of the bizarre. The more one knows about him, the more one feels he should have been impos- sible. It just could not happen. But there he was: A chain-smoking enigmatic bundle of contradictions. Ron Jr. and his stepmother for five years, Sara Northrup Hubbard, were witness to a very different man from the one known to Scientol- ogy's zealous followers. Indeed they probably know him better than anyone. They had stepped inside a very private and secret universe and stepped out again. They had entered the magic circle and escaped. And lived to talk about it. But barely. Introduction "Mankind Has No Better Friend" "Best-selling author, Founder of Scientology, friend to millions," proclaims the headline of a full-page paid announcement in the Los Angeles Times and other major newspapers across the planet. Under a photograph of the Founder the text continues: L. Ron Hubbard...a man whose tremendous contributions to vir- tually all walks of life have made him the greatest humanitarian in his- tory. Indeed, few men have achieved so much in so many different fields. Author, philosopher, educator, research pioneer, musician, photogra- pher, cinematographer, horticulturalist, navigator, explorer and hu- manitarian - Mr. Hubbard has been widely recognized for his contri- butions in all of these fields.... Presented are many eulogies, including: "My only sorrow is that L. Ron Hubbard left before I could thank him for my new life." - Sonny Bono. "Dynamic, dramatic, dynamitic this was the red-headed ball of fire I first met in 1937. Ten years later I became his agent. He gave the world of science fiction and fantasy two acknowledged masterpieces: Final Blackout and Fear. In both the literary world and the mundane he left a mark on humankind that will be felt in the 21st century, a century about which he frequently wrote and which in 'real' life he at- tempted to influence for the better. I see him now, blazing away on 11 12 INTRODUCTION that Typewriter in the SkY." - FORREST J. ACKERMAN, Renowned Science Fiction Agent and Author. "L. Ron Hubbard set a star-high goal for us. He documented it with pure science. He taught it with pure love. He's left nothing but pure inspiration." - CHICK COREA, award-winning Jazz Composer and Mu- sician. A subsequent glossy memorial booklet was included as a supple- ment in issues of the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. **** A few days prior to the first advertised collection of eulogies... 27 January 19B6: Scientology Churches and Missions all over the planet are ordered by International Management to close their doors. Their staff and public are instructed to proceed to specified locations where they will view a special event broadcast via satellite. Those Scientologists from the Los Angeles area are told to proceed directly to the Hollywood Palladium. The event is to start at seven P.M. sharp. Every seat is filled well before then. Large speakers above the stage blast forth stirring music. The stage is decorated with giant Scientology symbols and huge photographs of the Founder. The music and setting have an obvious impact on the audience, representing the reach of Scientologists for ultimate spiri- tual freedom and ability. As the music reaches its finale, 24-year-old "Commander" David Miscavage appears. He is a tiny man and his slim frame cuts a small figure on the large stage. Wearing a dress naval uniform of the elite Sea Organization, he is resplendent with gold braid and shoulder lan- yard. Miscavage, the de facto third most powerful executive of the Church of Scientology now that Hubbard is gone, begins to speak. (None of the people in the audience is yet aware that Hubbard is dead). MISCAVAGE: I've very happy that you could all make it to this important briefing this evening. In 1980 LRH moved off the lines so that he could continue his writ- ings and research without any distractions. For many years Ron had *Introduction* 13 said that if he was given the time, and if others wore their hats* and did their jobs in expanding the Church, he would be able to concentrate on and complete all of his researches into the upper OT** levels, so that the bridge*** would be laid out in full for all of us. Over the past six years LRH has been intensively researching the upper bands of OT.... Approximately two weeks ago, he completed all of his researches he set out to do. The crowd, awed and delighted, responds with oohs and aahs and abundant applause. Commander Miscavage continues: He has now moved on to the next level of OT research. It's a level beyond anything any of us ever imagined. This level is in fact done in an exterior state. Meaning that it is done completely exterior from the body. At this level of OT, the body is nothing more than in impediment and encumbrance to any further gain as an OT. Thus at 2000 hours, the 24th of January, AD36,t L. Ron Hubbard discarded the body he had used in this life time for 74 years 10 months and 11 days. ...He thought it was important that Scientologists be the first to become aware of this fact. ...The body is a physical object. It is not the being himself. The being we know as L. Ron Hubbard still exists; however, the body could no longer serve his purposes. His decision was made at complete cause....He has simply moved on to his next step. ...LRH, in fact, used this lifetime in the body we knew, to accom- plish what no man has ever accomplished. He unlocked the mysteries of life, and gave us the tools so we could free ourselves and our fellow man. L. Ron Hubbard completed everything he set out to do and more. The fact that he causatively, willing]y discarded the body, after it was no longer useful to him, signifies his ultimate success: the con- quest of life that he embarked upon half a century ago. Miscavage begins to clap, slowly almost mechanically. His ever- *Did their jobs. '*Operating Thetan. A spiritual being restored to his "native state" of godlike abilities. ***A gradient series of steps leading, supposedly, to O.T. After Dianetics (Hubbard's book Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health was published in 1950). 14 INTRODUCTION present fierce stare becoming even more intense. The packed Palla- dium bursts into applause during which the crowd is led in a series of Hip-hip hoorays! The applause lasts for some twenty minutes until Miscavage finally stops, permitting the rest to do the same. Commander David Miscavage is obviously pleased and, perhaps, a little relieved. Miscavage introduces Earle Cooley, Boston lawyer and recently proclaimed "Scientologist." He is a large man with a face reminiscent of a well-fed, aging Irish boxer. Cooley announces that he has seen to the execution of the wishes expressed by Hubbard in his will; that he has contacted the coroner's office and the funeral parlor, and that the body was cremated the next day at three P.M. (less than 24 hours after his death). COOLEY: There are several very important matters that I wish to bring to your attention. First, the body of L. Ron Hubbard was sound and strong and fully capable of serving this Mighty Thetan [Scientology word for Spiritual Being] for many years, had that suited his purpose. ...Thus, by the decision to continue his work outside the confines of his body, and by the decision to do it now, L. Ron Hubbard has given the ultimate expression of his love for you. He has, in effect, told us the Church is in good hands: "You can do it all. Your future is assured. Secure in this knowledge I go about my work elsewhere. You have all of the tools. You have all of the resources to take this planet and to save Mankind. "Support and rally behind your leaders. Together you will win the total victory and achieve the ultimate goals of Scientology. Take what I have given you with my love." **** In 1949 a broke middle-aged science fiction writer authored a book which became a best seller: Dianetics, the Modem Science of Mental Health. Mail arrived at his doorstep by the sack-load, and the money rolled in. In 1952 that author, L. Ron Hubbard, unveiled a more spiritually oriented subject, Scientology. One year later, he founded the Church of Scientology, using his Dianetic following as a base. Over the years it grew, becoming a multi-million dollar operation. *Introduction* 15 The Encyclopedia Britannica 1972 Yearbook states: "According to a study by Peter Kowley [author of] New Gods in America...largest of the new religions is Scientology." Werner Erhard, of EST fame, called L. Ron Hubbard the "greatest philosopher of the twentieth Century." Researchers in the field of para-psychology at Stanford Research Institute went so far as to have many of the various Scientology coun- seling techniques applied to themselves. For over a quarter of a century Hubbard lectured to audiences all over the world. He was exciting, witty, charming and brilliant. Celebrities arrived seeking enlightenment. John Travolta, Karen Black, Chick Corea, Stephen Boyd, Gloria Swanson, William Bur- rough's...the list goes on.... There are even those who claim to have witnessed him change his body's size, read minds, move objects telekinetically, or zoom up lad- ders defying gravity.... To his followers he is the reincarnation of the Buddha: The much- prophesied Messiah awaited by untold millions in the Far East and throughout the world. The Meitreya; "He whose name is kindness"; the one with the golden hair. It had been prophesied he would ap- pear in the West, some two and a half thousand years after Buddha's death. Wrote Hubbard: Everywhere you are I can be addressed But in your temples best Address me and you address Lord Buddha Address Lord Buddha And you then address Meitreya. PART I (1967-1984) THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE 1 A Seafaring Messiah with a "Mission to Save the Planet" In the fifties, when L. Ron Hubbard established himself as the "lighthearted" leader of what was presented as an anti-authoritarian "scientific religion," it never occurred to anyone that he would, even- tually, become the Commodore of his own private navy, and absolute dictator of an enormous authoritarian bureaucracy. Scientology was a roaring financial success in the sixties, and purchasing a ship was well within his means. So, late in 1966, he bought a yacht and two ships in England, and another ship for crew- training purposes in the States: a small flotilla. The largest of these was the 342-foot ship Royal Scotsman (later renamed the Apollo), which had been used, during the Second World War, as transport for Winston Churchill. These years, and into the late seventies, marked the peak of Hubbard's drama, and are noteworthy for, among other things, his defiance of the powers that be - including the United States govern- ment. It was during this time that the bulk of the Church's assets (said by Church President Heber Jenzsch to be a billion dollars) were accu- mulated, and during which he built the Sea Organization. It was also during this period that Scientology completed its transi- tion into a militant cult; a transition that took a decade and a half. Hubbard did all this while claiming that he had resigned from the Church management in 1966 (an announcement which was carried by most of the major media at the time). He was merely a writer in seclu- sion, he said. 19 20 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE But as "Commodore" of the "Sea Org," he remained in control of the movement. **** In the 1960s Scientology boomed. On five continents students of Scientology studied intently in "academies" at their "local Churches." People arrived in droves to take courses. Counseling techniques- directed toward resolving such things as learning disabilities, psycho- somatic ills, unwanted fears and compulsions, drug and alcohol de- pendency, communication problems, upsets in life, and many other areas - were studied, practiced and applied. At L. Ron Hubbard's home, a large Georgian manor on a 40-acre estate in the rolling green countryside of Sussex, England, hundreds of eager students were attending the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course. This course featured live lectures by L. Ron Hubbard until his departure in December 1966, when he began his "Sea Project." By this time there were also two other "advanced organizations" where "upper level" counseling and training were done (in Scotland, soon to be moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, and in Los Angeles). **** I had become involved in Scientology at the age of 19 in 1961, hav- ing been impressed with Hubbard's books and the theory and prac- tice of Scientology's counseling methods. "Man is basically good," Hubbard had explained. And now with a truly workable science of the mind and spirit, that basic goodness could be freed of aberrations - the dark impulses, pain, and confu- sions - that had enveloped it. Punishment and duress were now no longer necessary to maintain order and so allow society to operate. Besides, punishment "didn't work," and was only a short-term solution, making matters worse in the long run. With the know-how contained in Scientology, Hubbard explained, Mankind could finally attain to a high level of rationality. Mutual understanding and freedom were now possible. "Ron," as we referred to him (he had encouraged us to feel that he was our personal friend), had spoken to us in books and on tape about our unrealized mental and spiritual abilities, of the state of "clear, " where an individual is not held down by negative or traumatic experi- ences of the past, is fully alive in the "here and now," able to enjoy life fully. A "clear" would operate at full mental capacity, and have the ability to recall anything that has ever happened to him. He *A Seafaring Messiah* 21 would be free of psychosomatic ills. These ills, Hubbard had as- serted, comprise 75 percent of all man's ailments. We, like most Scientologists, believed we were on our way to creating a new civilization - a truly sane planet. Personal "success stories" abounded. Anyone listening to these stories and watching the faces of the people could not but be impressed with their personal gains and genuine enthusiasm. "Scientology Works" was the message. Hubbard had told Scientologists to be great. Greatness meant that one continued to love others despite all invitations to hate. He had said that the essential self, the soul or "thetan," never dies; but sim- ply "drops" one body and then goes off in search of another, to be born once more and start another round. He had, we believed, mapped out and "built a bridge" (a system of counseling techniques that progressively get more advanced) which would increase a person's awareness of himself and others, and in- crease his abilities - even beyond "clear" - to whel.e one could move around, perceive, manipulate objects and communicate without need of a body. One would then be able to leave his body and, as a spirit, go off to smell the sea breezes or soar among the mountain tops. This was called the state of "OT," meaning "operating thetan." The spirit of "thetan" could return to its "native state," a state wherein compulsive and artificial reliance on a body has been over- come. Hubbard was fond of relating the aims of Scientology, as it applies to the individual, to the Buddhist goal of freeing oneself from the continuing cycle of birth and death. At the highest state of "OT" one would have "Total Freedom. " This state was defined as "the ability to be at cause knowingly and at will over thought, life, form, matter, energy, space and time, subjective and objective." The discoveries that would enable people to ultimately achieve this, he said, had come partly from his study of nuclear physics, a sub- ject he claimed to know a lot about, since he "had attended the first class in nuclear phenomena taught at George Washington Univer- sity." A book by him called All About Radiation introduced him as a nuclear physicist and an engineer; so, to many, he appeared to speak with considerable authority. His claimed credentials made him credible to a generation taught to admire the wonders of modern science. Besides, he had stressed that no one needed to believe what he 22 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE said; they should check it out for themselves. "What is true for you is what you have observed for yourself. Nothing in Dianetics and Scien- tology is true for you unless you have observed it." This principle came from Buddhism, another subject he apparently knew a lot about. He had, he said, traveled extensively in the Far East and had drunk deeply of the wisdom contained in the lamaseries and other centers of wisdom there. And - although not much publicized to outsiders - Scientologists knew him as the reincarnation of the Bud- dha himself. **** Mary, my wife, and I had arrived in England from New Zealand in August of 1967. We had mortgaged our home and had hoped to meet Ron at his home, Saint Hill Manor. All this to discover that, months earlier, he had left for places unknown, and was embarking on the Sea Project. This was promoted as an all-out project to "Clear the Planet." The Sea Project soon became the "Sea Organization." To qualify for Hubbard's elite Sea Organization, referred to as the "Sea Org," recruits were (and still are) required to sign a billion-year contract. Most of them fully expected to serve the full billion years; after all, a thetan (spirit) never dies and, after the inhabitants of this planet had achieved the state of clear, there would be other planets out there.in the universe that also needed to be "cleared." There were wonderful, late-night conversations about the Space Org. This would be set up after Earth had been made a "Scientology Planet." Artists painted space ships soaring through the universe, with the Sea Org emblem on their bows. These paintings were repro- duced on the walls of the Scientology organizations throughout the world. Many of these "orgs" had Hubbard's bronze bust in their front lob- bies. His pictures were everywhere: classrooms, halls, and offices. Per policy, an office was also set up for him, usually impeccably deco- rated and furnished and awaiting his chance visit, even in orgs that were desperately short of floorspace. **** After 1967, the hub around which all Scientology revolved was the flagship Apollo, an immaculately scrubbed white ship cruising majes- tically through the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Here lived and worked the elite of Scientology in what was billed as the sanest and safest space on earth. *A Seafaring Messiah* 23 Here also worked L. Ron Hubbard, in a plush oak-panelled office. He was in touch with all Scientology activities around the world by a modern telex system that rivalled those of major corporations. Of the 300 to 400 crew members, some 20 worked long hours just manning the telexes and other communications systems between Hubbard and his world-wide organizations. **** The four-year-old boy could no longer cry. He had been nearly 4t) hours in the chain locker of the flagship Apollo and his entire body was aching from his efforts to chip off rust. His knees and hands were raw with cuts and bruises. His voice was raspy from crying, and he was desperately afraid. He was constantly making resolutions to never, never again eat the Commodore's telexes - the most recent crime of which he had been accused. Little Tony had entered the chain locker through the tiny manhole that led to it. The metallic sound as the lid slammed shut sounded final somehow. The space was cramped for even his small body, and he was enveloped by darkness. It was wet in there and very, very scary. The chains of the ship's anchor took on the dimensions of a monster. At one point a rat scuttled by him squealing. He was sure he was going to die. The thin strips of yellow paper coming from the telex machines, like streamers of birthday party confetti, had been just too tempting. It had been so boring and serious, with everyone working constantly; but these strips of paper seemed to be enticing Tony to play. He put them in his mouth and pretended they tasted sweet, like chewing gum. The Commodore had been outraged, and just the fact that this per- son had a young body was in no way going to prevent him from ad- ministering the appropriate penalty. Little Tony was "out ethics," a "down stat" (someone who didn't produce adequately for the group - or who produced bad products - and, thus, had "down statistics"). In 1965 Hubbard had redefined the term "ethics." Being "ethical" now meant, essentially, being "upstat." "We award production and up statistics and penalize non-produc- tion and down statistics. Always," wrote Hubbard, "reward the up statistic and penalize the down..." (In Scientology a "down stat" has no rights.) According to their statistic each individual was assigned an "ethics 24 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE condition." Those assigned a low "condition" (below "normal") had to work their way up through all those above. These conditions are from the highest to the lowest: Power Affluence Normal Operation Emergency Danger Non-Existance Liability Doubt Enemy Treason Confusion With the advent of the Sea Org era, Hubbard further redefined the term "ethics." Having one's "ethics in," for all intents and purposes, now equated to aiding or obeying HIS intentions; and removing any distractions and opposition to those intentions. "The purpose of ethics," Hubbard wrote in 1968, "is to remove counter intentions from the environment. And having accomplished that the purpose becomes to remove other intentionedness from the environment." ("Intentionedness" is another bit of Scientologese hopefully never to be incorporated into the English language.) In the fifties, Hubbard had defined "ethics" or "being ethical.' as "rationality toward the highest level of survival for the individual, the future race, the group, and Mankind. " In the eyes of a good Sea Org member there was no problem in harmonizing both definitions. Hubbard was, after all, the infallible Messiah, here to save Mankind. Any command he gave was thus to be unquestionably obeyed. "Command Intention!" This was Org-speak for "what Ron wants. " Command Intention was expected to be uppermost in the minds of all loyal staff members, in- deed all Scientologists. **** The chain locker was dangerous. Located at the very bow of the ship under the water-line. It was the place where the section of the chain not in the water was stored. When the entire chain was brought *A Seafaring Messiah* 25 up it filled most of this comparatively small, wet, dark, and some- times rat-infested locker. The only thing that was holding the chain in the locker was what is called a devil's claw, which was located well above the locker on the deck of the ship. If someone were to kick the claw, the entire chain would be pulled at high speed out of the locker by the weight of the anchor, and anyone down in the locker could very easily get caught in the outgoing chain and be yanked to his death. One crew member told of the devil's claw being loosened by acci- dent while he was in the chain locker. He expressed his terror at com- ing so close to dying. The chain "came alive" and gyrated around as it was being pulled out at high speed while he crouched, frozen by fear, as tightly as he could against the side of the locker. By some miracle he was unhurt. Sometimes children would peer down into the chain locker where some other child had been assigned and teasingly threaten, "We're going to kick the devil's claw!" Tony's mother had left him in the care of another Sea Org woman while she was gone on a "mission" to "raise the stats" of an ailing land organization. When she returned she was shocked to discover that her son had been placed in the chain locker. She was "handled," however, with explanations about how "out ethics" and "down stat" Tony had been. "He is really a very old thetan [spirit] with a young body," she was told. "He should not be permitted to use that young body to stir up sympathy. " (Interviewed in 1986, five years after leaving the Church, she expressed bewilder- ment as to how she could have accepted such explanations.) Prominent ex-Scientologist John McMaster, the "World's First Real Clear," was a major factor in the huge financial success of Scientology during the sixties. According to McMaster: Hubbard had ordered a little girl who was a deafmute down into the chain locker sometime in 1968. Hubbard was going to cure her deaf- ness by shoving her down there! This came to my attention after she'd been there for about a week because the Master at Arms at the time, a beautiful girl, came to me and said, "John, I've got to have you come and see what's going on." I had just come back from a world tour promoting Scientology. And I said, "What is it" And she told me about this little girl. Her 26 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE parents were from London. Her father and mother had separated, and the mother had brought three or four of her children onto the ship. I went down there and released her out of it. I pulled out the door pegs that were put down to make sure this poor little thing couldn't get out. Then I went to Hubbard and said, "What the hell are you doing?" And he said, "John, what the hell are you talking about?" And I said, "What are you really doing!" I was screaming at him. And he said, "Oh God, release her. I didn't know she was in there " Shortly thereafter, McMaster was made a galley hand and sub- jected to extreme physical labor, lack of sleep, and other hardships. "Hubbard wanted to break me," he said. After he resigned from the Church of Scientology in late 1969, he was officially "declared" a "suppressive person" or "S.P." (evil psy- chotic) by Hubbard. **** Talking about the inception of "heavy ethics" into the world of Scientology, John Ausley (a feisty Floridian who joined the Sea Org in 1968 and quickly rose to a top position) says: John McMaster seriously bottom lined on the chain locker. Kids would get locked up in there. To John's mind you don't take a four- year-old and put him down in a hatch, and batten the hatch so he can't get out. You don't terrorize a kid.. Hubbard used a "shotgun" (right-hand mall who did his bidding) called Otto Roos. Otto and McMaster were very different.... There was a dude who had been slowly working out of "doubt." He was a mellow, friendly, shy guy. This was 1968. You had to do 48 hours of non-stop amends in "doubt," at which point you were upgraded to "liability." Then you'd have to do another 24 hours of non-stop amends - I'm talking about hard physical labor - at which point you're upgraded to...non-existence." You then have to do 12 more hours: with people all over your phys- ical ass and your mental faculties. And as the person winds down, he becomes more and more vulnerable. So it's a wild trip. Anyway this was a kid who stuttered. Otto didn't like him. I think he was about up to "non-existence" where he couldn't take it any more. So he went to bed after three days. This isn't a guy's average going to bed; when you hit horizontal you go out like a light! *A Seafaring Messiah* 27 Along about the second or third day, if you didn't continue in steady physical motion, you pass out on your feet. Anyway, Otto grabbed this kid out of an upper bunk in the middle of a deep sleep, and body slammed him from five or six feet onto the floor. He put a knife blade to his throat and started screaming he was gonna kill him since he was a "down stat"! Otto seriously freaked this kid out for life right there. I mean it didn't help his stuttering at all! Some maniac with "upstat" braid, who is Hubbard's right-hand shotgun, is going to slit your throat for being a "downstat" - and all this instantly after having already been body slammed from six feet up in the middle of a dead sleep. Otto Roos wrote about his experiences in 1984 when no longer a member of the Church: I believe I was the only one who would just walk into LRH's office with information when I was not able to get through to him any other way. At times he called me into his office and even his bedroom to talk. This was when he wanted to sort something out, and needed someone to talk to. This went on all night sometimes, and I would just listen and acknowledge. He always thanked me very graciously. "Thank you for listening Otto," and, unless upset, he was extremely courteous. Otto Roos gave some of the rationalization behind the position he held and the way he had conducted himself: Having myself experienced the atrocities of war, unlike many of my friends, I swore I wasn't going down into those rusty old tanks, for up to a week without sleep, chipping rust, while Masters at Arms checked outside to ensure the chipping didn't stop. This was too much like the concentration camps from my childhood days. I determined that I would not also go through anything like one of our "S.Y.s" [John O'Keefe], who had a fear of heights and had to be virtually winched up to the crow's nest (a little bucket at the top of the mast, too small to sit or lie in). This ritual, of winching him up and down from there, was repeated every alternative four hours for some 84 hours. It must seem incredible that anyone would put up with such treat- ment. John O'Keefe, whose experience while aboard is very briefly glimpsed in Chapter 4, is still a loyal Church member. Prior to his 28 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE joining the Sea Org, while at Saint Hill in England in 1966, a poem of his appeared in Advance!, an official Scientology magazine. It focused on the "wins" he was having in his counseling: ...And as the world outside Unheeding blindly reels along I clear away the chains Upon my being As men have dreamed of doing Through unrecorded time And each night I grow In understanding And potential And soon now The job will all be done And I will fly Higher and brighter Than any bird or sun. John O'Keefe could never have guessed the form in which he was destined to "fly higher." Otto Roos continues: This severe discipline started in earnest in September of 1967 when the condition of non-existence was accompanied by the penalty of no right to food. Hay Thacker [a woman in her fifties, at the time] was the first to have this condition assigned. Huddled in a corner, she was avoided by all, in compliance with the order. Occasionally she was thrown a crust of bread. JOHN AUSLEY: Hubbard had this big muster. We all lined up by division and stood at attention while he talked and his messengers recorded it all on tape. He made everyone stand at attention while he talked. He was running a General Patton flow rather than an enlightenment flow. I leaned out of line and just stared at him. And he was this physical predator: like, "I'm making all these people stand at attention and I'm proud of it." He was using the idea that the world was about to blow up, and he had the only solution, as a recruiting method for slave labor. **** *A Seafaring Messiah* 29 In the early 1970s, Hubbard began surrounding himself with nu- bile teenage girls. These became his "messengers." These young people had received no other education, since coming aboard, than their Sea Organization training, and had no real experi- ence of anything outside of the world of the ship and Scientology. Hubbard seemed to trust his teenage messengers more than he did anyone. He was, however, also served by the teenagers' parents, as well as teachers, laborers, architects, doctors, lawyers and business- men. These people also endured the rigors of Sea Org discipline, and they served him along with the youngsters, for room and board and a pittance of pocket money. Tonja Burden, a 13-year-old daughter of Sea Org parents, who had proudly sent her to the Apollo to work for Ron (while they remained at a Sea Org installation in Los Angeles), was a Commodore's messen- ger in training. She claims that she saw people placed in the chain lockers on a number of occasions at the direct orders of Hubbard. Tonja wrote, in a legal affidavit, years after leaving the Sea Org: I saw one boy held in there for thirty nights crying and begging to be released. He was only allowed out to clean the bilges, where the sew- erage and refuse of the ship collected. Tonja joined the ship in 1974. "She was about thirteen or four- teen," says Hana Eltringham, who was a top Scientology Executive working with Hubbard since before the inception of the Sea Org. HANA (ELTRINGHAM) WHITFIELD: Tonya was a little kid; a little blond-haired, child-faced girl. She joined the ship with the idea of becoming a Commodore's messenger. The main Commodore's Messenger duties at the time were to walk around with LRH, carry his ashtray and light his cigarettes (LRH smoked three to four packs of filterless Kools a day), and carry mes- sages for him and bring answers back to him. The messengers were extremely competitive, I mean they would vie for his attention. The "qualified" messengers wore little white boots up to their knees with high heels on them. They had short mini-skirts with close to bikini halter tops tied in a knot between their breasts. Tonja was a "trainee," so, for most of the time that I saw her in '74 - '75, she was in a subordinate position. (She had not yet achieved messenger status.) 30 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE She was either washing his clothes or ironing them as well as doing the other- messengers' clothes. She did his household work. Other times I saw her working in the galley (possibly for punishment). She was up to her elbows in soap suds in one of those washing troughs. Perspiration was just dripping and her blond hair was plastered down to her scalp. She was looking very flushed and hot, with all these pans and things around; just a very unhappy face! She slept below decks with the other trainees in conditions that were not good at all. You see, the Apollo was all metal. The areas that we mainly sailed in '7e'75, which was Portugal and Spain, then across. the Atlantic into the Caribbean, are near equatorial and so are very hot and humid. In the summer time (and in the winter time to only a slightly lesser degree), where the sun is beating on the ship's metal decks and hull, the areas below decks get absolutely unbearable. I can only liken it to some of those metal punishment tanks and boxes that the prisoners of war were put into 1,y the Japanese. That's what it was like. So Tonya lived below decks ill a dorm, with maybe 12 to 16 people. And those dorms below decks smelled bad of body odor. No matter how much we cleaned, they stank. A more complete story of Tonja Burden is told in Chapter 10. **** The more "productive" or "up-stat" crew members would be re- warded with one day off every two weeks, and counseling (usually called "auditing," derived from the Latin word "audire," meaning "to hear or listen"). This auditing often took on the aura of a Catholic con- fessional. However, in this case, the "sins" were searched out with the help of an "E-Meter" (short for "electrometer"), which is an elec- tronic measuring device with a dial and a needle thoughts a person has which he feels uncomfortable that reacts to pictures that he flinches from looking at. 'le about, or mental The E-Meter is functionally similar to what most people think of as a lie detector, and is a variation of the psycho-galvanometer, long used by psychologists. It is a small portable instrument, some 13 inches by 10 inches by about 2 inches deep. A pair of electrical wires and two ordinary soup cans extend from it. These cans are held loosely in the hands and act as electrodes. Everything of note that a person says while on this meter is written down by the auditor. Thoughts of the most intimate nature are re- corded on paper; and the folder, containing all this material, is sent to *A Seafaring Messiah* 31 a "case supervisor," for study and further instructions as to the next areas to be probed by the auditor. On the ship the case supervisor was often Hubbard himself. Thus he knew his crew in a way that even their mothers and fathers had never known them. This situation could obviously give him enormous power over the minds of those receiving the auditing. His motives were rarely under suspicion of course; but if suspicion were ever to arise, it would be quickly "cleaned up" with an "ethics handling. " (In this case a talking to in the first instance, and sterner measures as required.) **** The practice of"handling down stats" by placing them in the chain locker, of hard physical labor used as punishment, of sleep depriva- tion, of throwing them overboard while the ship was at dock, and the other novel "ethics handlings" continued while the Commodore, and therefore most of the crew, turned his attention to more important matters. There was, after all, "a planet to take." "The planet is ours!" Hubbard had proclaimed. "A Scientology planet!" was the rallying cry. Just as Hubbard had put "ethics in" on the "down stats" aboard the Apollo, so "ethics" had to be "put in" on Earth itself. "Ethics" had to be "put in" so that "tech" could then be "put in." The "tech" was contained in Hubbard's voluminous writings and numerous taped lectures, and included the counseling or "auditing" techniques that he claimed would bring about the ideal state for an individual, and eventually for mankind as a whole. The 300 to 400 on board, and the multitude of his adherents around the world, believed Hubbard when he claimed that he had, by him- self, researched and written the "technology"; a task "comparable to the discovery of fire and greater than the invention of the wheel." To them he was not just the Commodore, he was Source!' Hubbard had emphasized repeatedly that the technology had to be kept "100 percent standard," meaning that it was to be done exactly as he intended it be done. Anything considered to fall short of this standard, was called "out tech. " This applied both to the auditing tech and what he called "Admin Tech" - administrative technology - used to manage his organizations. *A capital "S" is used when referring to Hubbard as source, in the same manner as a capital "G" is used for God. 32 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE In 1972 he decided that the Scientology organizations around the world were to be shocked out of what he considered their lethargic state. (They weren't producing enough income.) They therefore must have "out tech and out admin" (i.e., be violating his rules of auditing and administration). He had been trying to make enough money for him to buy or influence a country, somewhat as Robert Vesco did in the Caribbean. This was to be the first step in "taking the Planet." He determined that the orgs would have to become big money makers. In order to achieve that, he decided, they would have to come out of their three or four thousand. dollar a week mentalities and start acting like multinational corporations. This would require "ruthless managers," he concluded. So he di- rected his executives to become "unreasonable," meaning that they would henceforth accept no reason for low statistics. (In other words, dollars or else!) The "Class Eight" course, run by Hubbard aboard the ship in 1968, had introduced the overboarding of public and crew in order to in- duce the "unreasonable attitude" which he wanted instilled, and ex- ported via them, into auditors throughout his worldwide organiza- tions.*' Now he needed similar "instant ethics" for executives. Towards this end, the "Flag Executive Briefing Course" was initi- ated and, during training of Sea Org personnel on this course, he was busy figuring out how to create the impact he wanted. Hubbard used the idea of a pagan ceremony in order to instil the correct attitude into Laurel Sullivan and a friend who were called to his office to be "handled" regarding flubs they had made in auditing. HANA ELTRINGHAM: The ceremonies were done below deck in a section of the ship that had been used as a classroom for crew study. There a large idol, Kali, had been erccted of papier-mache. It looked very solid and real and was painted ill gold. The oily light in this huge otherwise empty training room, down in the bowels of the ship was the flickering of a few candles. *The ceremony where someone was tossed over the side of the ship while at anchor. **According to John McMaster, this course was part of a project which "was intended to give Hubbard a telepathic control of Earth." *A Seafaring Messiah* 33 Sandra Wilson was one of those who went through the ceremony. She was brought forward and led up to Kali. In front of Kali had been erected a cardboard representation of an organization, a shoe box with painted-on windows and so on. Some of the crew filed in ceremoniously, dressed in monks' cloaks and carrying flaming torches which left a strong smell permeating the room. She was handed a hammer and commanded: "Your proposed plan for your organization would have destroyed it. You are a student of Kali, the goddess of destruction. "Destroy this organization!" She solemnly smashed the, mocked-up organization with the ham- mer. (Since the crime of destruction of a Scientology organization is in- doctrinated heavily into Scientologists as the most evil act imagin- able, to do so even in effigy was an excruciatingly painful experi- ence for most.) Then, following the ordeal relayed from LRH, she bowed down and chanted to the idol, admitting her "evil intention" to destroy her local organization, and dipped her hands in blood (or a solution which was a very good imitation), and smeared it onto the idol, after which chicken bones were strung around her neck. She came out of there in shock and was overcome with grief for some 48 hours. As I watched her in this terrible state I was (quietly outraged by what had happened. But I hid my outrage; even doubted its validity. I had been thoroughly tainted that if I were being critical of LRH or his actions, it must be because of my own hidden misdeeds and crimes **** "Man thrives on a challenging environment," Hubbard had writ- ten. The ship and its severe system of discipline would seem to have been designed to test this maxim to the limit! During one phase of the Apollo's voyage in 19Cill, "offenders" were put into the air ducts below the engine room. In the high humidity, with their own perspiration stinging in their eyes, they would chip rust from the sides of the ducts with heavy short-handled hammers. Enough light bulbs had been strung throughout the ducts so that these inmates could see the rust they were removing. They would continue at this at times for days, without sleep while they crouched or sat and took turns keeping each other awake. (Any- one falling asleep was detected by officers outside noticing the ham- 34 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE mering had stopped - would much prolong the ordeal for all.) They sang little songs and told each other stories. HANA ELTRINGHAM: They were treated like criminals - even rats. They would get their food delivered by way of buckets, lowered into the ducts. This punishment lasted anywhere from 24 hours to, on a few occasions, a couple of weeks. Since they were not allowed out to use toilet facilities, drlct inmates had to find some comer to relieve themsclves as best they could, creating the stench of human excrement and fiint. throughout the ducts. **** The Sea Organization officially came into being in August 1967 while Hubbard was in the Spanish Canary island of Las Palmas (hav- ing fled England's tax agencies). He had earlier ordered a ship pur- chased in England which he called the Avon River. (It would later 1,e renamed the Athena, during a ceremony attended by (:reek military dignitaries, while tethered in Greece in the latter part of 1968.) This purchase was followed by the acquisition of a larger ship the Royal Scotsman (which was renamed the Apollo in the same cere- mony). The Apollo had been used as an Irish Channel ferry transporting cattle in its latter years, and the first Scientologists to board her had been treated to 16-hour days, scraping cow manure from the decks. This task was done between stints of seamans duties such as cooking or manning the helm. It didn't matter that they had no sea experience or training. A phrase commonly heard those days was: "Make it go right!" During the winter of late 196;7, the Apollo set off from Southampton in England and plowed through the waters of' the East Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea, where it met up with the Athena and a small yacht, The Enchanter, which sailed in from the Canaries, a group of Spanish islands off the coast of North Africa, where the "Sea Project" (forerunner of the Sea Org) was begun. The next several years were packed with adventure, drama and mystery. While the Apollo was berthed in the Moroccan port of Safi, a young American girl crew member named Susan Meister had been found dead on board, with a bullet hole through her forehead. *A Seafaring Messiah* 35 It was reported to be a suicide. Her father, to this day, is convinced that his daughter was murdered. **** In the late sixties, there were a number of parties aboard, with local dignitaries in attendance. HANA ELTRINGHAM: LRH would attend these, and I watched him drink glass after large glass oF rum and Coke: three-quarters rum and one-quarter Coke; some seven or eight in an evening. Yet he never slurred a word and never swayed or in any way acted the slightest I,it inebriated. Despite these displays of cordiality, things invariably turned sour in one port after the other. Between the years 1967 and late 1974, the ships managed to wear out their welcome in every Mediterranean and North African port, following a different drama in each country. The ships were initially warmly welcomed in most ports because of the fact that the crew was spending up to 50 thousand dollars a week for supplies. Quite a boost to some local economies. In an attempt to cluiet the bad public relations, a song and dance ensemble had been created, dubbed "The Apollo All-Stars," which performed for the locals in each port. They also produced a record album titled "The Power of Source."' For a while, this seemed to be stemming the tide of bad reviews. In the long run, however, this solution turned out to be a band-aid, rather than a cure, for anti-Apollo sentiments. The ship and its crew, of mostly young Americans, did riot harmo- nize with anything the people of these countries had ever seen be- fore, and in some countries the locals came to the conclusion that they must be a front fOr the CIA. This was rather ironic, considering that Hubbard was fond of blaming most of his and Scientology's problems on various government agencies such as the CIA, as well as psychiatry and the World Federation of Mental Health. Amusingly enough, other countries came to the conclusion that they must be Communists since they had so many female crew and over a period of time two female captains (e.g., Mary Sue Hubbard *"Source" was, of course, L. Ron Hubbard. 36 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE and Hana Eltringham). To them only the Soviets would use women as crew and appoint them to the ranks of high officers. The Scientologists in turn considered the locals ignorant "wogs." This term was used 1,y the British, during their colonial days, to de- scribe the Arabs of the Middle East. While considering Arabs the scum of the earth, the British sarcastically called them "Worthy Ori- ental Gentlemen," or wogs. Hubbard took the term and altered its meaning to include all non- Scientologists. So while the locals viewed the denizens of the Apollo as strange, most of the Scientologists viewed them, and treated them largely, as a vastly inferior species. And all public disclaimers to the contrary, they viewed L. Ron Hubbard as their own, in-residence God. **** Anyone freshly exposed to this scene, coming out of what passes for normal western society, could well be excused for asking what it all meant Who was Hubbard? What did he really want? And how had all this come to be? Why was this ship cruising around the Mediterra- nean? And what were these 300 to 400 people up to, working some 16 hours a day for around $7 a week? Occasionally a reporter would set out in pursuit of the ship to find answers to these questions. One from London's Daily Mail actually got himself an interview with Hubbard. The reporter decided that the chain-smoking, evasive Mr Hubbard was a bad fellow, and no further live interviews were ever granted. Reporters are usually a cynical lot, many Scientologists concluded; and hadn't Ron often said that all reporters and their editors were in- terested in was violence, money and sex? Who could question the sincerity of a man who worked so hard to create a new civilization for mankind? Who except those with evil deeds to hide! Hubbard had often told them that only those who had crimes of magnitude attacked Scientology. And "attacking Scientology" came to mean any probing interest in or critical questioning of the organiza- tion or, especially, L. Ron Hubbard himself: Scientologists were exhorted by him to unearth the lurid sex, vio- lence and other crimes that his critics must have committed, ncl to feed these to the courts or press. People who left or attacked Scientology were publicly declared "Fair Game" until the end of 1968. *A Seafaring Messiah* 37 "Fair game" meant that enemies of Scientology, "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist, without discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued, lied to or de- stroyed" (Hubbard Policy Letter of October lt3, 1967). (Emphasis added) After 1968 Hubbard wrote an ambiguous statement (to appease a British government investigation) purporting to cancel the "fair game" policy. In fact his wording cancelled the term "fair game" in name only. This method of handling enemies remained very much in force. The policy was in fact reaffirmed, but was to be exercised more covertly, in order to circumvent the huge public relations "flaps" it was generating. **** Since the initial, essentially positive reviews of Dianetics by the press in early 1950, the news media had generally ridiculed L. Ron Hubbard and his "Science-Fiction Religion." In the late sixties through 1975, the ship and its odyssey had fared no better with the "yellow gutter press," as Hubbard had dubbed it. There were regular highly critical articles, especially in the London newspapers. The press also had a field day when, in July of 1968, the British Minister of' Health, Kenneth Robinson, had labeled Scientology "so- cially harmful," declared its founder an "undesirable alien," and re- fused him further entry into England. On the other hand, many Scientologists wondered, where was the press with their big headlines when Sir John Foster, who headed a government inquiry into Scientology, had recommended lifting the ban on foreign Scientologists in 1972. In his report to the House of Lords, Sir John stated: I am wholly satisfied that the great majority of the Scientologists are wholly sincere in their beliefs, show single minded dedication to the subject, spend a great deal of money on it and are deeply convinced that it has proved of great benefit to them. Then Sir John noted dryly: But it is only f:air also to make the obvious point that none of this furnishes evidence of the sincerity of the Scientology leadership, whose financial interests are the exact opposite of those of their follow- ers. 2 Searching for Treasure Stashed in Previous Lives "I know with certainty where I was and who I was in the last 80 tril- lion years." - L. Ron HUBBARD. Elena Lorrel, in her early twenties at the time, was as close to be- ing Hubbard's confidante as was possible with him, for over a decade. (She has young children. At her insistence it was agreed not to use her correct name to avoid Church harassment.) ELENA LORREL: In early 1968, with the Sea Org still in its infancy, we were just pulling out of Puerto Spain, and LRH came out of a solo auditing ses- sion (where he audited himself) with a big all-knowing grin on his face. He was going "Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" He was just baiting someone to ask, "What's happening?" and beg him for an explanation. Someone did, and he revealed that he had actually been the author of The Prince. He was the Duke of Medici when he wrote it, he ex- plained, and he had been ripped off posthumously. Machiavelli was a thief, not the author of this classic, having fraudulently published the stolen manuscript over his own name. On another occasion he let it slip that he had been Robespierre, the famous lawyer during the French revolution. And he also claimed to have been Cecil Rhodes in Southern Africa up till 1902, and between Rhodes and this life beginning in 1911, a little boy who drowned. He would talk about the vast level of influence Rhodes had on the 38 *Searching for Treasure* 39 British crown. He explained that, as Rhodes, he was the darling of Queen Victoria. She and the Kaiser of Germany were squabbling monarchs. They argued often about where the boundaries of their colonies were in Africa, and he was very instrumental in helping to cool down the tem- per tantrums between them. At the same time Rhodes had hid big gold stashes in the Rhodesian and South African areas. LRH wanted to recover these while he was there in 19iG. Of course, Scientologists had no inkling of any of this. **** Another reason Hubbard went off to Rhodesia in 1966 was to make that a Scientology country. He spent eight million of the Church's money on that venture in order to establish himself as a major entrepreneur and benefactor of that troubled country. Explains Elena: He failed. Then he set up the Sea Org. While he didn't succeed in his attempt to take over Rhodesia, he made enough political headway there to cause Ian Smith, the Prime Minister, to become concerned about him and, following a speech by LRH on national TV, the government cancelled his visa. (A report by the Rhodesia Herald, July 14, 1966, corroborates part of that story.) Hubbard concluded from the Rhodesian Bilure that, no matter how super-capable or "OT" any individual is, he will be defeated by an organized group. In support of this conclusion (which he claimed was the basic idea behind the formation of the Sea Organization), he explained in "Ron's Journal 1967": ...I have already made an experiment. I went off by myself into Southern Africa to see whether or not an OT would make it singly and all alone, without any assistance, against the environment around him. And I found out that he would not do too much good. But a group of OTs would be entirely irresistible, and necessary to carry off this type of operation. John McMasters says that in 1969 Hubbard gave secret orders to him (he was Hubbard's emissary to that U.N. at the time), to cultivate a Black African state, with a seaport, and get them interested in 40 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Scientology. He was to persuade them that L. Ron Hubbard had their interests at heart. He was to tell them that this man had been banned from Rhodesia and South Africa, because he had tried to free the Black People. **** ELENA LORREL: Another reason we were in that part of the world sailing around on these ships was the fact, LRH explained, that he had been a corsair (pirate), sailing between the Mediterranean and the new world in the 1700s when the rum triangle was going on. Amongst other things, we were searching for the booty he said he had stashed in different places around the Mediterranean during that lifetime. Oh yes, we were there searching for gold. The real reason for the Sea Org initially was for him to go back and collect these stashes of gold. And then at the same time to amass a group of people to win him a country. HANA ELTRINGHAM: In 1967, when it was still the Sea Project and we were just a small group, and another time in '68 on the Avon River during the whole track (a thetan's entire time span over thousands of lives) mission, LRH mentioned that the intention of the whole track recall mission was to dig up the treasure, secrete it again, possibly in Spanish banks. He had some idea about Spanish banks, and he wanted to work out a foolproof way that he would be able to identify and pick up the keys and combinations, in his next lifetime, to those same bank accounts. He was very emphatic about having it stashed for a future life. But he had to devise a foolproof way of doing it. Where could he leave keys to a bank vault, he speculated aloud to me, that would be there at hand in the next lifetime, where he could recognize it, come by and pick it up and get the treasure. He had to somehow get that worked out and he hadn't done so fully yet. Because where could he leave keys like that, or something so that he could get at it again. This was not the announced reason for the Sea Org. There were a few different "shore stories"* presented over a period of time to ex- plain its purpose. *A story (lie) told to the "wogs" ashore. This got expanded to mean any lie designed to cover any covert activity. *Searching for Treasure* 41 There was also a "shore story" for the five-week cruise on the Avon River (renamed the Athena) and the small yacht Enchanter (renamed Diana) which Hubbard and a small crew embarked on in the begin- ning of 1968. (Leaving the Royal Scotsman - Apollo - berthed in the port at Valencia, Spain.) Wrote L. Ron Hubbard in his book about that adventure, titled Mission Into Time: The purpose of' the cruise was to test whole track recall [memory of past lifetimes]. Without giving away the fact that they were searching for what he believed to be his past-life hidden gold, he does explain in the book some of the methods he used to locate "target areas." HUBBARD: What I would do is write down "so and so and such and such and so and so and there you find the so and so and such and such." Then we would call the object or location of what we were looking for "the tar- get." With good Sea Org efficiency, we would organize the missions... and the boats would go out. They'd check and cross-check to see if they could locate the target and whether or not the whole track recall of the situation was correct. I would write up an area that I'd never been to this lifetime, describing the area precisely, and then parties would go out and ex- actly locate the target and ascertain whether or not these recalls were correct. There were four targets in all.... I should be careful about this sort of thing because my reputation is always at stake. There are tremendous numbers of people around who keep saying "Ron ought to be...." My only answer to them is "Ron is." Anyway, I was over in Carthage about the second or third century B.C., operating there with the Carthaginian Fleet. There's a gag about this. Nobody was ever promoted in World War II who was in the battle zone. My crew once presented me, when I'd been passed over for promotion by reason of physical disability, with a commission that said, "Phoenician Navy 1003 b.c." That's funny be- cause it's almost true. I used to have a nice time around Carthage - nice sailing water and so on. Around 200 b.c., I knew a girl over in Nora (it wasn't called Nora then) who was the current Goddess of Tanit and a good-looking girl. 42 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE We had a lot of good-looking girls in Carthage, but they didn't come up to her. ...It was usually a good thing that I called into Nora with a war vessel because it was almost a matter of war. The girl would say, "Hey, how are you?" and all the other guys didn't have a chance for a while. The book goes on to detail how the missionaries found a temple entrance in Nora, and photos are shown of missionaries unearthing what is said to be this entrance. And Hana Eltringham is called upon, by Hubbard in his book, to "tell you whether or not this was a positive result": ...it was indeed a positive result. We found the base of the old temple right at the top of the hill...We scraped around the bottom of the ditch and found it was tiled underneath a thin layer of dust and dirt... The next mission was South to Tunisia, where the ancient city of Carthage lies, mainly underwater, off the coast. Here on land they again found their target area demonstrated by Hubbard in the form of a clay model and a map drawn by him. Again this is verified by a missionary. HUBBARD: Just as we were leaving we had asked for some sort of license to lie off the coast. You always have to have a piece of paper. We sent over an Arab interpreter of ours by the name of Mestasi. He got confused about the whole thing and said we were going to go underwater.... These people were very confused and they tried to tell us that we mustn't go off the coast and do any diving because, if we did any diving they would have to confiscate the ship. I thought that was very interesting. They could give us a piece of paper to permit us to dive but just the thought of us diving made them very upset. I thought, "What the devil is underwater around here that's so interesting to dive for?" According to Hubbard's account, it turned out that the government had discovered the ancient city of Carthage under there and they were scared stiff somebody was going to come along and loot the place. Hubbard makes no mention of it in his account, but he had divers go down at night to check it out for treasure. *Searching for Treasure* 43 HANA ELTRINGHAM: As far as I knew no treasure was found or taken. However, Larry Reeves (who joined the ship some time after the "Mission Into Time" project and has since left the Church), claims: Because of legalities all this had to be kept secret, but I personally saw the treasure. It was in a huge wooden crate, built from two-by- sixes, the size of a small room. This carton was kept in the hull of the ship, near where I used to work. I'm a treasure buff, so when I opened up one of the boards and looked through, I knew what I was looking at! There were ancient gold coins, and jewels of all kinds. It was like looking at a huge pirates' chest. Larry made it plain, when I interviewed him, that he believed it had been seized by divers from the Carthage ruins, during the "Mis- sion Into Time" venture. HANA ELTRINGHAM: There was lots of money aboard. We had to courier 7 or 8 million dollars in cash to Switzerland. And on a later trip much more than that was couriered. It was couriered from the Dutch Antilles island of Curacao, near Venezuela. LRH was really like a squirrel with nuts, stashing it. He stashed gold bullion too. ELENA LORREL: A mission was sent to a restricted area in Nora in Sardinia where their missionaries were caught in the act of trying to remove the gold. What happened was that they played stupid and got off. HANA says: Now LRH did have some special boats built in Valencia, Spain, after the "Mission Into Time" voyage. Later on in 1968 they were brought onto the Apollo, while she was stationed in Greece. They were Aom-bottomed great big sled-like craft, about 12 feet long by about 5 and a half to 6 feet wide, about 2 feet deep and sturdily built. Liz Gablehouse had to scout around and find some quiet motors to put on them. 44 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Their purpose was to do some secret missions; to go back to those particular treasure sites and, late at night, land on the beach. They were to pull the vessels up onto the sand, sneak ashore and dig up the treasure, bring it back, load it onto the craft, and return to the Apollo. In all honesty, I think there was something to the Mission Into Time. There were several sites found and witnessed by me that I felt corroborated what he had predicted. Through the use of P and M scopes. These consist of a flat disk, something like a Hoover or a vacuum with dials on the top. You run it across the ground like a Geiger counter. And it measures and detects metallic substances, like gold and silver, down in the earth. There were a number of sites where we actually did that checking against paper grids, that were a smaller scale of the actual area. We'd run this thing up on the grid, marking where the actual sites were. We found one such site at Nora in Sardinia. We were investigating the temple of Tanit. On one corner of this temple floor it was definite and, to me, irrefutable evidence. Where he had predicted there would be some precious metal, the scope went crazy. At many of the sites we inspected where we were certain there was treasure, it turned out to be some historical site like Carthage and Nora. And, being historical sites, they were guarded. **** Back in Valencia, the Apollo altered serious difficulties with the port authorities, due mainly to the incompetence of its crew. Hubbard was furious. This had caused him to cut off his searches for treasure and head the Athena back to Spain. There would be hell to pay! 3 L. Ron and the Beast Science fiction editor and author Sam Moscowitz tells of the occa- sion when Hubbard spoke before the Eastern Science Fiction Associ- ation in Newark, New Jersey in 1947: Hubbard spoke...I don't recall his exact words; but, in effect, he told us that writing science fiction for about a penny a word was no way to make a living. If you really want to make a million, he said, the quickest way is to start your own religion. It sure worked for him. Being the commodore of one's own private navy is not exactly the normal, run-of-the-mill hobby of aging science fiction writers. Decent, often intelligent but somewhat naive people, whose dreams for a better world sometimes blinded them, were the income producers for this new religion. Hubbard found such people useful. Having good intentions them- selves, they assumed he had the same. Thousands paid the outrageous prices for the Scientology courses and auditing. To give an idea of how much people are willing to pay in today's money, here is an example of a price charged for auditing taken from a recent official magazine from one of Hubbard's top or- ganizations: Twelve and a half hour sections of a type of auditing called "Lists 10, 11, and 12" are priced at $13,000.00 per section. In other words, this auditing costs over $1000.00 per hour! And one must buy a minimum of 25 hours! One organization, the Flag Land Base - which became the senior organization when the ships were sold in 197-was recently (late 45 46 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE 1985) reputedly taking in up to two million dollars a week, and averaging a million. "Flag," operated on 10 percent of its income, with the remainder going to accounts controlled by "upper manage- ment." According to accounts by Hubbard's former personal aides, money - tens of millions originating from Europe for Flag services were channelled into Hubbard's personal accounts. And according to the findings of a Federal Court judge, the ships were owned by a Panamanian corporation called Operation Transport Corp. (OTC), a "for profit corporation." Some 82 percent of the shares were owned by L. Ron Hubbard and his wife Mary Sue. "Non-profit" Scientology organizations around the world were told by the OTC that they owed untold millions for consulting services and training of their executives. They attempted to pay these "bills" as best they could, coming up with as much as 90 percent of their weekly gross income in payments to OTC. This was quite a setup. The Panamanian corporation was in a posi- tion of having multi-millions in payments "owed" to it, while the "non-profit" churches could never fully pay these bills, which just kept mounting. They therefore had absolutely no profits to show the IRS. On the contrary, they were awash in paper "debts" to OTC. Hubbard had a lot going for him. He had a formula that enabled him to run his own church for huge profits accruing to him. He could write "scriptures" with a guaranteed market, getting for example $20,000.00 for one "Technical Bulletin." He had money rolling in from his special book publishing and dis- tribution system, a system which netted him much more than mere royalties. And by 1977 he had an international intelligence operation of pro- portions comparable to that of some fairly sizeable countries. This kept him informed of the most intimate details of any and all organiza- tions, governments and individuals who might try to spoil his game. **** It is very easy for a person exposed to this information to jump to the conclusion that all he was interested in was making lots of monthly. Not so. Hubbard wanted much more than just money; he intended to have personal power on a scale that only a few in history have ever credibly aspired to. In pursuit of this objective he was a man obsessed, generating an energy that was, at times, seemingly superhuman. *L. Ron and the Beast* 47 MAGIC One definition of magic is, "Total commitment to get, to achieve, to win - with such totality that one's life itself becomes the ritual of that commitment." (It has been noted that, when that commitment "is malevolent, the magic is black.") For Hubbard, morality was a straitjacket worn by fools. Morality was utilized only when it aided him in reaching his objective. (He gave lip service to all sorts of noble humanitarian sentiments, but he also visibly, especially from the mid-sixties on, gave vent to base motives expressed in vindictive policies and writings.) His WILL was the supreme consideration. This philosophy has been described as "the ends justify the means." This vaguely says it all, but it describes neither the intensity nor the total commitment which appears to have driven him. His life was indeed a ritual of total commitment to the achievement of power. Power concentrated exclusively under his control. Hubbard may have had this drive for power - this obsession - all his life. But the point at which it burst into a raging passion was, ac- cording to Ron Jr. sometime in his teens when Ron Hubbard and his mother visited the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. From that time on he was, more and more, able to support his obsession with a detailed, well-developed philosophy. His mother was at the Library tracing back her family's genealogy, while he was poking around trying to find something that interested him. He did. It was a tiny volume called The Book of the Law. According to its writer, Aleister Crowley, The Book was "dictated" to him in Cairo, between noon and one P.M., on three successive days: April 8th, 9th, and 10th, in the year 1904. The "author" called himself Aiwas, and claimed to be "a messenger from the forces ruling this Earth at present." Aiwas, a spirit "pos- sessing fantastic knowledge and powers," delivered the alleged dicta- tion telepathically. This was Crowley's Bible, and perhaps the most important book in the life of L. Ron Hubbard. The Book proclaims "The Law of Thelema."* This law consists of a "simple code of conduct": "DO WHAT THOU WILT." Of *The Book* Crowley, towards the end of his life, wrote: *Thelema is the Greek for "will." 48 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE ...it is a sublime synthesis of all science and all ethics. It is 1,y virtue of this Book that Man may attain a degree of freedom hitherto never suspected to be possible, a spiritual development altogether be- yond anything hitherto known. Crowley's writings are impressively prolific. In his Magick in Theory and Practice he states: THE WHOLE AND SOLE OBJECT OF ALL TRUE MAGICKAL THAININ IS TO BECOME FREE FROM EVERY KIND OF LIMITATION. (Crowley added a "k" to the word magic to differentiate his subject from that which had attracted "weaklings" and "dilettantes.") Adopting the same stated purpose for Scientology, as Crowley had for his Magick, Hubbard says, in a 1952 taped Scientology lecture: OUR WHOLE ACTIVITY TENDS TO MAKE AN INDIVIDUAL COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT OF ANY LIMITATION....Old Aleister Crowley had some interesting things to say about this. He wrote the Book of the Law. In the same lecture series, Hubbard also states: The magical cults of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th centuries in the Middle East were fascinating. The only modern work that has any- thing to do with them is a trifle wild in spots, but is a fascinating work in itself, and that's the work of Aleister Crowley - the late Aleister Crowley - my very good friend....He signs himself "the Beast," mark of the Beast 666.... Hubbard only mentioned the Crowley connection to his followers during the loose-lipped days of the Philadelphia Doctorate Course lectures in December of 1952. To my knowledge he never said a word about it to anyone, other than his eldest son, after that time **** Francois Rabelais (c. 1495 - 1553) is not mentioned in The Book, but the "Law of Thelema" actually derives from a book penned by him. Rabelais, a priest and graduate of the Sorbonne Seminary, in Paris, wrote a book called Gargantua. It was written in the style of a farcical adult fairy tale, since it contained ideas that were greatly at variance *L. Ron and the Beast* 49 to those of the Catholic Church of his day, ideas that could well have been officially labelled heresy (with the resulting death penalty) had they been seriously presented. Rabelais tells of "how the Thelemites were governed, and of their manner of living": All their life was not spent in laws, statutes or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure. They rose out of their beds when they thought good: They did eat, drink, lael, sleep when they had a mind to it and were disposed for it. Nollc did awake them, nolle did over to constrain them to eat, drink, nor any other thing; for so had Gargantuan established it. In all their rule, and strictest tie of their order, there was but this one clause to be observed. DO WHAT THOU WILT. Because men that are free, well born, well bred, and conver- sant in honest companies have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honor...(Emphasis added) So wrote Rabelais. Of course there is room for abuse of this injunction. What if "the instinct and spur that prompteth to virtuous actions" is lacking? What if one decides that one's "proper course" involves enslaving or over- whelming others? What if the application of one's "will" results in the denial of another's freedom? Such action would, by definition, be "black. " When viewing the Commodore's ship Apollo, the law to be ad- hered to was more like, "Do What Ron Wilt," the officers and crew being subjected to the strictest of rigors, while Ron did as he pleased. His will was supreme. Robert Heinlein, a one-time friend of' Hubbard's, suggested this well in a recent novel. He referred to his followers as "L. Ronners" and "Hubbardites." Some ex-Scientologists use the term "Ron- droids." The stable dictum for his followers is his written or spoken intention: "Do WHAT HON SAYS." **** Crowley's The Book of the Law adds a new and fiery twist to the Law of Thelema as described by Rabelais. In the words of The Book": 50 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of Kings: stamp down the wretched and the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world. ...I am of the snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs...They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self ...Be strong oh maIl! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture... ...the kings of the earth shall be kings forever: the slaves shall serve. Them that seek to entrap thee, to over throw the.e, them attack without pity or quarter; and destroy them utterly. I am unique and conucror. I am not of the slaves that perish. Be they damned and dead! Amen. Pity not the fallen! I never knew them. I am not for them. I console not: I hate the consoled and the consoler! (According to Ron Jr., his father never sincerely felt remorse or sympathy.) Did the young L. Ron Hubbard take special quote, when he read: ...in these runes ords and letters of The Book] are mysteries that no Beast [Crowley] shall devine [understand]. Let him not seek to try: But one coth after him...who shall discover the key to it all? (Emphasis and bracketed words added) According to Ron Jr. his father considered himself to be the one "who came after"; that he was Crowley's successor; that he had taken on the mantle of the "Great Beast. " He told him that Scientology ac- tually began on December the 1st, 1947. This was the day Aleister Crowley died.* **** Who was the "Great Beast" Who was Aleister rYasthe''C,reatBe Crowley? "THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD..." was how the contem- porary press described him. Raised by parents who belonged to a fun- damentalist Christian sect, and who believed that everyone outside of their particular group would be damned eternally in hell fire, he was *Many people interpret The Book of the Lnlu and Crowley's overall work in many ways. Here I am only attempting to illustrate what appears to have been Hubbard's interpretation of The Book. *L. Ron and the Beast* 51 forbidden to read any book other the Bible until about the age of twelve. And read it he did. In his teens he decided that he was none other than THE BEAST of Revelations, and proclaimed himself as such. A shocking declaration, especially in the Victorian Age. But Crowley was also an accomplished poet, chess master, painter, master mountaineer and explorer. He also claimed to have mastered Buddhism, Taoism, Yoga, and, most of all, magick. Yet he was also a regular user of cocaine, opium, peyote, and hash- ish. At the age of forty-five he proclaimed himself a saint of the Gnostic Church, becoming a "god" in his own temple, by which time he was infamous in a number of countries, banned from some and forced to leave others. His reputation for wild sex and drug orgies, which he combined with the religious rites of his self-instituted order, was a major factor in his difficulties with various governments. He established "The Abbey of Do What Thou Wilt" on the island of Cefalu, Sicily, where he lived with a collection of mistresses, per- forming sexual, narcotic, and occult experiments. It is perhaps co-incidental that Hubbard, in the late fifties, set up his headquarters at Saint Hill Manor in England, less than half an hour's drive from what had been Aleister Crowley's house in Tunbridge Wells. (The house is now owned and occupied by the lead drummer of Led Zeppelin's band - another reputed admirer of Crowley. Certainly Crowley seems to have been popular with the Beatles, who presented his image among a group of"people we like" on their "Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.) MAGICK AND DRUGS Was Hubbard's WILL reinforced by the Magick, in which drugs played a major part2 Could it be that Scientology's founder - publicly vehemently anti- drug since the mid-1960s, and having written extensively since that time on the harmful effects of drug use - was himself a heavy drug user Was Ron Jr. telling the truth when he said that his father began using drugs beginning in his teens, and continued at least until he (Ron Jr.) left the organization in December, 1959? Comparing the harmful effects of alcohol with various drugs, 52 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Hubbard wrote in the revered "first book" Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health): Opium is less harmful [than alcohol], marijuana is not only less phys- ically harmful but also better in the action of keeping a neurotic producing phenobarbital does not dull the senses nearly as much and produces less after effect... While few of his followers seem to be aware of the fact, in the same book he recommends the use of Benzedrine in certain cases to over- come the "reactive mind." Amusingly enough, he states in a policy letter, "Keeping Scientology Working": "We will not speculate here on...how I came to rise above the bank."' Ron JR.: I need not speculate, I know! I remember in 1952 in Philadelphia, while he, was taking a needle in the arm, containing cocaine. He grinned at me, winked wryly and said, "Shades of Sherlock Holmes"! Dad gave a lot of his lectures on cocaine or stimulants of one kind or another. He could really get brilliant on the stuff. Hubbard's friend and "magick partner" of the late forties was a chemist named Jack Parsons. Parsons was the head of Crowley's Or- ganization, the "Ordo Templi Orientis" in California. He scribed this verse which was printed in the February 21st, 1943 issue of the Oriflumuze, Journal of the O.T.O.: I hight Don Quixote, I live on peyote, Marijuana, morphine and cocaine, I never know sadness, but only a madness, That burns in the heart and the brain. I see. each charwoman, ecstatic, illhurnan, angelic, demonic, divine. Each wagon a dragon, each beer mug a flagon That brims with ambrosial wine. Hubbard mentions Jack Parsons in the "Professional Auditor's Bul- letin" of 15 April 1957: *"Bank" = "reactive mind." It is similar to the "unconscious mind" that so fascinated Freud. *L. Ron and the Beast* 53 Now I have been very fortunate in my life to know (llite a few real genillsc.s-fellows that really wrote their name tilly large in the world of literature and science....One chap by the way, who gave us solid fuel rockets and assist take-off for airplanes too heavily loaded on air- craft carriers, and all the rest of this rocketry parlorulna, and who formed Aerojet in California and so on. The late Jack Parsons... According to Ron Jr. his father used drugs and self-hypnosis in or- der to beef up his WILL: For years he used ev(tn in the thirties-sound scribers. I think you would call it that....The original dictaphones, and IBM had one tot, ..., And he would read these what he called the "Affirmations" into, the dictaphone. This is when they were non-erasable. You know, the old Edison with the wax cylinder. He would write 'these up, or he'd take quotes from the Book of the Law, and other places; then he'd take whatever he had in the way of drugs and play 'em back. Usually he used headphones. Hardly anyone believed Ron Jr. when he told this story; but the "Affirmations," in their original hand-written version, were brought into evidence in open court in Los Angeles in mid-1984, and are part of the court record. One of these "Amrmations" is: "All men shall be my slaves! All women shall succumb to my charms! All mankind shall grovel at my feet and not know why!" Ron Jr. states in a sworn affidavit: I have personal knowledge that my father regularly used illegal drugs including amphetamines, barbiturates and hallucinogens. He regularly used cocaine, peyote, and mescaline.* According to statements made by attorney Michael Flynn, Hubbard, until at least February of 1980, filled out fraudulent "doc- tor's" prescriptions for a large array of medical drugs for himself. And while the Church has sued attorney Michael Flynn more than a dozen times based on various accusations including libel (all of which suits have been dismissed to date), they have never mentioned *Hubbard recommends as a "good book" Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception in his "Operational Bulletin no. 17" of Feb '56. This work of Huxley's deals with his experiences while experimenting with mescaline. 54 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Flynn's allegations regarding Hubbard's "illegal self-medication" in any of these suits. Other statements to the effect of massive self-medication are by Gerry Armstrong (who was a witness to Hubbard's diary and other documents), Sara Northrup Hubbard, and John McMaster, all of. whom I interviewed. Sara Hubbard explained that Hubbard was "self-medicated," but that during the five years they were married, she knew of no in- stances when he used "street drugs." Armstrong, told me, among other things, of a letter from Hubbard to his third wife Mary Sue when Hubbard was in Las Palmas during 1967 at the inception of the Sea Org. This letter is now in the custody of the court. In it Hubbard tells his wife: "I'm drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys."h John McMasters told me that on the flagship Apollo in the late six- ties, he witnessed Hubbard's drug supply. "It was the largest drug chest I had ever seen. He had everything!" It was shown in the Armstrong trial in Los Angeles in 1984 that Hubbard even had blank prescription slips from the U.S. Navy, one of which had a prescription for phenobarbital (a barbiturate and hyp- notic) written in Hubbard's handwriting. Also, in the Armstrong trial where the "Affirmations" were intro- duced, a letter by Hubbard to his first wife was revealed, the last sen- tence of which declared: "I do love you, even if I used to be an opium addict. " **** If Hubbard was indeed a "druggie," his followers are not. While many Scientologists appear to be nicotine and caffeine addicts, that is as far as it goes. Scientologists do not use drugs. And there is even a Scientology anti-drug program-Narconon7 - originally established by an inmate of Arizona State Prison named William Benitez. It has been quite suc- cessful at times in getting people off drugs. *I'm told that "uppers and downers" are sometimes referred to as "pinks and greys." *L. Ron and the Beast* 55 In this context, Ron Jr.'s statement that his father "was not a Scientologist," as startling as it may seem to some, begins to make some sense: He was not a Scientologist, and even said so publicly on several oc- casions, but people would just slide over it. For example, the wise and humanitarian sentiments expressed in his writings and lectures had nothing to (to with him or how he conducted his affairs. His private life was the antithesis of what he wanted his public image to be. He hardly ever took his own advice. It is possible, however, that Hubbard did follow the advice he gave during a Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture in December of 1952,** when he said: You should be able to drink as much as you want, abuse the body in any way you want. In the same lecture series Hubbard said: Just because I did something like Scientology people think I'm sup- posed to he perfectly controlled, and a perfect gentleman. That's a non-sequitur. Hubbard had a habit of describing himself while pretending to be describing another. This, perhaps, was the case in the following dis- sertation excerpted from one of his taped lectures. If so, it is re- vealing: Looking down the line at the spirit of men of great and murderous deeds...and you'll find out they're strange boys; very strange boys. They just never, never kind of nailed down in there right place, and did just exactly the right things. You look in vain for the old school tie. *Of course, from the mid-sixties onward what may have been the "real Hubbard" began to show up, to some extent, in such things as the "Fair Game Law" and sadistic "ethics." But such vindictive or destructive sentiments were kept very "low profile." **"My father was high during most of these lectures," claims Ron Jr. "and he was, on occasion, very frank, revealing his true feelings." Not spotting this material in time to edit it out before it became widely circulated was a major blunder by the Church. 56 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE There was a great old fellow in China named Wang the Innovator. And Wang the Innovator practically turned China upside down and right side up again, and upside down, and left it that way. Rut he or- ganized a lot of systems...he laid down the laws that are going to be this way and that way. He laid them all down very nicely and he had them all patterned out very beautifully. But he himself didn't kind of follow this. He was a wild man. Nobody could ride up along side of him. He had more women than he could count. It is of particular interest to note that he equates men of great deeds with men of murderous deeds: "...men of great and murder- ous deeds..." 4 "Mankind's Only Hope" "Your next endless trillions of years and the whole agonized future of every man, woman, and child on this planet depend on what you do here and now, with and in Scientology." - L. RON HUBBARD The following story, which occurred during the first year of the Apollo's voyage, is one of adventure and exploited idealism. This is a brief glimpse of the story of Hana (Eltringham) Whitfield, a young woman who had worked with Hubbard closely and loyally for many years. Her story is representative of thousands of others, during the his- tory of Scientology. She became a zealot for Hubbard's cause: a stoic true believer. Long-time friendships, and even deep love, were dis- carded when these conflicted with Command Intention.. **** In Rhodesia in the late fifties, Hana (tall, with f:dir skin, dark hair and soft features) was in her late teens when she read one of` her mother's books by Madame Blavatsky. The author, somewhere in its pages, prophesied that in 1950 a fair-complexioned man in the West would begin a movement that would lead the planet to enlighten- ment. This story appealed greatly to Hana's sense of romance. She dreamed of playing a part in making a world where peace and happi- ness was a reality. And where awareness of spiritual phenomena was the rule rather than the exception. When she came across Scientology in March of 1965, she felt that 57 58 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE she had discovered the man of whom Madame Blavatsky had spoken. After studying to become an auditor in Johannesburg, she decided she would give this man her full devotion, and travelled to England to attend the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, which was then con- ducted personally by Hubbard. She was very impressed by Hubbard when she first saw him. He appeared serene, confident, beneficent, and very, very wise. For many months she studied under him and his wife Mary Sue; she spent long days immersed in his teachings. She drilled, for example, the exact series of questions that consti- tuted certain "processes," while facing a large plastic doll. The doll served as a substitute for an actual person being there to receive the questions. The questions used were considered very pow- erful and, if directed at a live person, would stir up subconscious emotions and "forces" or "charge" that could cause considerable dis- comfort, unless "audited" expertly. She aimed her questions right at the center of the doll's head. Each word was clearly enunciated, and delivered with just the right amount of intention. Hana was assisted by a "coach" who would answer for the doll and assist her through the drill. In this case it was a "problems process. " She would soon be running this process on a real "preclear," having first enquired as to the people, past and present, in the person's life. She would be looking for "charged terminals," i.e., people the person was upset about (or had "charge" on); the idea being to free up the person from any worry, fixation, or compulsive "figure-figure" on any person or thing. Based on the reaction of the preclear, and the E-meter, she would select the most "charged" terminal and run the process on it. While drilling the process, fruits instead of real people are used, however. Hana: "Invent a problem that is of comparable magnitude to an ap- ple." Coach: "Ah....having a banana on my desk." Hana: "Good. How could that be a problem to you?" Coach: "It might be too ripe and attracting a lot of fruit flies." Hana: "O.K. Can you conceive of yourself figuring on that?" Coach: "Mmmm....yes." Hana: "Fine. Invent a problem that is of comparable magnitude to an apple.... "*Mankind's Only Hope*" 59 The same question is asked over and over, usually until the preclear has a "cognition" or realization regarding the area of address. Hana was fascinated by the hundreds of processes and impressed by their effectiveness. Listening to Ron's lectures, and reading his many books, was stimulating. Ron had a great sense of humour and he answered com- plex questions on life and human behaviour in a clear, easy-to- understand manner. She also appreciated the obligatory constant ref- erence to dictionaries, to ensure she understood the exact meanings of the words used. After graduating from the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, Hana joined staff: Then in August of 1967 she was on a mission to assist the Los Angeles Organization when she received a special confidential in- vitation, on behalf of Hubbard, inviting her to join the newly formed Sea Project. HANA ELTRINGHAM: I joined the ship in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Africa. The Avon River was already there up on these stilts, being reno- vated. LRH had a villa on the island about six or seven miles from the har- bor and he would come to the ship every afternoon and stay, some- times until quite late, supervising the refit and talking to the crew. There was a side to him that, around, this time, I was just becoming aware of: the furious screaming - just an amazing outrage that would pour out of him at something that was going wrong. There was one time when he came walking down from outside through the great big wooden fence that blocked off the beach from the street. It was quite a stretch of beach, maybe a 340 yard stretch down to the water. And the ship was up on this great big wooden trellis work. Even as he was halfway down the beach, I was standing with my clipboard up, because I was the Master at Arms at the time, and I was responsible for making sure everything was going right. And I'd be in absolute fear by the time he was due to come on board, in case he found something that I had missed. So I was there and I was watching him, and halfway down that beach he knew something was wrong, and I could see his face start to contort and get red. And I'd start to go, "Oh my God! What have I missed now!" 60 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE He started bellowing. His face got this cherry red; all screwed up, and he was just bellowing at the top of his lungs. He was screaming and shouting at full volume. You could hear that voice everywhere. And he came marching down towards the gangplank. Still scream- ing and now pointing up to the side of the ship where the Spanish workmen were painting the white paint over the red anti-rust coat. The top coat was being applied over the entire hull of the ship, from the deck all the way down to the bottom of the ship. He was screaming and gesticulating and pointing up at us. I didn't know what was wrong. I mean the painters had been doing it most of the afternoon before he appeared on the scene. And when I looked down at the side of the ship I could see nothing wrong. By this time people were stopping their work and looking; fearful, wondering what all this was about - even the workmen. Then, through his screaming, I heard him say, "Look at the paint! Look at the paint!" I put my head over the side of the ship and looked along the hull at the paint. And then I saw it! It looked like the paint was growing hun- dreds and hundreds of hairs! The white coat of paint was actually furry. I later discovered that the rollers the workmen were using were of an inferior quality. As they were rolling, some fibers were coming off the rollers and sticking to the paint, making the ship look like it was growing hair. Halfway down the beach he knew something was wrong. Now I have never forgotten that, and I have never gotten over the fact that from that distance - 25 or 30 yards away, he could see what was going on. At times he could be extremely perceptive - astonishingly she could also be totally irrational: quite out of it and crazy. The negatives and abuses that seem so outrageous to me now, were then less than dim shadows. It was just justified away.... In these early days of the Sea Project I felt emotions that you only find in fiction. It was one of those things: here we are braving the seas with this amazing man, you know. It had a kind of mystique that you just don't get in everyday life - the romance and adventure - it was all unbelievably exciting! John O'Keefe, another dedicated Sea Org member, and Hana Eltringham were deeply in love and had been so for some time. As she tells it: The whole thing just built up so much more through all this adven- ture. We were very close. "*Mankind's Only Hope*" 61 Hubbard sent John O'Keefe off to pick up the Avon River (soon to be renamed the Athena), and to captain her to an appointed destina- tion. HANA: Now LRH said that John's orders were to leave Gibraltar and sail due East and join us in Cagliari, on the Italian island of Sardinia. John swore that those orders were not what he received from LRH. John said that his orders were to sail northeast and to join the ship up in Monaco. So John took the ship out of Gibraltar and sailed northeast. Aboard the Avon River, with John there was only a skeleton crew: a dozen to 15 or so, at most. They all noticed the huge black clouds on the horizon uld a storm building as they were approaching the Balearic islands. None of the crew, however (having never before been in the Medi- terranean), would have been aware that this area, North of the Balearic islands, is a storm center in the Med. That's where a lot of the hurri- canes in this area are actually born. They rode straight into a hurricane. It was one of the worst this area had had for some 15 years. There were something like 17 ships lost. And this little tub called the Avon River sailed slap bang into it. They were caught in that storm for about three days. They were barely making headway. There were forty-foot waves and this little ship just staggering up through all this. They couldn't see through the screaming of the wind and all the foam and spray that was being thrown by the wind across the tops of the waves. There is nothing you can see when you are out there in that kind of' storm. I mean you are blind. All you know is that the ship is going up the next wave and you know its going down into the trough and you've got to keep the ship headed right into the waves, otherwise it will turn over. Now, throughout that, at one point the hydraulic steering on the bridge broke! (meaning essentially that the power steering broke). The wheel on the bridge was connected with lines down into the motors and the pumps and those lines were filled with oil so that they could maneuver the rudder. And those were the lines that broke. There was steering oil all over the place; on the bridge and else- where. So they had to connect up the emergency steering in the aft in order to keep the ship headed into the waves. They had some people back aft steering and some on the bridge, connected by walkie-talkies. The crew didn't sleep for two and a half` to three days. They couldn't 62 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE eat. There was no way they could cook in the galley with this motion going on. People were being sick all over the place. It is absolutely a wonder that that ship came through that! Now, John saw, at one point, that they must have been getting somehow close to Ibiza. He happened to see that they were close to an island on the radar. They would come up the crest of a wave and he could "see" the island by a brief blip on the radar. He would "see" the blip of it on the radar and as they went down into the trough they would of course not be able to see anything. Rut John was very very clever. He managed somehow to get the ship out. He said the waves had lengthened in distance so they must have been getting out towards the edge of the storm. And he managed to get the ship close enough between the waves to the islands so that, at one strategic point, they were able to veer sharply to starboard and get into the lee of the land, before the next wave hit. So some two to three days after the Apollo got down to Cagliari we got the message from John that he was in Ibiza and that the ship was safe: "We're all OK, managed to get to port safely, the ship is safe, the crew are safe, we have lost two lifeboats and external refrigerator, the windows up on the bridge are badly damaged, one of the antennas is damaged." He had, I think, sent a wire to Monaco to ask if the Apollo was there and received a reply that she had sailed to Cagliari, so he sent his message there to the Port Captain's office. LRH got the message and went berserk! The ship was not supposed to be anywhere near Ibiza, according to LRH, it was supposed to be on its way directly to Cagliari. He sent a communication back, and a few other communications en- sued and then John had orders to sail for Cagliari. About a day and a half later they arrived in Cagliari. And by this time the Old Man* had postmortemed the situation sufficiently to arrive at his own conclusions. By the time John arrived with the ship in Cagliari, I had already heard LRH say that John must have been on drugs when he left the ship in Ibiza to go to Gibraltar because he "had consistently misduplicated the orders." I asked Hana how she felt about the idea that Hubbard, not John O'Keefe, may have been the one on drugs. She answered, "Now in retrospect, I think that's a very good possibility." *At this time Hubbard still allowed the affectionate title "Old Man" to be used. "*Mankind's Only Hope*" 63 **** HANA: The Avon River "limped" into Cagliari. It looked filthy. It looked like it had been through a storm. LRH had messengers running backwards and forwards between the two ships. In Cagliari LRH demoted John from captain to third engineer and put somebody else in charge of the ship. When she arrived in the mid- dle of the day or in the early afternoon, messenger runs were going back and forth between LRH and John, getting whatever LRH wanted to know. The Avon River's new captain was given orders to sail immediately to Valencia, Spain. LRH was' unwilling to accept somebody's suggestion that they at least be allowed to rest overnight. He said, "No, they don't deserve it. That ship is in disgrace. They are all equally responsible." And he or- dered them to turn right around and go straight back. Those people were exhausted and you could see it. They had come through a major hurricane, sailed all the way to Cagliari. Just arrived, they barely had time to take on a few provisions and fuel up and here come the orders to sail again, for some three days, to Valencia! I barely had time to see John. I was very shook up about the whole deal and about how he looked. Those black rings under his eyes haunted me. He'd lost weight - it looked like some 10 to 15 pounds. They all looked that way. And then the next day we on the Apollo ended our cycles in Cagliari and sailed for Valencia. By the time we got there the Avon River was already in Valencia. That was when LRH convened a Committee of Evidence on John. Without my being aware of it he appointed me as the chairman. He was aware that we were lovers and when the messenger. brought him the printed page announcing the Committee of Evidence I was standing next to him. He turned around with this half smile on his face and he said, "Poetic justice, isn't it!" And I took a look at the Committee announcement and saw my name on it as the chairman. It had all the charges there against John: "Dereliction of duty, non-compliance with orders," etc., one after the other...every charge in the book. It grabbed me in the gut. I was to sit in judgment on the man I loved. I would no more have thought of questioning LRH...I didn't dream of questioning him! He had a way about him. He would get mad 64 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE and he'd be furious, and he'd vent that fury in all directions. And as that phase passed - it would take half an hour to an hour - and as he started to get "answers" (either his own answers or answers that were brought to him by messengers or whatever) he would come out of that anger and get into this enthusiastic vengefulness. He would be smiling and, by God, he would be out to get someone. He would be so proud of himself for having gotten as far with this thing as he had gotten. And then, gradually over the next day or so, he would calm down. I knew I had to find John guilty. Absolutely! There was no way out, even though he had not taken drugs as LRH had accused him. So since LRH said it was so, it was true! Also, since this was already in the bill of particulars of the Committee of Evidence, put there by Ron, it didn't even occur to any of us to question it. LRH was the guy who had the answers to save Mankind. John was merely the man I loved. I looked at it from the standpoint of "the greatest good for the greatest number." That's how I looked.at it, even though I cared for him deeply. We wrote up our findings saying, "guilty," even though he said he wasn't guilty. Deep down I knew it was very unfair because 1 knew the worth of the man. I knew that John had pulled off something pretty damned fantastic. My God, with 17 ships that went down in one of the worst hurricanes that they'd had in the area for 15 years. And the little Avon River had come through it with a little amateur crew on board! And the captain, the person directing the others in this emergency, and saving the ship, was a guy on drugs? Can you imagine if those people had all been lost! And since they were so untrained, what the hell was LRH even doing sending them out to sea? We found John guilty and upheld his assignment to a condition of' treason. I now firmly believe that I was selected as chairman of the committee because LRH wanted me to break up with John. This fact completely escaped me at that time. John claimed he had received verbal orders from LRH to sail past Itiza to Monaco. LRH said that, in effect, this was all a delusion of John's. After all, "He was on drugs." So John finally left the Sea Org. There were moments where I wondered if I had made the right de- "*Mankind's Only Hope*" 65 cision, to let John go and not go with him, but they were so brief, even though coming from the heart. Because the greater glory of the Sea Org and the greater mission that we were on just swept those little doubts away so quickly - so quickly. Almost anything was excusable as far as we were concerned, be- cause of what we had to achieve. The mission that we were on was so huge that a bit of violence here, a bit of injustice here and a "crucifiction" or two there, was taken for granted. The breakup of our relationship was taken for granted. These things had to happen - because we had to move so fast, so rapidly, over such a great distance that you might have to bend or break someone and something in order to get there. Above all, we had to get there! Any- thing else was swept away to make room for that greater purpose. This was the over-riding consideration. **** Bob Ross, who introduced Dianetics into Israel in 1951, was per- haps very much on the mark when, after reading this account, he stated: "It reminds me of S.S. Nazi training where boys are given two dogs to train and live with for a year; at which point they ate ordered to kill their dogs." 5 The Liability Cruise and Other Adventures Throughout the 1950's Hubbard talked a great deal about the "spirit of play," the importance of having a "light heart," of how pun- ishment did not work. He spoke of how groups were composed of in- dividuals, and of the importance of individual freedom. Scientologists to this day read these words and sigh at the wisdom of it all. At the same time they nod their heads agreeably over sentiments by Hubbard - originated mainly from the mid - sixties on - which reflect the opposite viewpoint. Making one's peace with blatant contradic- tions in the writings of one's beloved Founder is just one small aspect of what it takes to be a happy, well-adjusted Scientologist. Hubbard Communications office Bulletin of 7 February 1965, "Keeping Scientology Working": If they're going to quit let them quit fast. If they're enrolled, they're aboard, they're here on the same terms as the rest of us - win or die in the attempt. Never let them be half minded about being Scientologists. The finest organizations in history have been tough, dedicated organizations. Not one namby-pamby bunch of panty-waist dilettantes have ever made any thing. It's a tough universe. The social veneer makes it seem mild. But only the tigers survive - and even they have a hard time. This is a deadly serious activity. And if we miss getting out of the trap now, we may never again have another chance. When Miss Pattycake comes to us to be taught, turn that wandering 66 *The Liability Cruise* 67 doubt in her eye into a fixed, dedicated glare and she'll win and we'll all win. Humor her and we all die a little. Also in a serious vein, Hubbard claimed to have isolated the enemy of Scientology in 1967. The enemy, he declared, consisted of one small group that had "hammered at Scientology since 1950." He claimed to have isolated a "dozen men at the top," and the organiza- tion they used, and all its connections around the world. "They're as red as paint," he said. "Psychiatry" and "mental health" was chosen as a vehicle to undermine the West! And we stood in their way." **** In the months that followed the departure of her lover, John O'Keefe, Hana found herself becoming a favorite of Hubbard's, who promoted her to high positions of responsibility. And she was falling even more under his spell. HANA ELTRINGHAM: We were en route from La Ghoulette (the outer Tunis harbor) back to Valencia, Spain, having ended the "Mission Into Time" project. R [as Hubbard was sometimes called, mainly for "security reasons"] called me into his office and told me I was henceforth the Captain. Joe Van Staden would be vacating that position, as he was being sent on a mission. I said "O.K." or something, left the office...and freaked! This lifetime I had not had any sea experience, even with small boats. And my sole experience was on the Avon River (Athena about five months, with none of that in a command position. I must have sat down at my desk in the 'tween decks, as the next thing I recall is H beckoning me from the door leading into his office. R had his E-meter in his hand and with the other hand gave me the two cans and told me to hold them. With no preamble he set up the meter, the two of us standing in the doorway leading from the 'tween decks into his office. "When were you last a Captain" he asked me. I gave him one experience (from a past life) and he acknowledged me. He asked me to go earlier and find another similar incident. I did so. I got a pretty major incident and related it to him, while he was nod- ding his head enthusiastically and encouraging me on and on. 68 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE That must have been what he was looking for, I guess.... "Are you a Loyal Officer?"* he then asked me. That question threw me. I exhilarated on it, and at the same time I felt confused. R let that go and just sent me on my way. About fifteen minutes later he came out of his cabin to where I was on the deck. He peered closely at me - into my eyes. I smiled at him and told him that all was O.K. "That last question really indicated," I told him, "although I really haven't put all the pieces of the puzzle together." He patted me on the back really affectionately. "That's my girl!" he said, beaming. "You'll be finding out more about that quite soon." At that,.he turned and walked back into his office THE LIABILITY CRUISE Valencia, on the south coast of Spain, 1968. ELENA LORREL: While we were off on the "Mission Into Time" project, the Apollo was left in Port in Valencia, Spain. Among the officers, who included Mary Sue [Hubbard's wife there were none who knew enough naviga- tion to move the ship. Even the person who was the captain at the time didn't know how to move it, so it had been moored at a single berth for about two months. One day the Port Captain's office asked them to move it. So the captain, in order to cover his ass, went ashore and exploded at the Port Captain. He pulled a real Krushchev type incident, almost like beating his shoe on the table, and they ended up getting kicked out. And we "lost Spain"** as a result of that. This entire mess caused us to have to end our "Mission Into Time" early. We were in the middle of some digs in Carthage and we were not able to complete them as a result of this situation. So we went storming back to Valencia, to salvage the Apollo's crew! *Not having done the level of Operating Thetan III yet, Hana would not have been aware of what Hubbard was talking about. The full significance of Hubbard's question will become apparent to the reader in Chapter 13 of the second part of this book, entitled "The Wall of Fire." **Hubbard "wanted a country," a place where he was safe and could "pull all the strings." "Taking" a single country was to be the first step to "taking" the planet; thus the talk of "losing" countries. *The Liability Cruise* 69 Once we got back, the Old Man [Hubbard] had all of us from the Athena put in charge of moving the Apollo. (We had by that time been out to sea for three months and had lived in the hardest of weather. The heavy storm season in the Mediterranean, during which we had been at sea constantly, between treasure digs, had made us seasoned sailors.) Just before we moved it, we were moored right next to the Apollo and the Old Man had this incredible shouting match with Mary Sue in his office. You could hear through the wall like it was cardboard. He really blooped her through the universe saying that he had never really wanted her and the kids to be there, and she should just pack up, take the kids and ship out! It went on and on: She had let him down by not moving the ship, letting this big port flap happen. He was just screaming at her at the top of his lungs. And she begged him to allow her to stay. Then after a time, responding to her pleas, he said, "Well what are you going to do about this ship of fools?" She proposed that she be allowed to prove herself. So we moved the ship out to anchor and the Commodore took away their flag. They only had a gray rag that was flown at half mast and they went on what was called the liability cruise. **** They were gone for two and a half months and they had a very rigor- ous schedule. We, the Athena crew (it was the flagship at the time be- cause the Commodore was on it) stayed in port for part of this time. The Apollo was on this cruise with the stated reason to train its crew, with Mary Sue as the captain. You can imagine some 120 crew all having to do their able-bodied- seaman training, and all sorts of other nautical courses and ethics con- ditions, in order for the ship to be upgraded from liability. They had to be radarmen, conning officers, and so on. So it took them two and a half months, and it was during that period that they violated a couple of major international conventions and re- ally got us messed up in a couple of countries. First of all, they were sent off on the liability cruise with no flag. So they couldn't go into any port. They had no flag to fly (and you can't go into port without flying a flag to identify yourself). Secondly, the fact that they had a female captain in Spanish waters pretty much identified them with Soviet or iron curtain country ships. They were sent off with charts that were old and not up-dated and they did not know the military zones they started cruising in. And they 70 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE started cruising in top secret military zones that were categorically for- bidden, such as where there were nuclear submarines training. They went aground a couple of times, and it was just a comedy of errors. So they were finally stopped at gun point and the ship was taken over and the Spanish navy came aboard and arrested them under cover of machine guns. They interviewed Mary Sue and couldn't believe that it wasn't a spy ship. They were released from arrest but it was after that that the rumors started about the "spy ship," and it became compared with the Ameri- can spy ship Pueblo. Reports went up to the ministry of the interior and they thought we were connected to the CIA or KGB, and the Apollo was banned from Spain. **** All three vessels (Apollo, Athena and yacht Diana) had joined up in Corfu, Greece, during the last months of 1968. The ships were berthed in Corfu when people were first being tossed into the harbor. The Old Man was just really rabid and yelling and screaming a lot. For some time throwing violators of Hubbard's rules over the side of the ship ("overboarding" them) became a Sea Org tradition. Usu- ally they were thrown off the 'tween (second) deck, but there were a couple of occasions when they went off the promenade deck (some 25 feet above the water). There were rules written by Hubbard in a "Flag Order" which listed orders of severity of overboarding, such as: from which deck, should the person be blindfolded, and should his hands or feet be tied. Every morning a solemn ceremony was performed at dawn, when offenders of the previous day were listed by the Master at Arms. Then the order was picked up by two of the MAA's assistants and was heaved out over the sea. There was "tech" written by Hubbard at the time giving the theory behind this kind of discipline. He wrote about how the reactive mind (subconscious mind) actually exerts a "force" against an individual which propels him towards wrongdoing. It is therefore necessary, he asserted, to apply an even greater force on the individual towards "right doing. Within a system of due process, that is essentially how penal sys- *The Liability Cruise* 71 tems could be said to work. Due process was not usually available, however, as the following example illustrates. Homer Shomer, a businessman who was aboard the Apollo told me: I remember being on the bridge of the flagship. A 19-year old-girl named Marrianne Wicher was the radar plotter. We were on a watch. LRH came up on the bridge and looked in the radar screen and saw two ships that he considered fairly close. They were about five miles away. And he just really ripped into her. He called her the foulest names and instantly assigned her to the Rehabilitation Project Force:* "You mother fuckin' cock suckin' cunt! You're endangering the ship! You're assigned to the RPF!" and he kicked her off the bridge. **** While the early Sea Org adventures were occurring, my wife and I were working long hours at Saint Hill in England. We were studying and auditing for barely enough money to live on. We had signed con- tracts for two and a half years, in exchange for cut rates on courses and auditing. Furnace Woods, which surrounded our little rented cottage, was very beautiful in the spring and we went for walks on the rare occa- sion when we had a little time off. We heard occasional stories of life at sea on the Apollo and Athena. We were told there was some fairly severe discipline. But generally we knew little of what was going on. Had I known about the children in the chain locker, for example, I would have been extremely upset and confused. After all I planned to have a family, and I dreamed of applying Hubbard's "tech" on raising children to my own kids. I had read most of Hubbard's writings on "how to live with chil- dren" such as: You want to raise your child in such a way that you don't have to control him, so that he will be in full possession of himself at all times. Upon that depends his good behavior, his health, his sanity. Children are not dogs. They can't be trained as dogs are trained. They are not controllable items. They are, and let's not overlook the point, men and women. A child is not a special species of animal dis- *Essentially a Scientology slave labor force. 72 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE tinct from Man. A child is a man or a woman who has not attained full growth. How would you like to be pulled and hauled and ordered about and restrained from doing whatever you wanted to do? You'd resent it. The only reason a child "doesn't" resent it is because he's small. You'd half murder somebody who treated you, an adult, with the orders, contra- diction and disrespect given the average child. The child doesn't strike back because he isn't big enough. He gets your floor muddy, inter- rupts your nap, destroys the peace of your home instead. If he had equality with you in the matter of rights, he'd not ask this "revenge." This "revenge" is standard child behavior.... The sweetness and love of a child is preserved only so long as he can exert his own self-determinism. You interrupt that and, to a degree, you interrupt his life. There ale only two reasons why a child's right to decide for himself has to be interrupted - the fragility and danger of his environment and you, for you work out on him the things that were done to you, regard- less of what you think.... The idea of some discipline was not repugnant to me. After all, rather some discipline for the sailors on a ship, than that they all should lose their lives when the badly run ship sinks. But wanton punishment2 That wouldn't have made any sense. After all, it was Hubbard who wrote: Blackmail and punishment are keynotes of all dark opera- tions...punishment doesn't cure anything....Man is basically good and is damaged by punishment....Harsh discipline may produce in- stant compliance but it smothers initiative. These sentiments very much applied in counseling (auditing). I au- dited someone with the datum in mind that the force and punishment and trauma experienced by this person was part of what was wrong with him, and needed to be gradiently faced up to, so he or she be- came free from the negative effects of these things. The other side of this was the "overt" side. The person also needed to gradiently confront the force, punishment and trauma he had inflicted on others, as these things were a major source of his current problems and irresponsibilities. As I saw it, the idea in auditing, was to increase one's ability to con- front and communicate, to become more alive, more oneself. For me auditing was a wonderfully effective way of unhypnotizing people. There was an "Auditor's Code," of which the two most important *The Liability Cruise* 73 points were: "Do not evaluate for the preclear" (this meant that in no way should the auditor tell the "preclear" what he should or should not think), and "Do not invalidate or correct the preclears data." Also very important was the rule: "Always remain in good two-way communication with the preclear during the session." This denotes always letting the preclear know what procedure is being run, always being alert to anything he wishes to say and being willing to hear it fully and with interest, and acknowledging that one has heard what he has said and that one has understood it. Following these rules appeared to work for me in the most amazing way. Mary and I quickly gained a reputation as very effective audi- tors. We became highly sought after, and we were very proud indeed of the constant flood of praise and stories of changed lives. The affec- tion showered upon us by those we had helped was a source of enor- mous gratification. Auditing was very much the essence of civilized communication. For me, and many others at the time, this was what Scientology was all about. One of the most publicized of all of Hubbard's writings' is a piece called "What is Greatness": ...The hardest task one can have is to continue to love one's fel- lows despite all reasons he should not. And the true sign of sanity and greatness is to so continue. For the one who can achieve this, there is abundant hope.... True greatness merely refuses to change in the face of bad actions against one - and a truly great person loves his fellows because he un- derstands them.... When cruelty in the name of discipline dominates a race, that race has been taught to hate. And that race is doomed. The real lesson is to learn to love. It would have been inconceivable that L. Ron Hubbard, who had "discovered" all this wisdom, would himself act in complete violation of it. Possibly there were those around him - people he had not yet detected - who were violating these truths; but he himself? The thought just did not occur. It would be some time before I'd realize that the civilized commu- nication and counseling I so valued served mainly as the "bait on the hook. " 6 Wogs vs. Operating Thetans "We're in this for blood." - L. RON HUBBARD In the fall of 1974 the Apollo sailed to Lisbon in Portugal, following its most recent sojourn in Tenerife and other Canary islands. (These islands, located off the southern coast of Morocco in the East Atlantic, had taken turn playing host to the Apollo throughout most of 1974.) In Portugal she was allowed access to Lisbon's harbor. Here, prior to their leaving, the crew were witnesses to the leftist coup (dubbed "the flower revolution" by the press). They could see the tanks rolling in the streets. There was a quiet tension among the crew as the ship steamed away from Lisbon, heading for the Portuguese island of Madeira. Having been repeatedly expelled from ports throughout the Mediter- ranean and the Eastern Atlantic, along with observing the hostilities in Lisbon, had given them an odd feeling of being cut adrift. They entered the harbor of Funchal, Madeira, and were granted berthing rights by the harbor authorities. The feeling of relief was pal- pable. As was their custom, the crew unloaded their motorcycles and parked them on the dock alongside the Apollo. Hubbard had always been a motorcycle buff. At this point in time he owned two, his favor- ite being a big American-made Harley-Davidson. Captain Bill Robertson, a man with a personality perhaps every bit as colorful as Hubbard's, and whose loyalty to him bordered on the fanatical, saw to it that Hubbard's personally ensured that his machines were well cared for. They were taken off the ship first, and 74 *Wogs vs. Operating Thetans* 75 given the best location on the dock. Kept in top running condition, they were washed and polished daily. Following Hubbard's lead, Captain Bill owned his own motorbike, and so did many others of the higher ranking crew members. Mary Sue Hubbard owned a small car. None of the crew had much in the way of personal possessions, and those who owned a motorcycle generally showered the same atten- tion on their machine as a doting parent would on an only child. Besides the pride of possession, the bikes gave their owners a pre- cious taste of independence from the disciplines and confines of the ship. They could go riding off for an hour or so a day. And on their day off, once every two weeks, they could actually forget that the ship ex- isted for an entire 12 hours! (This day off was conditional on their hav- ing their "statistics up," meaning that they had produced adequately, according to rigorous and sometimes ridiculous standards which re- quired that every week's production be better than the previous. If this was not so they forfeited their "holiday.") At Funchal, the routine of unloading the bikes was adhered to in the same manner as at previous ports, and the buying of supplies and the unloading of trash went on with the normal, high energy, hustle and bustle. Buyers were sent into the township to get fresh produce at the lowest possible prices, and the Apollo began its refueling procedure. There were hundreds of locals crowding around the wharf - an unusually large number. "Hey Americanos!" Portuguese abuses. Something exploded on the main deck. There was the sound of glass shattering, a melee at the head of the gangplank, and the quartermaster was screaming for help. Cobblestones (ripped from the pavement of the wharf) and bottles were landing on the deck. "There's someone injured on the poop deck!" yelled the bosun, "Get some guys up there to help." "There are soldiers over there, why the hell don't they fucking give us a hand?" muttered a ship's officer. Louise Botika (not real name), who was in charge of taking care of the Commodore's safety, says: I was awakened by someone yelling that the ship was being at- tacked. I ran up to his room and he was in a cocky mood. He first of all gave orders that the crew were to mimic everything the crowd was yelling. 76 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE They followed his instruction to no avail. Then, in an attempt to drive back the crowd, the sea hoses (those used to pump sea water) were pulled to the front line in order to spray them. There was inadequate pressure, and the result was only to infuriate the crowd even further. Kima Douglas' jaw had been broken. Another girl was sobbing from pain and being blinded by the blood flowing into her eyes from a head injury. Louise continues: LRH grabbed a bullhorn and ran out onto the deck, yelling "Communista! Communista!" Just why I'll never know. It certainly didn't work. Then he ran back in and grabbed a camera with a flash and began photographing the mob. This did have some value later. "Dammit, they're dumping the bikes into the bloody ocean!" some- one yelled. "There's not a thing we can do about it. We'd get bloody killed down there. Oh shit! there goes the Commodore's bike. Jesus, I just don't believe this!" There were a couple of attempts to loosen the ship from her moor- ings by the mob. The crew of the Apollo fought with bravado, disguis- ing their fear which bordered on terror at times Some even went down the gangplank in a foolhardy attempt to fight off the attackers who were loosening the ropes. MIKE GOLDSTEIN: I was Captain Bill's yeoman when the thing happened. Initially I was put in charge of putting together and arming a bunch of guys with steel pipes and grouped them at the gangplank to repel any boarders. They never managed to make a real attempt at boarding, however, so we were never tested. The crowd was yelling "CIA! CIA! CIA!" It's really funny when you come to think about it, here we were with our clever shore story, that we were Operation Transport Corporation, managing businesses around the world. The idea was never to tell them that we were Scientologists because it might bring on an attack. So they didn't know we were Scientologists - something we could have proved. They sure knew that we weren't business management, however. That they were certain of! *Wogs vs. Operating Thetans* 77 So they decided we were CIA and here we were being stoned. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong shore story. Pat Broeker had this whole idea, during the height of the attack, that he was going to pull a dirty dozen caper. He had some idea of jumping off the side of the ship and sailing a nearby barge ashore and doing some stunt that would save the ship. It never came off. It's funny that he's the guy who is now the king of Scientology. He had the nickname "007." He loved spy capers and his favorite movie was The Dirty Dozen. He would sit for hours telling his juniors the entire movie from begin- ning to end. Louise continues her story: The riot lasted a couple of hours and we were finally able to get the militia to move in and help us, partly by offering to give them what they thought was the film from LRH's camera which had the exposures of the riot on it. Madeira is one of Portugal's prime tourist spots and they didn't want the bad publicity. So LRH made a great gesture of exposing the film to the light in front of them. In fact he had previously taken out the roll containing the shots of the rioters and replaced it with another. The militia had virtually cleared the wharf and everything had calmed down, when the Commodore suddenly yelled "Duck!" and ev- eryone jumped for cover. There was no apparent threat to anyone at the time. "That guy can't be trusted with that gun!" he said, without indicating who he meant. This apparently paranoid reaction contrasted sharply with his prior reckless behavior of exposing himself to possible blows by rocks and bottles as he strutted on the open deck shouting into a bullhorn and taking photographs. The ship was taken out into the harbor a way, where she dropped anchor. The next day divers were sent down who dredged up some motor- cycles and Mary Sue Hubbard's little mini-car. Meanwhile other crew members took on supplies while the militia were still there to protect them. **** James Hare, an auditor on the Apollo, had managed to get away from the ship for a time to ride his bike into the township for a visit to a bar. 78 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE He was a little bit drunk as he rode back towards the ship. As he approached the wharf he saw the riot in progress and sensed that his life was in extreme danger. Realizing that he would be recognized as "one of them," he swung his bike inland and sped away. Four locals spotted him, jumped on motorcycles and followed in hot pursuit. The chase lasted for several minutes until Hare took a bend too fast. "My bike ate it, and I ate it," he says. "The lights went out." Four days later the lights came back on. He was in a hotel. There was dried blood all over his pillow and "a fair sized hole" in the back of his head. He was relieved to see his guitar (James is a highly re- garded Aamenco musician). It was in good shape and had apparently been thrown clear when he and his bike had hit the pavement. Someone had taken mercy on him, delivering him to the hotel and taking money from his pocket to pay for his keep. His bike was totaled, he discovered, but he caught a taxi to the wharf only to discover the ship was no longer there. He returned to the States and his only subsequent contact with Scientology was when he was visited by Scientology agents warning him to shut up about his experiences. One of the experiences they had in mind was his being party to a rescue of Quentin Hubbard (Hubbard's oldest son by his third wife Mary Sue) from a hillside in Madeira. He was unconscious from an overdose of drugs when they found him. According to James Hare, it was an apparent attempt- ed suicide. (Hubbard's response to Quentin's behavior was to have him thrown into the Rehabilitation Project Force. See Chapter 8, "Crucifying the Evil Out. ") Quentin was a gentle caring young man in his late teens, who told his close friend Cathy Cariatakis repeatedly, "I don't want to be a Hubbard!" He wanted go off somewhere and become an airline pilot. Instead, he was being trained and apprenticed as a Case Supervisor. The ship had left Funchal for an offshore location to drop anchor and prepare for a long voyage. It was ostensibly due to head for Buenos Aires. (Actually, under cover of darkness the blacked-out ship changed direction towards the southern part of North America.) After the ship left Portugal, the liaison office in Lisbon was raided by the local police, but Scientology agents there had shredded and burned all evidence of their activities. *Wogs vs. Operating Thetans* 79 The events of that day became known among the crew members as the "rock concert." **** WHY WAS THE APOLLO TURNED AWAY FROM ALMOST ALL MEDITERRANEAN AND EASTERN ATLANTIC PORTS AND THEN ATTACKED IN MADEIRA, PORTUGAL? The official Scientology story was that there was an international conspiracy by the World Federation of Mental Health being orches- trated against the ship throughout the area using such agencies as the CIA, British Intelligence, Interpol and British consulates. There is, however, a consistent viewpoint expressed by the ex-Sea Org members interviewed for this book. They share a conviction that the ship's troubles had something to do with how Hubbard and the crew conducted themselves. ELENA LORREL: There are some missing chapters in the story of this period that are completely unknown even to many veteran Sea Org members. These missing chapters have enabled lots of myths to develop. They have to do with what the ships were really doing as opposed to what we pro- claimed to Scientologists we were doing. What we were doing was James Bond stuff in all these different countries. Some of the missions that we undertook were real intelligence mis- sions: to the U.N., and to the World Federation of Mental Health, for example, as well as to almost every government of the countries we visited. We were infiltrating these groups....I mean we were finding the people trying to assassinate a king; we were trying to settle between one tribe fighting another tribe; trying to covertly back one political candidate versus another. All kinds of political manipulations like you'd never imagine were going on, and it was all being pulled off by a very few people. Most Sea Org members were robotic, rigidly following Scientology think. Put under pressure and duress, they would just blab every- thing So there was only a very small group of us that had to do it all over a period of 10 or 12 years. We'd been out on scenes where we had to break into presidential palace grounds, con our way past guards, and so on. What really caused the Rock Festival was typical of what got us in trouble in most ports: 80 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE The fact is that we just didn't add up! The Apollo would arrive in their quiet harbor and suddenly there were 47 motorcycles and three different bands playing! Here we were at the same time, supposedly, a business management operation... Also a shore unit was set up in their town by us that was working on a project we had contracted with the Lisbon government (in an attempt by us to gain influence). I think the people in Madeira may also have thought we were spying on them (the locals) for the government in Lisbon. Another reason for our troubles was that we wouldn't observe cus- toms and regulations because we were so damned arrogant. LRH was creating the problem, more than not. He was getting so excited. Cathy Cariatakis or I would go into some country and ally it and he would be so excited. He was like a child with this whole new playground. He just couldn't contain himself. He would want to get into everything. What LRH wanted to do would almost invariably involve some vio- lation of an agreement we had made. INFILTRATING "THE ENEMY" Elena continues: LRH sent off a "SMERSH" mission to Switzerland. We were caught red-handed by the Swiss Minister of Health and received a summons to a meeting with him and the Attorney General, surrounded by secu- rity police. We were just caught, hung tied and quartered, until I somehow managed to convince the minister that I truly was a member of the World Federation of Mental Health. I told him that what we were try- ing to do really was the result of an internal squabble within that organ- ization. He finally bought this line, dropped the idea that we were impos- tors, and asked the law enforcement guys to leave. We had been trying to incorporate as the World Federation of Men- tal Health. The WFMH had never been incorporated in Switzerland. It was incorporated and started in the U.S. Margaret Mead and Brock Chisholm and some of the old-time shrinks were some of the founding members. We were going to incorporate in Switzerland and were planning, thereafter, to sabotage the entire mental health movement. In order to register in Switzerland, they had to have been incorpora- ted first. We discovered they had registered with no prior incorpora- *Wogs us. Operating Thetans* 81 tion, making them illegitimate. So we seized on this situation and de- cided to incorporate in their place. We wanted to get member mental health groups all over the world to join us. We were planning to achieve that by bad mouthing the ex- isting heads of the WFMH. One of our key weapons was the fact that we had discovered that the heads of the WFMH were creaming and skimming a lot of money off the top. We had documents to prove this. We had gotten these documents from two missions prior to mine, sent to Switzerland to ransack a couple of offices and loot the files. Among the files they brought back to the ship were documents which revealed the tracking of money which came in. It showed how it had been skimmed off the top by some of these WFMH executives. So we went to incorporate and they said, "You can't do that. There is already a corporation of that name." And we said, "No, you'd better check your records, and you'll find they aren't incorporated." And they said, "Well they're registered here," and we said, "Well they're not incorporated." And they said, "Well, they are in Delaware." And we said, "Yes but they're only registered there, they're not incorporated there." So when it came down to the wire (that they weren't properly incor- porated), the Swiss authorities turned it over to the Ministry of Health. This was because, while they knew we were right, they didn't want to stab the WFMH in the back. So the referred it to the Minister of Health for a ruling. While we were waiting for the decision, we prepared a letter-head with WFMH markings on it. We established an office and put up large posters and plastered the Federation of Mental Health name all over it. We got the program going. We sent mailings out to all the major drug companies around the world, saying that we really were in favor of euthanasia (in this case "mercy" killing on a broad scale, a euphe- mism for ridding society of"undesirables") and that we wanted endow- ments from them to push it through in the United Nations. We figured that if the drug companies were sleazy enough to back it they would send us money, and if they were pretty cool they would realize that the WFMH were evil SOBs because they were pushing euthanasia. Either way we came out O.K. We would either make the WFMH look like a bunch of sleazebags, or we would end up with a good amount of money for operating capital. This project was one of several forerunners of the later "Operation Snow White" conducted by Scientology against agencies in the U.S. and England. 82 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE A GREEK TRAGEDY ELENA: ...In 1968, in Corfu, Greece, LRH moved onto the Royal Scots- man (soon to be named Apollo), making that the flagship. The ship was in fact getting on very well with the military junta. Cathy Cariatakis, whose native language is Greek, had helped forge friendly relations with the head Colonel of the junta. This relationship was so warm that one of the junta attended the naming service of the Apollo, Athena and Diana. Things went along splendidly and LRH was having an absolutely marvelous time dreaming up ideas for creating a base there on the is- land of Corfu. There were plans to establish a Saint Hill Organization and an Advanced Organization to be called the University of Philoso- phy. Then LRH had the idea to write an article on Democracy, Greece being the originator of Western Democracy. He was very proud of the piece and ordered Cathy Cariatakis to have it translated and published in the major Greek newspapers. She did so. There are many versions as to why things went sour with the Greek government and resulted in Hubbard, the ship and its crew, being ordered to leave. One version, which seems the most credible, was that the military junta (depending for its very survival upon keeping the sentiments for a return to democracy at bay) did not appreciate the ideas expressed in Hubbard's article.' Being ordered out of Greece in March of 1969, was the second formal expulsion, eventually leading up to the "rock concert" in Ma- deira. PLOTS TO KILL THE KING OF MOROCCO ELENA: The next major country we lost was Morocco.... The ship's having been kicked out of Corfu, Greece was the last straw for the Old Man. He had already been kicked out of Hull in *It would appear that Hubbard also, in fact, had little appreciation for the idea of democracy. He had written in 1965: "And I don't see that popular measures, self-abnegation and democracy have done anything for Man but push him further into the mud...democracy has given us inflation and income tax." *Wogs vs. Operating Thetans* 83 England, and when they tried to pull into Gibraltar they were denied entry there, and then later there was the Royal Scotsman mess in Spain. So the Old man decided for us to disconnect from land and go out and float for as long as our emergency stores would last and just get our scene together. And we did that for about two months off the coast of Morocco. It was during this "disconnection cruise" that LRH had a heart at- tack on the bridge.... On this cruise we did a lot of ship's work and eventually we were forced to call into the port of Safi, there in Morocco, to get emergency stores. Richard Wrigley was the ship's PH man and he went ashore in Safi and met the Pasha (the Mayor) of Safi. The Pasha invited him back and he brought me along as his escort. And I made great friends with the Pasha and his wife. LRH and MSH had bought a Villa on a beautiful estate in Morocco near Tangiers. During that following year they lived there relatively peacefully, while the ship sailed mainly in the East Atlantic between the ports of Morocco and Portugal and Spain, passing through such ports as Lisbon, Tangiers, Madeira and the ports of the Canary Islands. In 1972, they were still living in the villa while the ship was in drydock in Lisbon for repairs. Sometime after they had established themselves in the villa, LRH received a written proposal from Richard Wrigley. He suggested that he be given approval to find some way to get an audience with King Hassan II and win him over, so that LRH and his crew would have a safe haven in Morocco without further fear of expulsion. It was an offer LRH couldn't refuse, and Richard and Liz Gablehouse were sent off to carry the day. Specifically, they were to make contacts within the palace of Hassan II, preferably with the king himself. In reply to his proposal LRH had written not only his approval, but also a note stating that Richard would have "unlimited backing" (any amount of money) and the missionaire of his choice to join him. Liz and Richard spent a lot of time around bars and meeting people, and did make friends with a French girl named Bidea who had married into the royal family. Despite this connection, nothing developed until Richard was with- drawn from that project to go hob-nob with Black African diplomats on the Ivory Coast, (undoubtedly another country to win over). Bidea at that point confided in Liz that she had been uncooperative because she didn't trust Richard. From that time onwards progress began to be made. Liz was intro- 84 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE duced to the king's top people and later invited for dinner by a palace representative. LRH was very excited and said, "Bidea is the key to Morocco," and we formed the Rabat office and recruited Bidea and her husband to work for it. Subsequently at a party, Colonel Allam, (who was a personal friend of Bidea's) began to become very friendly with me and another mis- sionaire from the Apollo. Bidea told us not to pursue anything with him because he was military. This overture by Colonel Allam was reported to LRH, who was keeping very close tabs on the project. He directed that they pursue the Allam connection. Liz protested that this would be violating the guidelines about med- dling with the military, but to no avail. LRH was very excited about the turn of events and would hear of nothing but compliance with his orders. Colonel Allam was encouraged to invite a few crew members to a party. At that party he told them about General Oufkir, who was a Ber- ber. He said that the King kept Oufkir close to him because this was useful in keeping peace between the Berbers and the Arabs. (The King is an Arab, while a large proportion of the population is Berber. The Berbers are a group of non-Arab tribes who have their own native lan- guage.) A later party by Colonel Allam was also attended by Liz and an es- cort from the ship. Ceneral Oufkir had come back from America and arrived for the party accompanied by this dumb blonde who had worked in the consu- late's office in New York. They couriered a baby horse for the king's son, which had been given them by the U.S. government. Calhoun (my escort) and I played dumb American tourists and this blonde spilled the beans after she had had a few drinks. The beans were that General Oufkir had been at Port Holibert, which I knew was a CIA training center because I had lived near there when I was in my teens, and that he had been there secretly seeing the CIA. This was kept secret from the king. Basically, I decided that Oufkir must have been taken over by the CIA to operate for them. Next Liz and some of the crew were personal guests for the war games, an annual display of all the latest weaponry attended by the chiefs of staff and heads of government. During the performance a jet plane swooped down and collapsed some of the tents. The whole object, it turned out, was to kill the king. The generals, who had been seated near the Scientologists, were in- *Wogs vs. Operating Thetans* 85 terviewed on TV at gunpoint, where they admitted to conspiracy against the king. They were then shot and killed right there in front of the cameras. Later LRH sent Peter Warren and Amos Jessup to Rabat to see if they could get a proposed security checking* project approved that would aid the loyalists in finding out who were the leaders of those plotting against him. This was intended by LRH to be a back-up for the king. LRH decided to use this security checking project as a way to get close to the king - because, of course, by now the king feared for his life and would presumably be grateful for the help with security. The proposal was to security check all the officers in the Moroccan Army to find out who was involved in the coup. Amos Jessup and Peter Warren were actually able to approach Gen- eral Oufkir (the king's friend and most trusted adviser and head of the military) with a project designed by LRH to train the military officers to use the E-meter to security check. Oufkir said, "Very interesting. I'll get back with you." The King flew off to safe ground (France) while his loyal staff claimed to be organizing a clean-up operation to root out the remaining rebel conspirators. Meanwhile the sec checking project did get approved by the officer below the general. A team from Hubbard's headquarters were sent to train the se- lected members of the military on the techniques of Security checking on the E-meter. **** The King was flying back from France a week or two after the sec checking project started. As the return flight from his visit to Paris was descending to begin the approach to Rabat airport, three American-made F-5 Freedom Fighters of the Moroccan Air Force came out to meet Hassan's Boeing 727. Suddenly, the aerial escort opened fire on the royal plane. After two passes they had damaged the cockpit, cut hydraulic lines, smashed instruments and blown out the rear door. Hassan ran to the cockpit and held the pilot at gun-point while he called the attacking pilots on the airliner's radio and, disguising his voice, told them he was the flight engineer. "Ce Majest est mort. Cesez la fusillade!" (The king is dead," he said. "Cease fire." He also *Essentially interrogation done on an E-meter. 86 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE told them that the airliner's hyo pilots were dead.) The plane landed safely. Shortly before the crippled plane had landed, General Oufkir had been summoned to the telephone at the airport control tower. What was said over the phone was not revealed. But shortly after the king, with three of his four children, had sped away to his summer palace in a small black Renault-16, a Moroccan Airforce jet made four passes at the field, shooting up cars, scattering the honor guard, killing eight people and wounding 47. The king got away unscathed. The next morning it was announced that, eight hours after the at- tack on the king's plane, Oufkir had shot himself in the head at the king's palace. The word from the palace was that Oufkir was the mas- termind behind the coup. The king's plane was to have been shot down over water, thus appearing to be an accident. The phone call from the tower made by Oufkir was presumably to order the jets to strafe the king on the ground, after he had realized that he had not been killed in the air. Subsequent to these events Hubbard pushed the sec checking pro- ject even more heavily. Now, surely, the Moroccan government would realize the high necessity to utilize any and all methods to root out the remaining plotters against the King. The students in the course were taught to sec check each other and the work sheets were turned over to the supervisor of the course. One day, among these worksheets, evidence turned up that the very people who had approved the security checking were involved with the coup attempt. ELENA LORREL: It's a puzzle as to why they had approved the sec checking project, except to say that they feared that someone loyal to the king might be approached by us, and decide sec checking was a good idea. It would then have been out of his [Oufkir's] hands. At least this way it was under his control. But I don't think he really expected anything to come of it. He didn't expect the real dirt to be dug up. Boy was he wrong! Well, needless to say, the sec checking was terminated, and we were given twelve hours to vacate Morocco. All the people who connected to General Oufkir were later put on a boat that was sunk, as a result of the fact they "somehow" were in the area during the seven day war between Israel and Egypt. They all died, including Colonel Allam, whom we had gotten to know so well. 7 Fear in the Master's Eye One of the maxims which Hubbard often cited in one form or an- other, and which he actually lived by, was: "Knowledge is power." He saw in this maxim, however, something quite different from what is seen by most people. Collecting data about groups and individuals was one of his most cherished passions. He worked incessantly to find out the secrets of his followers and enemies alike. He built up detailed dossiers on them. This was one of his key techniques for maintaining power. In order to gain first-rate intelligence information, he not only uti- lized the full theory he had gained from what courses in naval intelli- gence he attended during the early part of the Second World War, but also implemented much from readings of Nazi spymasters. He also developed creative techniques of his own. All this constituted what he called "intel tech" and was part and parcel of his constant efforts to gain and maintain power. An example of this tech: "When you move off a point of power," he wrote in 1967, "pay all your obligations on the nail, empower your friends completely and move off with your pockets full of artillery, potential blackmail on eu- ery erstwhile rival [emphasis added], unlimited funds in your private account and the addresses of experienced assassins and go live in Bulgravia and bribe the police." While he absolutely denied anyone the right to have any secrets from him, any person who discovered too much about the real L. Ron Hubbard was on his or her way out! 87 88 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE RON JR.: Dad's business was his business. Very few even got a hint of his steel-lined, soundproof, compartmented mind. Occasionally there would seem to be a threat to this state of affairs. Someone would probe. Someone would appear to have the ability to break through this fortress of secrecy. Dad would at such times go on full alert, mobilizing all his resources to ensure he preserved the status quo.... Hubbard organized a secret service over the years and mobilized it effectively. This was his answer to investigations by various establishments - the American Medical Association in the 1950s, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Australian Government in the mid- and early sixties, the British Government beginning in 1967, and Interpol and the French and U.S. governments during the 1970s (along with an assortment of Mediterranean and North African Gov- ernments). **** In 1971 the French initiated legal action against Hubbard and his Paris organization for fraud and customs violations. He was advised by one of his agents that he was in danger of being extradited to France. In December of 1972, he flew from northern Africa to New York with a bodyguard and a "medical officer. " Besides his legal problems, he was also having health problems. The three moved into an apartment in Queens, New York. Hub- bard disguised himself with a wig whenever venturing outside. Dur- ing this time he conceived the project to retrieve confidential infor- mation from the U.S. government. He wanted desperately to know what the government had in their files on him and Scientology. He called this project "Operation Snow White" (the seizing of confidential government files containing "false" reports in the U.S. Government's files on Hubbard, Scientology and Scientology's per- ceived enemies). Hubbard's claim was that Scientology's troubles stemmed from lies being distributed to agencies all over the world by the World Federa- tion of Mental Health. The WFMH had "been isolated" by the intel- ligence arm of Hubbard's church as being Scientology's prime enemy on the planet. *Fear in the Master's Eye* 89 This operation (see Chapter 13) was destined to have a profound effect on his life, his family and the Scientology movement. **** Having achieved some success in alleviating his physical travails, using the nutritional writings of Adelle Davis along with some innova- tions of his own, Hubbard returned to the Apollo after almost a year's stay in the Big Apple. His concerns regarding extradition had been quieted, and he looked forward to the smell of the ocean, the feel of the warm tropical sun and balmy breezes of the Canary Islands. Back in the Canary Islands in early 1974, Hubbard was confronted with a skyrocketing price of oil. As a result, the price of operating the Apollo also soared. He decided to offset the extra expense by opening up the ship for visits from wealthy Scientologists. They were to receive auditing aboard, paying rates much higher than those charged ashore. Among those drawn by this offer, were some of the more successful Scientology "franchise holders." I was by this time one of those franchise holders, and the events that followed constitute only a small drama when compared with Hubbard's undercover battles with governments. However, it illus- trates the fact that Hubbard was concerned with even the smallest potential threat to his fortress of secrecy. The story also introduces a major source of Hubbard's income and flow of new converts (the "franchise" program). Being separated from the tightly cloistered environment of the Sea Org and being exposed to regular public, these franchise holders were, however, a source of irritation as well as funds and people for Hubbard. Hubbard, since the beginnings of Scientology, had granted fran- chise rights to various people, enabling them to set up shop as a fran- chise of the Church of Scientology. The franchise holder would pay 10 percent of the franchise's income to the Church. In return for this "tithe," the franchise holder was promised finan- cial independence, and freedom from interference in the form of heavy disciplinary actions By the Church. Scientology franchises were a sort of religious non-profit McDonald's, where the franchise holder and his staff were able to pursue their ideals while having the oppor- tunity to reach a middle-class standard of living, as opposed to the abject poverty and virtual slavery of most Sea Org members. 90 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE This system was a hangover from days when Hubbard had not en- joyed the financial clout which he now wielded; days when he wasn't able to get away with being militaristic and dictatorial. The franchise program had borne fruit for him, being the vehicle that supplied him with over 90 percent of the new converts (or "cus- tomers" as he sometimes called them). Franchises brought in "raw meat" (people new to Scientology), and delivered basic courses and lower-level auditing to them. They then sent these people on to official Scientology organizations for the higher and much more costly services. Franchises also sold Hubbard's books. He had written many science-fiction stories, adventure stories, and numerous magazine ar- ticles under various pen names, prior to the advent of Scientology. Since the enormous success of his first book on the mind, Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health in 1950, he had written over 20 books on the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology. He set up his own publishing company to produce these books and constantly exhorted all Scientologists to sell, sell, sell them. Churches and franchises set aside large numbers of staff, and healthy advertising budgets, for this purpose. All orgs and franchises were ordered to maintain large stocks of all titles. In 1970 I was twenty-eight and, with my wife Mary, had taken out a franchise in Riverside, California. By late 1974, the franchise was booming. Having missed a few key chances to meet with Ron, since entering Scientology in 1961, and having read the promotion enticing me to come to the Apollo, I decided my time had finally come - to meet the Old Mall face-to-face. The location of the Apollo had been kept secret from the time she had left England back in 1967; thus, while leaving on my pilgrimage to the sacred ship, I had little idea where I was headed. I was given the name of an agent who would meet me in New York and put me on a plane. In New York I was found by the agent, and was told that my next destination would be Lisbon, where another Church representative would meet me. This rendezvous also occurred and, after a short trip through the streets of Lisbon, I was taken to an apartment where I was greeted by the agent's wife. I did a double-take when I saw three telex machines clattering away. "These machines receive and send messages to and from the ship," the agent explained. "This location, and these machines are to be kept strictly confidential." *Fear in the Master's Eye* 91 I showered, ate some particularly sweet-sauced shrimp, and then continued my journey via Madrid, to the Island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands owned by Spain, off the Northwest coast of Africa. There, I climbed into a taxi and requested, "Apollo, por favor." The driver's face lit up in recognition and, 20 minutes later (at 3:00 in the morning) I was dropped off on the opposite side of the island. The ship was a hive of activity. On deck, Israeli singer Tsura and a band were practicing. Her husky voice and foreign-language song were spellbinding. The waters of the harbor provided perfect acous- tics. After a routine check for any contagious disease, I was cleared for boarding. Cabin space on the Apollo was at a premium. Only the highest ranking officers, and now the high paying visitors, were assigned shared cabins. I would be sharing one with an officer. "Great news!" exclaimed a young steward, who had introduced himself as "the host." "An officer, who says he knows you, Barry Watson, happens to have the bunk above him vacated by a fellow officer, who has just been sent on mission. He'll let you use that bunk. You'll love this cabin. It's really luxurious!" It turned out to be a tiny, two-bunk cabin which, admittedly, did have a beautifully varnished door. I pushed my way through the nar- row doorway, squeezing my luggage under the bottom bunk, and slurped some bad-tasting water from a tap atop the tiny sink. "Per- haps that sink could have other uses?" I wondered, having searched in vain for facilities one takes for granted in the U.S. I climbed into the narrow, upper bunk, carefully, so as not to bang my head. Sleep was quick to come, bordering on coma. It had been a long and tiring trip. The following day, the standard briefing was delivered to me by a public relations officer - a very pretty, smartly uniformed woman, in her early twenties. The sounds of seagulls fighting for food blended with the balmy breezes and workaday sounds and sights of Tenerife's busy harbor as she invited me to come sit on the promenade deck and began the briefing: "You never mention the word 'Scientology' when you're off the ship," she explained. "You tell anyone who asks that you are an exec- utive who has come for training on how to improve your business. Now, just as general information, should it come up, the Apollo is a Panamanian-registered vessel and she is owned by Operation Trans- port Corporation. Operation Transport Corporation consults large 92 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE corporations all over the world by telex and correspondence, and sometimes executives fly in to receive briefings and training. This is our shore story. "The British consulates have been especially bad in telling all sorts of terrible lies to the locals wherever we go. In Corfu, Greece, for instance, they told the locals that we had poisoned their water wells. So, it's important that we have an acceptable story as to who we are and what we are doing...." As she continued her canned speech, my attention was drawn to a barrel-chested man with red hair, dressed in a freshly laundered, fashionable, tropical outfit. He had walked onto the deck and was conversing, in an easy, friendly manner with a teenage girl. As I looked over towards them, both Hubbard and the girl smiled and "Is this the first time you've ever met Ron?" asked the PR girl. "Yes," I answered. "I've been close a few times and I've met Mary Sue on a few occasions, and I did a course at Saint Hill with the older children, Quentin and Diane." "Ron is really very impressive, isn't he?" she said. "He has tremen- dous presence. I sure wish I could be as thoroughly in present time, the way he is. He is really there, isn't he?" Ron had passed the presence test in my mind. Very impressive in- deed! "Boy, what I'11 be able to tell my group when I get home!" I en- thused. The course hours were liberal, and I had plenty of time to explore the island and enjoy long conversations with another franchise holder, a friend of mine, J.C. Hughes. I was talking to J.C. on the poop deck when Hubbard, surrounded by an entourage of messengers, walked up and struck up a conversa- tion. "I'm having a hell of a time getting that drummer of mine to get the rhythm the way I want it," he said, referring to the drummer of the "Apollo All Stars." He was on his way to an all-night recording session in the island's township. As J.C. and Hubbard kidded each other and exchanged anecdotes, I noticed that Ron was nursing his right arm. The arm was in a sling inside his coat, while the sleeve hung loose. But other than this, everything I saw and heard harmonized with the preconceived image of my hero. This was obviously one of the high points of my life, and I took it all in with great zest. *Fear in the Masters Eye* 93 It was explained to me later that Hubbard had come off his motor- cycle at high speed and had broken his arm. There seemed to be no good reason to disbelieve this, although I found myself ill at ease that Hubbard could be vulnerable enough to have an accident. To my mind, that kind of travail was generally reserved for lesser beings. During the days that followed, I busied myself with the course I was taking, and it wasn't until a couple of days before I was due to leave the ship that I saw him again. Before dinner, I had noticed that Hubbard's Ford Cortina rental car was being meticulously prepared on the dock. I decided to forego the meal in the hope of catching one last glimpse of The Founder be- fore returning to the States. I placed myself on a section of the deck where he would have to pass by. There was only myself and one of Mary Sue Hubbard's aides on the deck when Hubbard descended the stairs, alone, towards us. He passed the aide who bade him, "Good evening, sir." He nodded, without saying anything, and proceeded to walk in my direction. Hubbard studiously avoided looking at me and there was a distinct air of tension. As he came up to me and began to pass, I ventured a "Good evening, sir." I felt I could say this with some sense of secu- rity, since the other guy just got away with it. Hubbard didn't answer, but instead looked at me, for a brief instant, with an unmistakable mixture of fear and antagonism in his eyes. He then sped up his pace so that he virtually scuttled off. I felt stunned, and had considerable difficulty sleeping that night as I kept asking myself: "What did that look in his eyes mean? How come he was frightened of me?" Interviewed at great length the following day, with the tin can elec- trodes of the E-Meter clutched in my hands, I was asked: "What were your intentions in coming to the ship? How do you feel about L. Ron Hubbard? Why have you taken photographs? Do you have any evil intentions towards L. Ron Hubbard? Mary Sue Hubbard? Any Scien- tologist in good standing? Are you a member of the FBI? The CIA? The KGB?", and many more questions in a similar vein. I was then escorted to another interview with a security guard, who demanded my camera and removed the film. I was told I would be given my camera back (minus the film), along with my passport, just prior to leaving the ship, when returning to the States. It wasn't until four years later that I came across a note written in Hubbard's hand, over his distinctive signature that read: 94 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE "Re. Bent Corydon: Check this guy out thoroughly! I am informed that he has been a reporter." It was dated coincident with my visit to the Apollo. I had been a reporter for an 18-month period, working for a weekly newspaper in Auckland, New Zealand, where one of my most notable stories was about a pig who had escaped and was running through a grocery store. I was a teenager during that time. I was now 32. Hubbard had apparently been alerted to my background by the intel- ligence section of his "Guardian office." I told no one, except for my wife and my auditor, about this last meeting with Hubbard. But it left a deep impression, along with the same, haunting, unanswered question: What had that look in Ron's eyes meant? The answer to that question took years to appear. At the time, I dared not consider the idea that perhaps Hubbard had something to hide. My mood was sober as I flew back to California. "Why," I asked myself, "do I feel that I have been put under a microscope? Why this foreboding of danger? The feeling that from now on my life is some- how going to be fundamentally meddled with?" I tried hard to shrug off these thoughts and take a nap. Failing to sleep, I tried to read. The thoughts and feelings kept coming back. It was a few months after I returned to the States that the "Rock Concert" occurred and the Apollo sailed across the Atlantic. 8 Crucifying the Evil Out! THE INCEPTION OF THE REHABILITATION PROJECT FORCE "Offenders against us get ill because they can never truly justify it. It is mercy to put a padlock on such a person's activities. Every word he says or writes against us, every plot he enters into, alike push him further and further down.... "It's a relief to a bad case to be punished...Axe him - but rehabili- tate him too." - L. RON HUBBARD It was not until early 1974 that blatant breaking of another person's will - "break 'em down, build 'em back up" - became full blown and implemented as official dogma: The Rehabilitation Project Force. The RPF was essentially a slave labor prison project, where in- mates ate scraps from the table after other crew had finished, and where they were not allowed to speak to any non-RPFers unless spo- ken to. Even then they were only to briefly answer, while addressing their betters always as "sir." RPFers were dressed in blue overalls and had to run wherever they went. (I shouldn't be describing this in the past tense. The RPF continues to this day, very much a part of the Church of Scientology.) At its inception in 1974, the RPF, aboard the Apollo, was located in lower hold number 1. "Meals" - consisting of plate scrapings - would be lowered in a large bucket down into the hold. The RPFers were not permitted any eating utensils and had to scoop this "food" by hand. 95 96 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE While the flagship was at sea, escape, of course, was impossible. According to Scientology "think," putting someone on the RPF is actually a benevolent act. RPFers are considered to be, for all practi- cal purposes, insane, loaded with "evil purposes" which have caused them to commit many harmful actions (overts). This, in turn, caused them to have many secrets (withholds). The RPF is their last shot at "redemption." **** Some who have been on the RPF, but have since managed to leave Scientology, tell of fabricating "overts," which they then wrote up in long lists. This was to appease the "ethics" officer, and prove that they were, indeed, becoming rehabilitated, since it was firmly believed that they must have lots of overts. A common reason for putting someone on the RPF was the decision to leave. According to Hubbard: People leave because of their own overts and withholds.. The only reason anyone has ever left Scientology is because people failed to find out about them. This became one of the basic doctrines, firmly believed by Scien- tology staff and crew. That there might be some other factor such as "choice" or "preference" was overlooked. (After all, it would be pretty ridiculous to claim the Jews were escaping Nazi Germany be- cause of their offenses against Hitler, and there's no doubt that Hub- bard was aware of that.) **** Laurel Sullivan testified in 1985 at the Cristofferson trial, and was questioned about the RPF: I had several discussions. L. Ron Hubbard was increasingly upset with some of the personnel that were on the ship and he thought that their actions were deliberately against him...and he was frustrated. Also, he had suffered an accident. had got in a motorcycle accident, so he was recovering and in some pain, and he was increasingly upset with his own household staff, saying they had not cared for him and so on. And he said this kind of thing was manifest amongst the staff and the crew and that they had evil or unworthy intentions towards him or Scientology... *Crucifying the Evil Out!* 97 There was a period of probably a week where discussions went on on this in his office, and he said he wanted certain people segregated.... And he asked that these people be detected. And so I had one of my staff, Barry Watson and a few other part-time staff members in the PR bureau, go over various lists of people. Some of the lists were made up of people's reads in their PC folders where they had had certain meter reads during their private counselling sessions. Q: You would look at PC folders on auditing? A: Yes. There was what was called the "Rock slam read," which was an agitated movement of the needle, indicating discomfort or bad or evil intention - that's how it's supposed to be - against the subject be- ing discussed, which would be weeded out of their folders. And these names were put on lists. Hubbard had decided that this particular movement of the needle of the E-meter was proof of psychosis. (Oddly enough "rock slams" were found liberally scattered throughout his own auditing folders when, in 1972, while he was very ill, a review of all his past auditing was done. Enraged, he had the folders confiscated. The person in charge of the project was declared a "Suppressive Person.*' See Part II, Chapter 14.) **** John Ausley, one of Hubbard's top executives for 10 years, who left in 1978, says this on the origins of the RPF: Hubbard went out one morning in the Portuguese island of Madeira in early '74, shortly after his return from New York. He had sort of a rowdy physical side to him that he liked to bring out from time to time. It was sort of like, "I'm old but I'm still zesty!" I don't remember which bike it was. It was either his Harley Electroglyde or his Triumph 750. But cobblestone streets don't offer a lot of traction, and there's a lot of bump. He went out one morning and decided to challenge the universe. A zesty 63-year-old biker: Mr. Harley Bad Ass! Anyway, when you start going around corners on cobblestones you better start paying real attention to what your bike can and cannot do. Now you add a lot of zest - or what they used to call lunacy - on top of that. And add some morning dew so that it's all super slippery. And crank your bike up to about seventy or eighty and start cookin' through turns. And just challenge the Whole Universe to take you out. And the Universe goes, "Crunch!!! Got ya!" 98 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE And he had strawberries all over his body. He went down at seventy or eighty! It didn't have to break him up. It just skinned his ass alive! When you do that you're gonna be a hurtin' little puppy. You got skin your knee trips as big as pancakes all over your body, and bone chips. Well, he wouldn't get off international lines when he was in that shape. He still wanted to run the group, day to day. That was when he invented the RPF. While he was healin' up he was being Jimbo bad ass: "I can run the group and be unbalanced, defile the group, but still be momentarily brilliant while I'm in pain." He began to really go out of his way to scream at people at the top of his lungs for ten or fifteen minutes. He used to blow up at his wife. He would scream at her in front of his little nubile messengers. I mean that's seriously rude. There are two old boys I know who hunt. And they hunt bear and wild boar back in the swamps. One of em's named Eugene and one's named Booger. And Booger said, "That's something you'd sic your dogs on." In a technical bulletin dated 1 November 1974, Hubbard wrote of what was to be expected of "Rock Slammers" who were "finished products" or "successful completions" of the RPF: A handled RSer [rockslammer] can be expected to eventually wind up in the same category as a cleared cannibal. His experiential track is too educated in evil and too uneducated in anything else. So even when cleaned up will need lots of living. The degree of degradation experienced by someone on the RPF is difficult to describe. To Scientologists, Hubbard is the ultimate au- thority on affairs of the mind and spirit, and he tells RPFers that they are sub-human, incredibly degraded, evil, and wretched beyond be- lief. It was the ultimate evaluation; the ultimate invalidation. GERRY ARMSTRONG: There is no way to really describe the RPF experience, the hope- lessness, the humiliation, the horror. It seemed to go on forever, the days all identical, no time to oneself, the same blue boiler suits like *Crucifying the Evil Out!* 99 prison garb, day after day, the same questions in the same endless se- curity checks. Hubbard's purpose in creating the RPF, and running it as a prison with assignees considered criminals, was the breaking of people's wills, the total subjugation of anyone he considered exhibited "counter in- tention" to his goals. He achieved his purpose with me so well that I thanked him for the opportunity of doing the RPF, much like prisoners of war, who are broken emotionally and spiritually, through deprivation and mind con- trol techniques, thank their captors. Graduates of the RPF routinely wrote (and to this day write) "Suc- cess Stories," where they thank Hubbard for "giving them their san- ity." That "sanity" being the "product" of having successfully com- pleted the RPF - very much a "gift" from L. Ron Hubbard. Los Angeles Church President Ken Hoden is a graduate of the RPF. When questioned on the subject by the L.A. Weekly, he re- sponded, "I was RPFed for nine months in 1982....I liked the RPF." "Who wants to scrub floors and cart trash for a year?" responded one former Church staffer after hearing of Hoden's comments. "The idea is to make you think twice before doing or saying anything that church officials will RPF you for." **** Hubbard had begun the Rehabilitation Project Force shortly be- fore I had arrived on the Flagship in mid-1974. I saw crew members in dark boiler suits working on separate decks and eating food in small groups at irregular times. They looked to me like they were in some state of shock, and when once I spoke to one of them he seemed not to know how to react. He apparently wondered what a "paying public" was doing talking to an RPFer? He had the look of a pursued animal. The pain in his eyes told of very long hours, heavy work, bad food, and emotional trauma. I felt odd about the RPF. It nagged at me. What in hell was going on? At the time I put such thoughts into the background for the same reason I had ignored the previous abuses I had come across in Scientology: People were obviously excited about the dreams that 100 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Hubbard had outlined, and there were such good feelings that usu- ally blossomed during and following auditing sessions; a warm glow; hope and positive expectation of a better world. I still believed that the survival of the human race, a sane planet, and the glorious freedom of"Operating Thetan," were possible "only through Scientology"! And a fellow can do a lot of selective forgetting and "unlooking" when he believes that such things are at stake. 9 The Brainwashing Manual In my opinion psychiatry has been guilty of abusive practices - for example, brain mutilation and pre-frontal lobotomy, and also electro- convulsive shock "therapy." In the Soviet Union, where human rights are for all practical pur- poses nonexistent - or, more exactly, existent to the extent they serve the well-being of the State - opportunity for psychiatric abuse is vir- tually unlimited. It's well known that the policy "disagree with the State and you're mentally ill" is often used to quiet dissidents. The Church of Scientology has an identical policy. To be a critic of the Church or its Founder is to be insane. Simple as that. To be unswervingly delighted with every word that L. Ron Hub- bard ever uttered or wrote, and to be pleased as can be with the ac- tions and policies of the Church hierarchy-well, this means you must be quite sane indeed! ELENA LORRELL: The Church of Scientology is truly a fulfillment of Orwell's 1984. That it has gained such support among Americans is testimony to the unawareness of so many who don't want to hear about the accounts of Soviet dissidents such as Soltzhenitzin and others. Life in the Sea Organization is parallel to living behind the iron cur- tain. The types of censorship that are imposed on Sea Org members, the selective truth, the priorities and the emphasis on "the group above all" under the guise of"the greatest good for the greatest num- ber" so closely parallel Communism. 101 102 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE In 1976 I was ordered to go to Paris to receive an honor on behalf of LRH as a writer. At the same place there was a showing of some paintings by a Soviet dissident, who had recently come over to the West. I had a series of meetings with him and some other dissidents. That was the first time I realized the degree to which I was intellectually dissaffected with the Sea Org, yet for various reasons I stayed on for some time. I began to understand this man's life and why he was exiled to Siberia. It all sounded so similar to LRH's Rehabilitation Project Force. And I really realized the degree to which my lifestyle was paral- lel to what theirs had been in Russia. After hearing Elena's story, I began searching through Hubbard's writings and other Church (and Church-sponsored)publications with the purpose of gaining a greater understanding of what he was really doing on the flagship (and, to a slightly lesser extent, in his land based organizations). I came across a little known but very revealing text: "The Brainwashing Manual." A little research brought to light that it had first appeared in 1955. The propaganda line on it (originating from Hubbard) was that it was found on the doorstep. Some concerned somebody had "slipped it under the door of a Scientology org." It consisted, according to the manual's foreword, of a transcribed lec- ture by the dreaded Beria, head of Stalin's Secret Police, given to stu- dents of psychopolitics at Leningrad University around 1950. Thereaf- ter it was used as a textbook on how to wage psychological warfare on Western democracies. This psychological assault was to be followed by an eventual takeover of the West. This takeover would be achieved by first taking over the psychiatric professions, and the psychiatric and mental health organizations. Supposedly, this step was already well un- der way. The message was that psychiatry is solely a commie operation. Hubbard had long wanted control of the field of"mental health," and anything he could do to spoil the image of a competitor (in this case psychiatry) was a worthwhile action. (The manual was later actu- ally being distributed by such groups as the John Birch Society - who believed wrongly that it was indeed a transcribed lecture by Beria.) Ron Jr.: Dad wrote every word of it. Barbara Bryan and my wife typed the manuscript off his dictation. And then we took it up to New York and *The Brainwashing Manual* 103 tried to get them to do a program on it with Charles Collingwood at CBS. Dad also tried to sell it to the FBI. Years later they snuck it into the Library of Congress, and some - i' body else came by and said, "Oh lookee, it was found in the Library of Congress!" which is a lot of baloney. Of course, in the book Hubbard plugs Dianetics by having "Beria" mention Dianetics as a key target of "Russian psychopolitics." "Beria" calls Dianetics a threat to "his" program of implementing "Russian" psychopolitical brainwashing techniques to undermine the West. HUBBARD/"BERIA": The psychopolitical operative should also spare no expense in smash- ing out of existence, by whatever means, any actual healing group, such as that of acupuncture in China, such as Christian Science and Dianetics in the United States; such as Catholicism in Italy and Spain; and the prac- tical psychology groups of England. RON JR.: If you want to see how LRH really worked things org-wise, espe- cially from the mid-sixties on, you just have to read the brainwashing manual. John Sanborne, who had been the editor of Hubbard's books since i the early fifties, was there in 1955 at the manual's inception: I suggested it. Just kidding around on his front porch. Slygo Avenue in Silver Springs, Maryland. Talking about how are we going to get these psychiatrists. I said, "What we need to do is take over their sub- ject. What we need to put out is a manual of psych-military something or other...as coming from the communists and then put a lot of psy- chiatry in it." And we're sitting there, with our chairs tipped back on the front porch, tipped against the house, with our feet up on the railing, and all of a sudden he came down on his chair and he grabs me. i And I thought, "I've had it!" And he said, "That's it!" Then he disappeared into the little front room which was sort of a bedroom and study, and you could hear him in there dictating this i book. The brainwashing techniques revealed in the manual reflect a start- ling similarity with the control mechanisms so apparent on the flag- 104 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE ship and in Scientology orgs. However, having been out of print for well over twenty years, its existence is unknown to most Scien- tologists. From Brian Ambry's critique on Scientology: While "white Scientology" (techniques and data which have the po- tential to assist an individual to become more independent and self- determined) is promoted by the Church as the Entirety of the subject, there is also a dark side to Scientology. A dark side which makes indi- viduals permanently dependent upon the Church, and, instead of self- determined, "Ron-determined...." The marriage of potentially liberating methodologies with enslaving ones, the mixing of truth with lies, and love with hate: that is the strange story of L. Ron Hubbard and his Church.* Hubbard was a "user." He used freedom He used goodness. Help- ing others feel better, understand mqre, communicate better - this was all fine, so long as he considered that it increased his power. He helped others so as to own them; to create gratitude and trust and give himself authority or "altitude." He set up people to be ma- nipulated by first assisting them to feel better to have "wins" and so forth. There are those who insist that all "gains" and "wins" in Scientology are delusory - that all the counseling is brainwashing. That's nonsense. The trap is much more sophisticated than that. He was a man of many methods. **** The following material, written by Hubbard, was presented as from a speech by the murderous Beria. All bracketed words in the following quotes have been inserted by me as an illustration of how the techniques described can be applied exactly to what was occurring aboard the ship under Hubbard's com- mand, and emulated in his many organizations. From the Brainwashing Manual (Hubbard/"Beria"): The populace [Scientologists] must be brought into the belief that every individual within it who rebels in any way, shape, or form against efforts or activities to enslave [Scientologize] the whole, must be considered to be a deranged person whose eccentricities are neu- rotic or insane.... *For a more detailed look at this bizarre state of affairs, see Chapters 12, Part I, "Souls Turned Inside Out," and Chapter 10, Part II, "Clay in the Master's Hands." *The Brainwashing Manual* 105 Labelling any dissident "psychotic" is commonplace in Scientol- ogy This is mandated by Hubbard's written policies. For instance in his Introduction to Scientology Ethics, written in 1966, Hubbard states under the category of "suppressive acts" (i.e., "high crimes" against Scientology): DISAVOWAL, SPLINTERING, DIVERGENCE 1. Public disavowal of Scientology or Scientologists in good standing with Scientology Organizations. 2. Announcing departure from Scientology... 3. Seeking to resign or leave courses or sessions and refusing to re- turn despite normal ebrts... 8. Dependency on mental or philosophic procedures other than Scientology... To commit any of the above (or dozens of other similar) "high crimes" is to be, per Scientology "ethics," a"suppressive person, and to officially be announced in a"declare" as such. To a Scientolo- gist any one "declared S.P." is immediately and unquestioningly con- sidered insane. Of these "suppressive persons" Hubbard wrote in the book Science of Survival: "Such people should be taken from society as rapidly as possible and uniformly institutionalized...." HUBBARD/"BERIA": Entirely by bringing about public conviction that the sanity of a per- j son is in question, it is possible to discount and eradicate all the goals and activities of that person. It is important to know that the entire subject of loyalty is thus as easily handled as it is. One of the first and foremost missions of the psychopolitician ["Ethics" Officer, Church of Scientology] is to make an attack upon communism [Scientology] and insanity synonymous. On a radio show in Portland, Oregon, I was described in 1985 by Los Angeles Church of Scientology president Ken Hoden as "a lone psychotic screaming into the wind"* *My wife and I and my closest associates were initially declared suppressive persons, or "S.P.s" (psychotic) in late 1982 after we announced our departure from the Church of Scientology. Some 600 others, mostly experienced, long-time Scientologists, had also been declared "insane" by the Church during the previous 18 months or so. 106 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE HUBBARD/"BERIA": No laymen [Scientologists] would dare adventure to place judgment upon the state of sanity of an individual whom the psychiatrist [Church of Scientology] has already declared insane [S.P.]. Should any whisper, or pamphlets, against psychopolitical activities [Scientology] be published, it should be laughed into scorn, branded an immediate hoax, and its perpetrator or publisher should be, at the first opportunity, branded as insane.... (See Paulette Cooper story in Chapter 13. After she wrote an anti- Scientology book Hubbard's Guardian's Office initiated a near suc- cessful frame-up to have her institutionalized.) The idea that anyone who doesn't see eye to eye with Hubbard is insane goes back, really, to the very earliest days of Dianetics and Scientology. However, it wasn't made official written policy and the "standard ethics action" until one day in 1965. John Sanborn, recalls the first "S.P. Declare": Hubbard had Marilyn Routsong, who was the World Wide Ethics Officer at St. Hill Manor, deliver the first Suppressive Person Declare. He had written this system up and now he was going to use it. Hubbard said declare so and so. And she put out the order. Boy, in those days being declared was like a death sentence. [It still is consid- ered so for those still inside Scientology.*] He said, "As soon as you give him the order come back." And when she did he said, "How did he act? What did he say? Did he say any- thing?" And so forth. He was thrilled like a kid to see how his new dictatorial system was going to work! THE "BRAINWASHING MANUAL": Particularly in Capitalistic countries, an insane person has no rights under law. No person who is insane may hold property. No person who is insane may testify. Thus we have an excellent road along which we can travel toward our certain goal and destiny. Wrote Hubbard in the book Science of Survival: In any event, any person from 2.0 down on the tone scale should not *Scientologists believe that their survival as spiritual beings is totally dependent upon remaining in good graces with the Church. *The Brainwashing Manual* 107 have, in any thinking society, any civil rights of any kind....(Em- phasis added) (The Tone Scale is a scale of emotional states. See Part II, Chapter 2: those chronically below "2.0" are regarded as insane.) According to Hubbard a person's reaction to Scientology is a direct indicator of where they are on the "Tone Scale" - a negative reaction indicating LOU'. If this were the "Scientology Planet," so yearned for by the rank and file of the movement, all critics of Hubbard and his Church would, by this standard, be without rights of any kind. Perhaps, if we were not exterminated, the Church, in its benevo- lence, might offer us a chance to make a "reality adjustment" in some rehabilitation camp. HUBBARD/"BERIA": It is not enough for the State [Sea Org/Scientology] to have goals. These goals, once put forward, depend for their completion upon the loyalty and obedience of the workers [Sea Org crew and staff mem- bers]. These engaged for the most part in hard labors, have little time for idle speculation, which is good." ...Hypnosis is induced by acute fear. They discovered it could also be induced by shock of an emotional nature, and also by extreme priva- tion, as well as by blows...." Belief is engendered by a certain amount of fear and terror from an authoritative level, and this will be followed by obedience. The body is less able to resist a stimulus if it has insufficient food and is weary....Refusal to let them sleep over many days, denying them adequate food, then brings about an optimum state for the receipt of a stimulus. Degradation and conquest are companions. By lowering the endurance of a person...and by constant degra- dation and defamation, it is possible to induce, thus, a state of shock which will receive adequately any command given. Any organization which has the spirit and courage to display inhu- manity, savageness, brutality, and uncompromising lack of humanity, will be obeyed. Such a use of force is, itself, the essential ingredient of greatness.... As an example of this, we find an individual refusing to obey and being struck. His refusal to obey is now less vociferous. He is struck again and his resistance is lessened once more. He is hammered and pounded again and again until, at length, his only thought is direct and 108 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE implicit obedience to that person from whom the force has emanated. This is a proven principle....For it is to our benefit that an individual who is struck again and again from a certain source will, at length, hyp- notically believe anything he is told by the source of the blows.... Only when a person has been beaten, punished, and mercilessly ham- mered can hypnotism on him be guaranteed in its effectiveness. The psychopolitical dupe [ideal Scientologist] is a well-trained indi- vidual who serves in complete obedience to the psychopolitical opera- tive [L. Ron Hubbard or the Church hierarchy].... The cleverness of our attack in the field of psychopolitics [the human mind and spirit] is adequate to avoid the understanding of the layman and the usual stupid official [Scientologist and Scientology staff mem- ber], and by operating entirely under the banner of authority, with the oft-repeated statement that the principles of psychotherapy [the ever- present next mysterious upper level of auditing] are too devious for common understanding an entire revolution can be affected [the crea- tion of obedient converts].... In rearranging loyalties we must have command of their values. In the animal the first loyalty is to himself. This is destroyed by demon- strating errors in him....The second loyalty is to his family unit.... This is destroyed...by lessening the value of marriage, by making an easiness of divorce and by raising the children whenever possible by the State. The next loyalty is to his friends and local environment. This is destroyed by lowering his trust and bringing about reportings upon him allegedly by his fellows or the town or village authorities.* The next is to the State [the Church of Scientology] and this, for the pur- poses of Communism** [Scientology] is the only loyalty [sic] which should exist... In Scientology Organizations "Parent time" is a short period of an hour or so per day for the parents to visit with their children, of their "statistics are up." Children are otherwise watched as a group by full- time sitters. The child-care conditions in the past have been de- scribed as scandalous. *To not report a fellow Scientologist who is seen violating one of Hubbard's numerous rules is a major crime. This policy gives a strong incentive to report even on close friends and family. Stories of husbands or wives "writing their partners up" regarding. intimate conversations are not uncommon. (Laurell Sullivan, Hubbard's personal public relations officer who left in 1980, burst into tears in court upon recounting such an incident.) **Please keep in mind that I am not implying that the Church of Scientology is a communist operation. The IRS case against the Church would appear to indicate that it has been a "capitalistic" money making operation, while at the same time utilizing practices with which any late 1960s fanatical Chinese Head Guard would feel quite at home. *The Brainwashing Manual* 109 Marriages among staff in Scientology, especially in the Sea Org, have a very high incidence of failure. Strong sexual and family loyal- ties, such as that developing between Hana Eltringham and John O'Keefe, were routinely undermined, in one way or another. HUBBARD/"BERIA": The field of the mind must be sufficiently dominated by the psycho- political operative [Scientology], so that wherever tenets of the mind are taught they will be hypnotically received. From "Hubbard Communications office Policy" Letter of 14 Janu- ary 1969: Thus in the case of Scientology Orgs one should attack with the end in view of taking over the whole field of mental health. Could it be that Hubbard wanted to become the authority on the mind and spirit so that whole populations would hypnotically follow what he said? Certainly for the membership, he is the final authority; speaking from on high; his infallibility never doubted. According to Ron Jr., his father "believed he would achieve enor- mous personal power from taking over the field of mental health." HUBBARD/"BERIA": The tenets of rugged individualism, personal determinism, self-will, imagination, and personal creativeness are alike in the masses antipa- thetic to the good of the Greater State [the Church of Scientology]. These willful and unaligned are no more than illnesses which will bring about disaffection, disunity, and at length the collapse of the group to which the individual is attached. The constitution of man lends itself easily and thoroughly to certain and positive regulation from without of all of its functions, including those of thinkingness [sic],* obedience, and loyalty, and these things must be controlled if the greater State [Church of Scientology] is to ensue. The end thoroughly justifies the means. *Hubbard often added "ness" to the ends of verbs, transforming them to nouns. For example: "beingness," "doingness," "havingness," "eatingness," "sexingness," etc. 110 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE THE LANGUAGE OF SCIENTOLOGY Some of the nomenclature of Scientology is innovative and, in a positive sense, useful. In fact, probably the best method for someone to get an overview understanding of the subject is to scan through a Scientology Dictionary. There is also, however, a negative side. Much of the nomenclature is "loaded language." Says Robert J. Lifton in Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliche. The most far-reaching and complex of hu- man problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive- sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These be- come the start and finish of any ideological analysis. In thought reform, for instance, the phrase "bourgeois mentality" is used to encompass and critically dismiss ordinarily troublesome concerns like the quest for individual expression, the exploration of alternative ideas, and the search of perspective and balance...[loaded language is] the "lan- guage of non-thought." By using loaded language such as "the open-minded case" as a term of abuse, and "other practices" as a term of utmost scorn, Hubbard shut off (for his followers) all competitive ideas and practices in the fields of the mind and spirit. In one of the numerous examples of this in Scientology, Hubbard declared "middle-class mentality" suppressive, period! Lifton continues: Also involved is an underlying assumption that language - like all other human products - can be owned and operated by the movement ...the effect of the language...can be summed up in one word: constriction. The individual is, so to speak, linguistically deprived; and since language is so central to all human experience his capacities for thinking and feeling are immensely narrowed. **** There have been a lot of studies done in medical journals on what were the breaking points of Korean prisoners of war. During the Sea Org era, especially, Hubbard was able to test each crew member for breaking points. He honed this to where he had it down to a fine art. *The Brainwashing Manual* 111 I have come to the conclusion that L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. was used as one of Hubbard's guinea pigs to test this premise of blows and obe- dience; that many of the lessons Hubbard learned from his experi- ments on his son were further implemented on the ship. Ron Jr. was, in essence, a life-long "prisoner of war"; a prisoner of Hubbard and his organization's machinations. Hubbard trained his troops to find a person's breaking point, in order to bend him or her to his will. He had done this with his own son, early and continu- ously. While Ron Jr. was not physically struck by his father, his weak- nesses were exploited. When he virtually fled the organization in 1959, according to his account, he was hounded. Although he was out of the organization, his father retained the ability to manipulate him, even into changing his name. It is obvious to anyone who knows Ron Jr. that he spent his whole life attempting to escape from the mental "prison" that his father had created for him. The pressures of being a "number one son" of the "Savior of Mankind," were perhaps reflected in what appears to have been the suicide - by an overdose of drugs - of Quentin, Hubbard's oldest son by Mary Sue (Ron Jr.'s half brother). Quentin's body was found in a car near McCurran Airport in Las Vegas in early 1977. He went into a coma and died in a hospital after 14 days. He was 22 years of age. Some 18 months prior to that time, my wife-while taking a Scientology course in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1975 - observed Quentin running away from his father, who was coming down on an elevator. She describes his reaction upon discovering that Hubbard was on the elevator: "He paled dramatically and exclaimed, 'Oh shit, it's Dad, I've got to get out of here!'" He sprinted up several flights of stairs. He had previously confided in her that he desperately needed help regarding his problems with his father. She says his emotion was "terror. " She observed him again in early 1977, in Florida at the "Flag Land Base," not long before his death, looking devastated, having again been placed in a "lowered ethics condition." It does not appear to have been a wonderful gift of fate to have been born the oldest son of L. Ron Hubbard. 10 The Sea Org Goes Ashore The "rock concert" and the numerous UNWELCOME mats had left Hubbard frustrated with the Eastern Atlantic. So on October 10, 1974, he steamed towards the Americas. Elena Lorrel tells the story of the final stages of the crossing of the Atlantic: The night we were coming in to America (South Carolina) from Ma- deira, somebody picked up the frantic call from Jane, [Jane Kember- head of the Guardian's Office] on the pier saying, "Don't come in, there are 140 IRS agents waiting on the dock." So we took off for the Bahamas. We berthed at several ports during what was to be almost a year's cruise around the Caribbean. The intention had been to land in America, but since those plans had been foiled, we had to make the best of a difficult situation. In late 1974, in the Caribbean, LRH went ashore and we went to a movie with him. It was a real landmark because it was one of the first times he had been ashore for well over a year. He would get reports from his intelligence people that it was unsafe to go places. He didn't like to hear that, and, when he did, he could get really nasty to be around.... Cathy Cariataki and I knew that the only way to get him in a good humour was to get him off the ship. So we mocked up these dumb photo shoots. And he went ashore and he loved it. He wanted more and more and more. Well, after the Dominican Republic (where we had done a lot of photo shooting) we went to Jamaica. He told me he wanted to shoot stuff to do with the buccaneers. So I had to go off and do research on *The Sea Org Goes Ashore* 113 Henry Morgan the pirate. And one of the pictures that are peddled, of LRH sitting in the open Pontiac with the messengers, is the one we shot at the fort there in Jamaica. Well, I tell you, I almost got knifed trying to get that wouldn't go anywhere unless he had a convertible. I had to go into the ghetto section and play footsie with Kingfish, who was the local head of the organized crime there. The only convert- ible on the island was also the fanciest car on the island. It also hap- pened to be his car! None of the taxi drivers would take me there. They told me that this guy would kill me for sport. That's how motivated I was. I "made it go right" just so I wouldn't get in horrible trouble with the Old Man. And I don.t know how I kept from getting knifed but we came back with the big red convertible. Anyway we did a ghetto photo shoot where, I swear to God: he was sitting up snapping pictures of these destitute children; and there were hungry angry people with broken bottles and knives coming at us. He'd yell at Liz Gablehouse, "You're the PR, handle them." And he wouldn't even bat an eye, he'd just keep shooting and expect her to handle these huge guys who were coming at us, trying to knife us. There we were in a convertible, in all our glory, sitting on top of this thing like it was a parade. And there were three or four messengers sitting there in their little white tooty fruit outfits handing him equip- ment back and forth lenses and camera backs - and Liz was the PR, and he'd yell at her to handle this guy who'd be there running along the side of the car with a rusty machette trying to whack at us. All she could try to do is say things to them in Spanish or their local lingo, of which she'd learned a few words, in order to try and buy us a few sec- onds while I got Cathy to speed up the car. After that there were more photo shoots and he was going to publish this whole journal. Then Cathy and I sat down and reviewed our situa- tion and said, "God we're really on a roll. The man hasn't been in a sour mood in two weeks and he's constantly asking, "What's the next thing planned ashore?" So now we were at sea headed to Curacao and decided that we would have to mock up as many shoots and get him off the ship. And the people on international management lines realized what a successful action this was because he was being kind to them and the orders of the day were real cheerful and he was not meddling with them and so on. Then we went to this synagogue where, for some reason known only to the Devil, he was just being a spoiled brat. He so alienated the or- thodox Rabbi there that he tried to throw LRH out of the sanctuary surrounding the synagogue. Here was LRH cursing the Rabbi and 114 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE using God's name in vain to such an extent that the Rabbi was holding his ears and just screaming! We placated the poor man after LRH left. The photographs he took there really were spectacular, however. He got some extraordinary shots and we put together a brochure that they still use at that synagogue to this day, as a souvenir. **** The pleasure Hubbard was deriving from these photo shoots did not prevent him from having another heart attack. Since he refused to go to a hospital, X-ray equipment and other medical gear had to be located and brought aboard. Finally the condition got very serious and Kima Douglas, who was medical officer at the time, with the assistance of others took him, off the ship, driving him to a hospital on the island of Curacao where he received treatment. For three months following his treatment, Hubbard stayed at a Cabana-type bungalow, which is part of the Hilton Hotel there, re- covering. As he began to regain mobility and strength, more photo shoot mis- sions were undertaken on the island. As it had been in the Mediterra- nean, however, so it was to be in the Caribbean: the ship was being expelled from the various ports where it sought refuge. Finally the decision was made to attempt to relocate on the mainland. Homer Shomer, a successful businessman attracted to the lofty stated ideals of the Sea Org, says: The actual moving to Florida was the best kept secret that I knew of. One of the last places we were in was Curacao and we were there for a number of months. The shore story was that we were refitting the for- ward lower hold for berthing. We'd actually spent 20 to 25 thousand dollars getting it refitted and painting it and chipping it, and welding the air shafts. And we really had no intention of ever using it! In October of 1975, the ship sailed to Freeport in the Bahamas and the crew was divided into three groups: The management group was flown to New York City, where they established a management unit called RONY (Relay office New York). It was located on the fifth floor of the N.Y. org. A second group went to Miami, and a third to Washington, D.C. The remaining crew travelled by bus from wher- ever they landed to Daytona. Here they gathered in a motel on the beach. *The Sea Org Goes Ashore* 115 Hubbard flew in from the Bahamas to Miami airport with three aides. One carried a million dollars in cash. They all carried passports giving false names. He took up residence in another hotel on the beach, next door to the one his crew were occupying. Mary Sue Hubbard and her entou- rage arrived a short while later. Wrote Tonja Burden: The boat was sold sometime in October 1975. Approximately 500 peo- ple moved to Daytona Beach. We rented several hotels in Daytona. After several months we moved to the hotel in Clearwater. At first, LRH called it the United Churches. I heard LRH scheme this cover. He said it would be called United Churches, although no other churches were involved. At Fort Harrison, I remained LRH's personal messenger. I observed LRH control the operation of Scientology throughout the various "orgs" worldwide from Fort Harrison. I coded and decoded messages to, and di- rectly from, Hubbard. He used approximately 15 codes at this time to conceal his operations, programs and policies, which he disseminated worldwide. I personally delivered messages concerning Operation Snow White, and Operation Freakout, Operation Goldmine, and other Scien- tology secret and illegal operations to frame people, steal, infiltrate pri- vate and government offices, and break into buildings. At this time I was only 15 years old and did what I was told, and although I knew the names of the operations I did not know the exact nature of those operations. I also filed these operations in Hubbard's personal filing cabinets. "Operation Goldmine" was a local Clearwater operation. She de- scribes it as a "conspiracy to use Scientology funds to, in effect, take over the city of Clearwater." TONJA: All telex communications were processed through his messengers. Telexes were sent to all Guardian offices Worldwide. One telex from LRH questioned Mayor Cazares' background. He discovered this in- formation through a private investigator. In just one of the operations conducted against the mayor, the Guardian's office faked a hit-and-run accident implicating Cazares. Then they leaked the incident to his political opponents. Following this "hit and run accident" a church memo gleefully crowed: "I should think the mayor's political days are at an end." The 116 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE operation did in fact cause considerable havoc for the mayor, but was eventually resolved as part of a subsequent F.B.I. investigation. **** About this same time, Hubbard was being fitted for several suits of clothes when the tailor, who happened to be a science fiction fan, rec- ognized him and asked him if he was in fact the L. Ron Hubbard. He fessed up. The man was ecstatic and very proud to have shaken his hand. The tailor then went back to Tarpon Springs and told everyone he knew about his exciting afternoon. This story was soon picked up by the St. Petersburg Times, and staff reporter Betty Orsini discovered that Hubbard was indeed living in Dunedin. She blew the Scientology cover and exposed the fact that they were the real group behind the "United Churches" purchase of the Fort Harrison and various other buildings in Clearwater. The deception was not appreciated by Mayor Cazares, who initi- ated hearings regarding the Church's activities. Hubbard took off in the middle of the night. Jim Dincali and Mike Douglas accompanied him on a trip to Washington, D.C., by car. They took out an apartment and occupied it for the next five or six months. **** Being located on land, as opposed to the ship, posed certain prob- lems. Actions had to be taken to maintain the kind of control over the crew that a ship's environment had previously provided. The Rehabilitation Project Force was reinstated with some novel adaptations to the new environment. One such adaptation was the "RPF's RPF." This was for those who would not "comply" or do the RPF. Those on the RPF's RPF in Fort Harrison in Clearwater report be- ing locked in the lower boiler rooms to live among the piping, to have to clean the filthiest areas of the property, and to being guarded against "blowing" (trying to escape). According to eyewitness reports, the RPF's RPF in the lower boiler rooms was a nightmare. Dimly lit, with hot steam pipes running every- where, the subject slept on the floor on a blanket. The boilers ran day and night, clanking and rumbling. After a few days, one looked like an animal, depraved and de- graded. Soot, dirt, grease and grime were everywhere. Inmates were *The Sea Org Goes Ashore* 117 instilled with a deep fear of violating a senior's orders. These staff were programmed to be machine-like producers whose function is not to think, only to comply...to carry out orders. Tonja Burden wrote: At the Fort Harrison, security guards were stationed outside to pre- vent people from "blowing." To "blow" meant to leave Scientology. People were not allowed to just leave Scientology. Approximately 30 or 40 people tried to escape. These people were caught and placed in the RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force). The RPF was a Scientology "concentration camp," where people who were "security threats" were kept under guard. The RPF at Fort Harrison was in a storage area. LRH declared the people suppressive persons if they escaped from Scientology. He sent telexes to the Guardian's office listing the SPs. I have seen the names of people declared by LRH. I continued to de- code and code messages from Hubbard to the Guardian's office seven days a week until August of 1977. In August of 1977, I refused to perform a certain order and was sent to the galley, where I performed menial labor until I broke apart emo- tionally and was sent to the RPF on direct orders of Hubbard. Finally, in November 1977, I decided I had to escape. At approxi- mately 4:30 A.M., I stole the keys from a guard who was sleeping at the door to the storage area where we slept. I crawled through an air duct on my stomach, where I observed the telephone in the lobby. I saw no one, ran to the telephone, and called my father and told him about my situation. He told me he would send my uncle to come and get me and take me to Fort Lauderdale. I convinced the officers in the RPF that my uncle was a VIP for the Miami Dolphins (which was not true), and that if they refused his request to visit, that might cause bad public relations. Finally, with my uncle's assistance, I escaped and flew back to Vegas. Approximately two weeks after I returned to Vegas, two of Hub- bard's agents came to my house and told me that Hubbard wanted to see me. I told them that I would never return. They then asked if I would go for a cup of coffee with them, which after a short while I agreed to do. I got into the car in the front seat and sat between the two agents. After driving a few minutes, I noticed we were driving to the highway, and I asked where we were going. They told me I was being taken to Los Angeles to see Hubbard. In Los Angeles, I was locked in a room and forced to undergo a "se- curity check" on the E-meter. I was very scared and crying, and told them that I had a family reunion to go to during the holidays. I told them I had relatives in the police department in Las Vegas, and that I would come back after the holidays. I convinced them to release me, 118 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE and I returned home by bus. For weeks after I returned home, they constantly called me to find out when I'd return. I said never! **** Tonja tells of how she got involved with Hubbard and of the events leading up to her sentence to the RPF: I was in Scientology from the age of 13 to age of 18 and was paid between $2.50 a week and $17.50 a week. I received no education, and in fact phony classrooms were set up in Florida to demonstrate to edu- cational officials that education was taking place. I have been sent a bill for the amount of $58,000.00 for auditing given me while I was working for them. I [had] signed my billion-year contract on or about March 3, 1973. My parents joined the "American Saint Hill Organization" while I was placed in the "Cadet Organization." The Cadet Organization consisted of two three story buildings that housed approximately 400 children. It was designed to teach children about Scientology. I was assigned to care, clean and feed the children, since I and an- other girl my age were the oldest there. The living conditions were squalid. Glass from broken windows lay strewn over the floors and, in some places where children played, live electrical wires were exposed. We received little food. On several occasions spoiled milk with mag- gots were served to the children. (The maggots were removed by hand before the milk was served.) In addition to caring for the children, I cleaned the toilets daily. I wrote to L. Ron Hubbard explaining the conditions. Nothing im- proved. The children were not allowed to live with their parents. Scientol- ogy permitted one visit every other week, and only for 45 minutes dur- ing mealtimes. One day after about three months, a man arrived at the Cadet Or- ganization from the flagship Apollo. He spoke of the "Source," L. Ron Hubbard. He told us that Ron needed "messengers" to work for him aboard his ship. After much security checking, Tonja was eventually placed on a plane which took her to the island of Madiera, off the coast of Portugal. Once aboard, I was assigned a "buddy" and given two days to learn *The Sea Org Goes Ashore* 119 about the ship. I was given a berth in the women's dorm and placed in the EPF (The Estates Project Force). I was told the EPF was going to transform me into an "able bodied seaman. In the EPF, my day began at six A.M., I scrubbed clothes from six A.M. until noon without breakfast or any breaks. The clothes were scrubbed by hand in a bucket, and I was directed to rinse each article in 13 separate buckets. Then I hung the clothes on the deck to dry. After a half-hour lunch, I was assigned to clean six cabins. These had to meet white-glove inspection. This meant a white glove or Q-tip was used to check corners and shelves of each cabin for dust. If the cabins were not cleaned to white-glove perfection, I had to run a lap around the boat before recleaning the rooms (the equivalent of 1/5 of a mile). My day ended about midnight. On rainy days I ironed the clothes dry. This required ironing during the evening hours and into the morning hours. On many occasions I ironed through the night and finished at six A.M. I then started washing the next morning's clothing. On occasion, I worked three or four days without sleep. I sometimes fell asleep at the ironing board with a hot iron in my hand. My senior, "Doreen" Gillam, "caught" me sleeping and yanked my head off the board. She ordered me to run laps and assigned me a condition of "Doubt." A condition of "Doubt" required 15 hours of"amends" work. This additional work had to be performed during my sleep or meal time. Until I completed my amends work I was ordered not to communi- cate with anyone. I ate lunch alone. I finally spoke up, telling them I had enough. I was sent to the Commanding Messenger, and she as- signed me one month in the galley, washing pots and pans. I washed pots and pans for a month and went back into the EPF. EPF was like prison. I had to say "sir" to everyone and was generally allowed 15 minutes for meals. They would not let me out of the EPF until I proved myself. I was totally brainwashed to receive and take orders. I was paid $2.90 a week for this work. While in the EPF, I never heard from my parents. No phone calls or letters. Aboard the ship, I received a telex from Peter Albert who was the Continental Justice Chief at FOLO at the Flag Liaison office. The telex informed me that my father had been declared an SP. They said he was a "plant"; a spy within Scientology. I began crying and asked to leave, telling them I could convince my father to return to Scientology. I was not allowed to leave. I then explained that I wanted to leave and reunite with my mom and dad but this was not permitted. Instead I was told to disconnect from my parents because they were SPs. This meant no more communication with them. Tony Armstrong, the Commanding officer, assigned me a condition 120 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE of Doubt and ordered me back to the EPF. So I returned to the six A.M. to midnight schedule again, occasionally working 24 hours a day. Approximately one month after this, I was put on training routines. During the training routines, myself and others practiced carrying messages to LRH. We had to listen to a message, repeat it in the same tone, and practice salutes. "Ghosting" was on-the-job training where I learned how to serve LRH. I followed another messenger around and observed her carry his hat, light his cigarettes, carry his ashtray, and prepare his toiletries. I eventually performed those duties. As his servant, I would sit outside his room and help him out of bed when he called "messenger." I responded by assisting him out of bed, lighting his cigarette, running his shower, preparing his toiletries and helping him dress. After that I ran to his office to check it, hoping it would pass white- glove inspection. He frequently exploded if he found dust or dirt or smelled soap in his clothes. **** Gerald Armstrong and Tonja were both "insignificant" people as far as Hubbard was concerned. But they were to play very significant roles in his life. Gerry Armstrong joined Scientology in 1969 in British Columbia, Canada, and in 1971 joined the Sea Organization. He met up with the Apollo in Tangiers, Morocco, a week after he joined the Sea Org. In late 1974 he became the ship's intelligence officer, a position he held until he left the Apollo. When the crew moved to Daytona Beach he worked there in the intelligence unit of the Guardian's office. At the end of May of 1976 he was sent to Culver City, California, to set up a communications office for Hubbard. In Culver City he got into an argument with Mary Sue Hubbard's communicator (secretary) after which Hubbard deemed him a "secu- rity risk" and had him removed from the property and locked up and guarded for three weeks in the Scientology intelligence office in Los Angeles. Gerry Armstrong wrote in a legal affidavit: After that, he ordered me and my wife Terri back to Florida, to the Clearwater base. There a telex from him awaited us ordering us to the RPF. I spent a total of 17 months on the RPF and was put in charge of it for some 12 months. Tonja Burden was also assigned there. *The Sea Org Goes Ashore* 121 An RPF assignment was an unbelievably traumatic experience. When it happened to me - and I was a grown man - I was so devas- tated that I went into shock that lasted several days, during which time I could eat hardly anything....I was in such heavy grief, my body convulsed uncontrollably.... Shortly after "graduating" I was transferred to the Commodore's Messenger Organization unit in Los Angeles. There I was ordered to retrieve Tonja from her parent's home in Las Vegas after she escaped from the RPF in Clearwater.... On December 14, 1977, my wife and I went to get Tonja back. She was shocked that we had tracked her down so quickly and she was terrified by us. Terri had been her senior for some years in the CMO, and I bad been her senior in the RPF, and we both intimidated her. She said over and over that she did not want to go back. Tears welled up in her eyes. But Terri and I would not be swayed from our purpose. We talked to her mother and father, and intimidated them with veiled threats of what might happen, how it would be better for all if Tonja came back. We also insisted that Tonja coming back and "routing out properly" was the most ethical thing to do. The truth was that our purpose was to get Tonja back, have her sec- checked and get her to sign waivers, releases and promissory notes, so she would be rendered harmless to Hubbard and the organization. Tonja was, in fact, considered a significant threat because she had worked so closely with Hubbard and potentially knew a great deal about his control of the organization and G.O. intelligence operations. After several hours, and still against her will, Tonja succumbed to our tactics, and we drove with her to Los Angeles. There we turned her over to the Los Angeles RPF where she would be sec checked and made to sign the required documents. What I did to Tonja, coercing her back to Los Angeles to subject her to sec checks and forcing her to sign documents and signing myself a false statement against her, was cruel and shameful and only shows the desensitization I had gone through. Tonja was herself brutalized by Hubbard and his organization, yet I perceived her as a "suppressive person" and "fair game," [and so] any act against her, any trick, anything to destroy her, [was] inaudible. **** To the reader of Tonja's story and of the horrors of the RPF, it might seem inconceivable that there was a luxury hotel being ser- viced by the RPF and crew of the Flag Land Base. The occupants of the hotel, mostly well-to-do Scientologists, saw little of the RPFers, and were usually completely unaware of the de- 122 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE grading conditions to which the staff and their children were being subjected. The "public pcs" would fly in from Los Angeles, Zurich, Frankfurt or Mexico City. They would pay the huge fees, play backgammon, swim, sunbathe, listen to tapes by Hubbard, and be given special PR briefings by a smartly uniformed host or attractive PR girls. Diners in the Hour Glass Restaurant, which is part of the Fort Harrison Hotel, were, and are to this day, served by waiters with black suits, bow ties, and crisp white shirts. The talk would usually drift to the great wins each was having in his auditing. The Fort Harrison "Land Base" was a roaring success as the "Mecca for Technical Perfection." Celebrities and well-to-do Scientologists (and those who sold houses, blew their life savings or inheritance, or who borrowed the necessary dollars) began arriving in large numbers. 11 "I Let Him Undress Me Without Resisting" In 1975, while Hubbard was staying in Washington, D.C., another location was found for him in California and he moved there. It was known as ASTRA, and was located in Culver City, California, which is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area near the Airport. This location of Hubbard's was part of a three-part telex network designed to disguise the fact that Hubbard was very much in commu- nication with the Church. It was during this time that he possibly made visits to the seventh floor of the Fifield Manor in Los Angeles, also called the "Chateau Elise." This building was constructed in accordance with the architec- tural style preferred by French royalty when building castles for their stays in the country. It was in its day a favorite hotel of many of Holly- wood's great personalities. The seventh floor was cordoned off and secured as private premises to which only L. Ron Hubbard and his wife had access. According to a sworn affidavit the following events occurred during this period. Heidi Forrester (not her real name) joined The Church of Scientol- ogy in July of 1974, just after having completed her senior year of college. She had read a science fiction book by L. Ron Hubbard, and had become curious about a book called Dianetics, the Modern Sci- ence of Mental Health advertised in the back of the book. She wrote for the book and received it shortly afterwards. 123 124 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Fascinated by the claims made by Hubbard about enhancing crea- tive and perceptive talents, she responded positively to a call by a Sea Org recruiter who mentioned he had received the card she had sent in for more information. As she tells it: The next day, July 16, 1974, I went to the Columbus Airport and caught a flight to L.A. I arrived at seven r.M. I took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel and waited in the lobby. Ron Noe, the recruiter, arrived shortly thereafter. Dressed in a non-formal Sea Org uniform, he appeared to me to be extremely organized and high powered. We got into his car and drove to ASHO (American Saint Hill Organi- zation) on West Temple Street. Upon arrival, Ron Noe showed me to his desk and I noticed that on every desk was an identical color photograph of Hubbard taken on the bridge of a ship. There were also enormous posters on all the walls of Hubbard in full, formal Sea Org uniform and enormous Sea Org sym- bols painted in gold on many of the walls. The symbol of the Sea Org is a star surrounded by a laurel wreath. In the years ahead I would be given enormous power as a representative of that symbol, and in the end all the power would be taken away from me without explanation. At his desk, Ron Noe handed me a Sea Org contract. I had no trouble with the one million year bit, as most new recruits did, since I had already read that Scientologists believed in past lives. I signed it. It was witnessed by Ron Noe and Gerry Larson [not his real name]. I swore in while Ron Noe stood and saluted me, and I saluted him. He read a twenty-item covenant which I repeated after him. The items consisted of promises all Sea Org members make to the group. I was basically to adhere to all orders given by Hubbard. I was to apply the technology strictly according to his standards. After the swearing in I was taken to the center of the room: "Now hear this: Heidi Forrester has just become a Sea Org mem- ber!" In seconds the entire lobby was jammed with people in uniform, cheering clapping, yelling - it was pandemonium! The ovation lasted a full ten minutes. I was escorted to the registrar, a girl named Dawn Praeger, and signed a check for all the money I had, which was $lj500.00. I was taken to the Hollywood Inn that night by Ron Noe. It was a large red brick building located in the middle of Hollywood. It was not in good shape. I was put into a room with f`our other Sea Org members, none of whom I had met before. After four hours' sleep I had to go back to ASHO. I was told by Ron Noe that I would be going to the ship that night, the Excalibur, a fairly "*I Let Him Undress Me*" 125 large vessel in my estimation, though much smaller than the Apollo I was told. It was used for training Sea Org members in the basics of seamanship. I spent some time on the ship and over the next year became fairly highly trained and audited (at my own expense). Word spread that I was on a fairly high auditing level. This fact, it appears, resulted in my being chosen for some very horrible experiences: I was ruped on orders that had "come down lines"...by a person who fits the description of Hubbard.... It became apparent to me that as a Sea Org member at ASHO, there was a very strong law concerning relationships. Sea Org members did not have any sexual contact with public students or preclears. At ASHO anyway, this law was observed rigidly among the staff. An inter- pretation of the S.O.'s feeling about sex with public persons was that the S.O. was "above" such activities. We were so "elite," that sex with the public would "spoil" our control over the public. However, there was no law preventing S.O. members from having sexual contact with other S.O. members. In fact, this was expected if one had been with the S.O. for an appreciable length of time. Marriages in the S.O. were common.... I could never understand the amount and frequency of "swapping partners" in the S.O. This went on constantly. One week two staff would be married (in a Scientology marriage cer- emony) and then the woman would become pregnant. A few weeks later she would marry another Sea Org member, have the baby and then marry another S.O. member and so on. When a couple married they would obtain a marriage certificate from city hall, but it meant nothing. It was all done as part of a "shore story" to keep legal prob- lems relating to marriage from reaching the S.O. If a couple wanted to divorce, they just broke up. There were never formal divorces in the S.O., they didn't have to get permission from anyone to end their relationship. There was never much property to divide between them anyway. The offspring of these "marriages" went to Pumpkin School, Apple School, and the Cadet Org to be indoctrinated with Hubbard's tech- niques so they didn't become problems to the Organization. I observed all this during my first year in the S.O. It bothered me. Here were all the staff, supposedly ethical people, who were all- knowing about humanity, busting up relationships all the time. I independently decided that I would have no sexual contact with anyone in the S.O. I totally suppressed my own sexuality. and decided I would not play that game. **** 126 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE In late 1975, I was told to report to the Hubbard Communications office. The senior officer there at the time, informed me that I was to report to the Fifield Manor and go to the seventh floor. She gave me no other information. I did this without knowing why I was going. At the Manor, I was directed to the elevator and went to the seventh floor. The entire floor was elaborately furnished to the point of suffoca- tion. An S.O. member appeared and showed me to a door that was partly open. I went into a very large living room with heavy curtains, pile carpet, overstuffed chairs and clean to the point of obsession. Sitting on one of the chairs, drinking what looked like sherry, was a heavy-set older man. He had reddish grey hair, slightly long in the back. He was wearing a white shirt, black pants, black tie, and black shoes, highly polished. He didn't say a word and slowly got up, motioned me to allow him into the next room. I didn't know if it was Hubbard, and wondered if I was to have ei- ther an auditing session or an interview. I followed him. I found myself in a lavish bedroom. This still didn't worry me as sometimes interviews and sessions were held in bedrooms at the Hol- Iywood Inn for staff. There was small table set up with an E-meter on it and again I thought about a session. Without a word he suddenly began to undress me. I was repelled by him. I did not want to sleep with him. Yet, I felt really chilled and cold to the bone at that moment. I acutely sensed real fear and danger in the room. In an instant I realized the calculated power coming from this person. If I resisted I knew that my punishment would be extreme. His eyes were so blank, no emotion, no interaction, nothing was there. I made the decision to not resist no matter what happened. I real- ized it would be a bad mistake for me to do so. He seemed to be com- pletely divorced from reality. He was so strange that I realized that if I provoked him he could be extremely dangerous. I let him undress me without resisting. I was totally unprepared for what happened next. He lay on top of me. As far as I can tell he had no erection. However, using his hand in some way he managed to get his penis inside me. Then for the next hour he did absolutely nothing at all. I mean noth- ing! After the first twenty-five minutes I became about as frightened as I "*I Let Him Undress Me*" 127 have ever been in my life. I felt as if in some perverse way he was tell- ing me that he hated me as a female. I then began to feel that my mind was being ripped away from me by force. That was the worst of all. I really felt he "coveted" an aspect of my personality and he wanted it. This was weird, total control on a level I could not fathom at that time. I had no idea what was happening.* After half an hour I really thought I was going crazy. I couldn't move my body from underneath him, and I could feel he still had no erec- tion. He wouldn't look at me, but instead kept his head averted to the side and just gazed into space. I had to discipline myself to keep from screaming because I felt I was having a nervous breakdown. Then I got the terrible thought that he was dead. He was hardly breathing. Then I thought he would kill me too. My thoughts became very morbid. After an hour he got up and walked out. I just lay there for ten minutes. Then mechanically I got dressed. Instantly after that I began crying hysterically. I cried and cried and cried. I wasn't afraid of becoming pregnant. I was so afraid of whatever had been going on in this man's head. Finally when I couldn't cry anymore, I went downstairs and took a bus back to ASHO. [American St. Hill Organization] I didn't say a word to anyone. **** Months went by after this. I got my period on schedule which made me feel a little gratified at least. One night I was working late. Gerry Larson, who was now the dep- uty C.O., came into my area and asked if I wanted a ride back to the Inn. This seemed a little strange as he was a senior officer, OT7, Native State, class 7 auditor; but I accepted. On the way in the car he asked me if I had ever fallen in love sexu- ally in the S.O. I said "No." "I think that's true," he said, "because you are much too powerful theta-wise to be controlled." When we got to the Inn we went up in the elevator together and as I was about to get off at my floor he said he needed to talk to me. I said "O. K." as he was an officer and I thought a friend. Also he was married.... We went to the eighth floor of the Inn into a little bedroom. He sat *This sounds like a form of "spiritual vampirism," a kind of "Black Sex-Magic." 128 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE on the bed and started talking about eight being the symbol for infinity and the highest level of OTness. I thought that was interesting, but couldn't figure out why he was telling me this. "Ron works in eight-year cycles," he said. "You were born in the eighth month of the year (August). Orders had come down lines that you are to conceive a child." he said. This really shocked me. "I can't tell you who sent the order," he said. "Your abilities are such that the Sea Org needs you to have a baby." Without another word he pulled me up, hurriedly undressed me and threw me on the bed. Again I felt the same feeling that I mustn't fight him. He got undressed and for the next hour the exact same performance that had happened to me at the Manor was repeated.... Afterwards I felt ripped apart mentally. As he was getting undressed I couldn't stand it anymore. I was in tears again. I said: "Sir, I can't understand what you are doing to me."' He looked at me and said: "Heidi, you haven't seen the OT materials for OT7 yet, but you know what you are. You are an invisible spirit operating your body. You and I actually live in a totally different universe, far away from this one. This Earth, this galaxy, our bodies are just pictures we are mock- ing up to play and have a game. Sex for a thetan is nothing. It's the postulates and control of mind and body that is the prize. "If I postulate you will have a baby from the viewpoint of my home universe, then you will. You are under my command coming from far away. I can make your body do what I want." Then he left. I was so mixed up. I had been trained to believe everything he said, yet I couldn't believe he had just told me what he had. I felt really defenseless. I cried all night. A month later I got my period. A month after that my senior called me into his room. "Go to ethics!" he said. The "ethics officer" assigned me a condition of treason because I had disobeyed command intention and was not pregnant. I had to do amends for this "crime." After this I never had any other sexual relations in the Sea Org up to the point where I left. It was made apparent that I was a failure in this area. Heidi did her amends. She was put on a special program. She was to eat by herself. The diet consisted of coffee for breakfast, liquid pro- "*I Let Him Undress Me*" 129 tein for lunch, and one piece of fruit for dinner. (She was at the same time put on a running program - three hours a day). This was all she got to eat for several months before finally leaving the Sea Org in 1978, yet she was an officer in uniform - granted more privileges than most. Events that led her to finally leave the Sea Org were described by her as follows (the setting being the Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los An- geles shortly after the Scientologists had moved into it in 1978): ..the ASHO Ethics officer came up to me. He said there was no door on the room where all the OT folders were and that I would have to guard the door for four hours. Silently I followed him to the very bowels of Cedars, the morgue where the folders were. I felt as if I was now dreaming. I couldn't believe what was happening. I wasn't even an OT, yet I had to guard all the OT folders. Let me describe the morgue. It had not been cleaned out. There was the scale for weighing the bodies, the huge stone tables where the autopsies were done. Drains for blood, etc. There were no lights. I was left to sit on a milk crate in the dark, with racks and racks of OT folders all around me. The floor was covered with trash and there was no fresh air. It smelled of death, really stank of death and chemicals and dissection. For the first hour I just sat. Then I realized that it was very cold down here. So I walked back and forth for the second hour. My mind was blank. I knew I could look at all the folders but I didn't care. I couldn't have cared less what was in them. Suddenly, during the third hour I was aware of shadows in the corri- dor beyond me; they were people. Slowly I realized that an entire group of people lived and worked down here. I was so tired it took me a long time to realize who they were. Then it hit me. The Cedars RPF. They lived and worked down here in this stinkhole; this was their org. Then I really found out what had happened to them. Filthy, tired, skeletons appeared before me and started begging to see the OT fold- ers. I thought I had looked bad, but I looked beautiful compared to them. They crowded around me, pushing and shoving, then the mood turned ugly. They started hitting each other to get into the room be- hind me. I realized then what had happened. They had been totally broken. 130 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE They were animals, not humans. I saw four of my friends...fighting to get by me. They were punching each other in the face, pulling hair, kicking. And way down in this cellar no one could hear them, no one cared. Someone suddenly hit me hard. I realized they were turning their anger on me; they would beat me up to get to the folders. I guess in periods of deep stress we all go a little insane. Survival of the fittest. From somewhere inside my brain, strength came.... "Friends," I said, "believe me, I am your friend. By some strange fate I am not with you on the RPF. But believe me if you don't get out of here right now, I know you will be punished. Go now before it is too late." And they ran away into the dark. When I sat down I was trembling all over. Because the real intent of my message had been for them to get out of the hospital. Leave Ce- dars. But I don't think any of them got the message. **** My last week in the Sea Org a dream. One night I was told to go to the basement and stuff letters. I did this in a little room with no ventilation and moisture dripping down the walls. There was never anyone around. I was left alone most of the time at night now. That was their mistake. It gave me time to think. This night I started stuffing my 2,000 letters. The old innocent days of the Sea Org seemed very far away. The idealistic little girl who had come here in '74 with dreams of new-found powers and increased un- derstanding had died.... Far above me the org hummed with activity. Every day someone else like me, gullible and hungry for answers, was being drawn into Scientology. Every day someone joined the Sea Org looking for secu- rity within the group, not knowing the total control of their personality they were handing over. Every day someone was sent to the RPF. These were my thoughts as I stood there. Suddenly I flung the letters down. I needed to walk. Underneath the nine buildings were long tunnels that connected each building. Great steam pipes ran along the sides of the tunnels. It was like being in the engine room of a ship. The public didn't even know these tun- nels existed. I walked for miles, thinking. I knew now that I was going to die: My body was completely emaci- ated, my mind had developed frightening blank periods when I could remember nothing at all. I had very few emotions I could feel any more. Things were breaking down. "*I Let Him Undress Me*" 131 I walked through tunnels I had never been in. Then I heard it. Inhuman screaming and ranting It was coming from my right. There were four doors and someone was pounding on one of them. I ran over and tried to open the door. It was locked. I yelled, "Are you all right?" I got more screams. Suddenly someone touched my shoul- der. I turned and looked at a man in clean overalls. "Hello," he said. "I'm the Ethics officer for the RPF." "What are you doing to her?" I said. "Oh, she's just blowing off some charge. When someone flips out on the RPF, we lock them up for a couple of hours. They calm down after a while." He smiled. I was stunned. "You lock them up in here?" "Sure, you know the tech. The tech always works."* I looked at him. Totally triumphant, with Scientology tech on his side. I felt sick to my stomach; the corridor started spinning around me. So this was it. The final answer. Cold, calculated, step by step progression to stamp out anyone who questioned, rebelled, criticized, disliked Scientology. Break them, all of us. You don't agree, you make a mistake, you are a staff member and you flip out. No mercy - just Scientology tech. Pure Ron Hubbard, turned insane. He was still looking at me. "Sure," I said "maybe she'll drop her body and pick up a new one. She'll get regged again and come back for another try. Death doesn't exist, does it? Suffering doesn't exist either. Only the tech sent from another galaxy." "Wow," he said. "What OT level are you?" "None you'd want to know about," I said. I turned and left him standing by the locked door. *In 1974 Hubbard formulated "tech" dealing with incarceration of "psychotics." 12 Souls Turned Inside Out Quoting from Brian Ambry's critique on Scientology, The Bridge to Total Freedom: "Few of today's membership have met L. Ron Hubbard. To the rank and file he is a huge photograph to be applauded, cheered, and saluted; a god made of ink, paper, and magnetic tape. "They are the denizens of L. Ron Hubbard's official monogrammed universe, who day by day, year by year, strive to be the epitome of perfect mono-mindedness; content, indeed exulted to exist in an in- tellectual flatland, where Ron is Rightness, is Source, is Truth, is The Way. "A place where ministers dress in military uniforms and scream profanities. A place where so much as thinking a critical thought about RON, or doubting the wisdom of the church hierarchy, is an `ethics' offense. "Where a dear and close friend may, at the flick of an `ethics order,' become an evil being never to be communicated with again. "A place of ultimate revisionist history - where forgetting those pieces of the past which conflict with today's official reality, is a key to survival. "A `good Scientologist' is a well-adapted cell living with enforced harmony in the body of his beloved (and feared) Church. "He exists under conditions resembling a kind of `spiritual marshal law.' Restrictions on thought and communication are justified, as the Church of RON works against time to free Mankind, and ultimately the universe, from the forces of evil. "A `good Scientologist' has little or no mind of his own, having *Souls Turned Inside Out* 133 abandoned his own vastly inferior collection of ideas, information, and conclusions for the encyclopoedic MIND that manifests as the books, bulletins, policy letters, and taped lectures of L. Ron Hub- bard. "He knows that RON has `wrapped up' the subjects of philosophy, education, organizational administration, logic, ethics, and spiritual development; it's all been figured out. Thus there is no need to look any further. "People who continue to experiment and originate in these areas, after knowing about Scientology, are called squirrels. A `good Scien- tologist' believes that squirrels are evil beings [suppressive persons] and does everything he can to stop them.* "He knows that any doubts he may have about the rightness of Ron or his Church are caused by his own scandalous mis-deeds of this or an earlier lifetime. He learns to police his thoughts, which are always accessible to the Church authorities via the E-meter. "A `good Scientologist' does not question Church authority, for to be a citizen of the `World of the Totally Free' is to obey. "And even though he is completely subservient to the organization, he regards himself as the elite of Mankind, viewing non-Scientolo- gists as inferior beings:'raw meat,''wogs' and `homo sap.' "How does one become a `good Scientologist' or, as I prefer to call it, a RONDROID? "Usually it starts out innocently enough.... "The overriding message of the early Scientology writings and lec- tures is that Scientology's mission is to bring about increased awareness and ability. `All I am trying to get you to do is look,' said Hubbard. `The solution to any unwanted condition is to view it thoroughly.' "The message is simple: Truth frees. "`Scientology is knowledge,' he said. `That's all Scientology is. The word SCIENTOLOGY means KNOWLEDGE. That's all it means. SCIO means KNOWING IN THE FULLEST SENSE OF THE WORD...But this is the same word as DHARMA, which means KNOWLEDGE, TAO, which means THE WAY TO KNOWLEDGE BUDDHISM, which means THE WAY TO KNOWLEDGE.' "In his writings he stresses that communication is the key to knowl- edge and, thus, is the essence of Scientology: `When in doubt com- *A common sight in Scientology organizations are posters that exclaim "Stamp out Squirrels" and "Wanted Squirrels Dead or Alive!" 134 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE municate; more communication not less is the answer'; and, `Commu- nication, and the simplicity of communication alone will take man from the bottom to the top...' "To someone newly involved in Scientology this may seem a very enlightened message indeed. If he then reads a few of the `basic books,' he will, among other things, come across some innovative rewordings of certain Eastern and various Western and Middle East- ern magical and mystical doctrines and practices, and rewordings of the writings of the founder of General Semantics, Count Alfred Korzybski.* "If he reads Dianetics he may be impressed by a reworking of abre- action therapy*' and - again, and mostly - General Semantics. "(Whatever Hubbard's character flaws, however unbecoming his actual motives were, and regardless of the monstrosity his Church has become, he did act as a clearing house and relay point for beneficial information originated by others - which of course he claimed to have originated himself. But also he did, himself, originate or develop pos- itive material in the fields of psychotherapy, parapsychology, and `hu- man potential; material that needs to be sorted out from his nega- tives, falsehoods, tricks, science fiction, and hyperbole.) "Being unfamiliar with Korzybski's work, and in most cases know- ing little of Eastern disciplines or the Western and Middle Eastern mystical and magical tradition, a new student of Scientology may be- gin to view with awe the man who is proclaimed the sole SOURCE of ALL this fascinating material. AUDITING "If you've ever sat down with someone and let him tell you his problems - get it off his chest - to a point where he felt better and, perhaps, even realized something about the situation which resulted in improved ability or willingess to deal with it, then you've been an `auditor.' "Auditing basically means `to listen.' It can also involve assisting an- *Probably better known than Korzybski is former California Senator S.I. Hayakawa, who initially gained public attention while a Dean at San Francisco State during the student uprisings during the sixties. Hayakawa, a student of Korzybski, has written a number of books on the subject. General semantics and Korzybski's brief biography are covered later in Part II, Chapters 2 and 10. **Abreaction is essentially the process of bringing to the surface, or becoming conscious of, that which had been buried or "unconscious." See Chapter 2, Part II. *Souls Turned Inside Out* 135 other to look at the external environment of the world at large, and the internal environment of his thoughts and feelings, so as to im- prove his communication with these things, in the direction of greater mastery and freedom. "According to Scientology theory there are in the mind a great many outdated `answers.' A person goes through life largely unaware of these old `answers' while, unconsciously, being the effect of them. These `answers' or `solutions' might be described as `old program- ming' operating not unlike hypnotic commands, imposing upon the individual undesired conditions, including pressures, fears, obses- sions, and psychosomatic ills. "In most Scientology auditing one is asked a question and invited to look for these outmoded, undesirable `answers.' The idea being to bring to the surface and analytically examine already existing `an- swers,' consisting of fixed, and uninspected, decisions, agreements, or computations. "This is done, usually, until there is a new realization regarding the particular area being addressed at that time. "In auditing an individual may find himself recalling incidents from early childhood long forgotten, putting past upsets into a new per- spective and laughing about them, feeling brighter and lighter and more himself. In short, he may be very impressed with his newly dis- covered space-age religion. "While this is happening he will be receiving approval, validation, and acceptance by the membership. "Inevitably he'll read about Scientology's aim of `a world without crime, insanity, or war...where Man is free to rise to greater heights.' He'll be told that Scientology makes available, for the first time, unimaginable spiritual power, and that the Church is the only route to immortality. It is explained to him that he is on `The Bridge to Total Freedom.' "He will also come to understand that without Scientology a being is doomed to what amounts to eternal damnation. "He will, somewhere in the course of these events, make a LEAP OF FAITH: `If what I experienced (in auditing or by reading books) was good then it all must be good...'THIS MUST BE THE BRIDGE TO TOTAL FREEDOM!' (Of course there are those whose conversion is based mainly on the fear of, the threat of, Scientology's Hell.) "Once the `leap of faith' is made the person goes from being inter- ested in Scientology to being IN Scientology." 136 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE A quote from Language in Thought and Action, by S.I. Hayakawa, describes part of this phenomenon well: VERBAL HYPNOTISM First, it should be pointed out again that fine sounding speeches, long words, and the general AIR of saying something important are af- fective in result, regardless of what is being said. Often when we are hearing or reading impressively worded sermons, speeches, political addresses, essays, or "fine writing," we stop being critical altogether, and simply allow ourselves to feel as excited, sad, joyous, or angry as the author wishes us to feel. Like snakes under the in influence of a snake charmer's flute, we are swayed by the musical phrases of the verbal hypnotist. If the author is a man to be trusted, there is no reason why we should not enjoy ourselves in this way now and then. But to listen or read like this all the time is a debilitating habit Brian Ambry continues: "THE HIDDEN BRIDGE" "Even pampered celebrities and wealthy "paying public," while being spared the crude methods designed to degrade and dominate - such as the Rehabilitation Project Force - are yet subject to the more subtle `Hidden Bridge.' "Most Scientology auditing is aimed at and does, if applied cor- rectly, remove stale `programming.' This is undesirable unconscious programming. The idea, it would seem, is to free the person to do his own Programming, to be the boss of his own mind. "What isn't realized is that, while the old programs are being de- leted, a new Rondroid Program is being inserted. This is a gradual affair. One agrees, then agrees to a little bit more, then a little more, and so on. "(Fortunately this `program' doesn't permanently `take' on every- one, and that is one reason why there are former Scientologists. But it often requires many years to realize what is going on, and so snap out of it. Of course, many never do snap out of it.) "For example: "Joe realizes through auditing that he has been in his father's `va- lence' (identity) all these years. Now he is free of it and can be him- self. What a relief! He had unconsciously adopted his father's man- nerisms, habits, prejudices, and general outlook on life. And since his dad happened to be an anti-semitic hypochondriac who never knew *Souls Turned Inside Out* 137 what to do with his hands and was certain that all women were no good, it's hard to argue that freeing himself of these traits is somehow bad. "What Joe doesn't realize is that the Church of Scientology has a new `valence,' a new identity, new habits, prejudices, and outlook waiting for him. And they are those which, for all practical purposes, will be adopted by him just as unwittingly as were his father's charac- teristics. "So he gradually loses his old enforcements and inhibitions, only to have them gradually replaced by a collection of official Church of Sci- entology enforcements and inhibitions. "He was told, initially, that he could become the master of his own universe; but as it ends up, he finds himself swallowed up by the uni- verse of the Church of Scientology. Typically, and this is the great tragedy, by the time the process is complete, he doesn't know the difference. "This is the other Bridge, the Hidden Bridge, the hypnotic Bridge. The one that sneaks up on you bit by bit. It is the Bridge leading to Total Agreement and Total Compliance." Ambry concludes. SOULS TURNED INSIDE OUT While auditing is presented as the only road to total freedom for the individual, having "withholds" from an auditor or Church officials is presented as the primary barrier on that road. Withholds are, broadly, anything one is not willing to tell someone else. The practice of withholding during auditing is seen as anti- communication and thus a barrier to "case gain." Confiding one's withholds to a close friend or other trusted individ- ual, such as a counselor, rabbi, minister, priest, or even the local bar- tender, is a time-honored tradition in society at large. There's a flip side to this coin, however: The disclosure of withholds under duress, to further the aims of un- scrupulous individuals, can be very damaging indeed. In his book Thought Reform and The Psychology of Totalism Dr. Robert J. Lifton describes how the Communist Chinese used certain psychological tactics to establish their control over populations and prisoners. Three key methods were described, a: "Milieu Control" (which are environmental mechanisms for control similar to those so graphically 138 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE described in the "Brainwashing Manual," Chapter 8), b: "Mandatory Confession" (dealt with in this chapter) and, c: "Loaded Language" (which was Hubbard's specialty - also covered in the "Brainwashing Manual" chapter). Withholds extracted under physical torture is an extreme example of damaging "confessional techniques. A less dramatic example of this is confessions elicited under threat of physical pain or other harm, i.e., coercion or blackmail. The threat can be direct or very subtle. Hubbard preferred the subtle kind of coercion, but would get openly rough at times. One example of the subtle kind: he wrote that a person who has withholds cannot achieve the state of clear. A Scientologist hearing this - with "clear" being the prerequisite to the god-like state of Operating Thetan - realizes he must tell all, whether it's anybody's business or not. Beginning in the early sixties Hubbard put great emphasis on "pulling withholds" (getting a person to tell all). Getting off one's withholds became an obsession among Scientolo- gists. "He/she's got overts and withholds," is still the most common ac- cusation heard. While actual auditing relies for its benefits on the human communica- tion skills and the caring of individual auditors, Hubbard was not averse to advising coercion if things got sticky. In a 1965 bulletin, Hubbard says of the "unchanging preclear": We've cracked them for years and years now but not by being patty- cake or "slap my wrist." Takes an AUDITOR, not a lady finger. Mister, you've been wasting my time for three sessions. You have withholds. Give!...Mister, you refuse once more to answer my question and you're in for it. I've checked this meter...you've got withholds. Give!...Mister, that's it. I am asking.. for a Comm Ev on you... A "Comm Ev" (Committee of Evidence) is a Scientology "Court" which was originally presented as a fact-finding body in the tradition of British and American jurisprudence. In fact it became perverted into being mostly a rubber stamp for arbitrary executive decisions to kick staff off their posts or to declare Scientologists "Suppressive" and expel them. These committees are greatly feared. Hubbard goes on to say: *Souls Turned Inside Out* 139 If skill couldn't do it, demand may. If demand couldn't Comm Ev sure will. (An extreme in the area of forced confession is the "gang bang security check," where as many as five angry and accusative individuals interrogate someone who is attached to an E-meter.) Hubbard knew exactly what he was doing by enforcing confessions. He firmly believed that confession which is not absolutely voli- tional is damaging to an individual; that when a person's ability to hold back communication, selectivity at his own choice, is impaired, his IQ is lowered. He understood that, when a person is coerced into confession, his ability to maintain his own viewpoint is weakened. Consequently he gradiently loses his sense of individual identity. Yet, while being fully aware of this, he created an organization ded- icated to enforcing full disclosure of all withholds; withholds to which he and his closest intelligence agents had full access. (Kima Douglass, Hubbard's closest assistant for five years during the seventies, told of how Hubbard would often angrily order pre- clear folders of those he suspected were against him to be culled for overts and withholds, to be used against them.) The fact that Hubbard was aware that coercion to "get withholds off" is damaging to people is revealed in a bulletin, dated 15 January, 1958. Here he asserts that the selective "ability to withhold" is a posi- tive ability. He wrote: Now the first question the minister would ask would be, "Think of something you could withhold from _______ (person)." Now one of the discoveries that led to that question is that divulgence and confession had nothing to do with raising anybody's IQ or improving his case. [Emphasis added] It wasn't the fact that he confessed it or divulged it but the fact that he erased it [that gave the benefit]. "Erasure" is a word used by Hubbard to denote the complete erad- ication of the negative influences (or "charge"*) of some traumatic event. This is achieved by viewing that event exactly and by having the person re-live it over and over in his mind, until he sees the event "as-is" and recognizes how and why the event had badly influenced his thinking and behavior. *The harmful energy or force accumulated in the reactive (subconscious) mind. 140 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE So what he is saying here in 1958 is that it is the fact that the person confronts for himself exactly what happened that is of benefit to him, not the fact that he confesses. He goes on to say, It is the ability to withhold communication which advances IQ and makes a person feel better, not the ability to divulge it. We;e been told all our lives that all we had to do was go to somebody and confess. If we were to confess to our mothers and fathers that we did those dirty, nasty little things we would feel much better. It isn't true. You probably only felt better to the end of getting your pants spanked. This is an enforced communication...It interrupted your self-determi- nism on the subject of your communication. He clearly expresses the idea that one should be able to withhold communications and actions responsibly, at one's own choosing. On the other hand, at one's own choosing, one should also be free to com- municate freely the full truth of something. This advice echoes his earlier dictum, "Do not give or receive com- munication unless you yourself desire it." Yet only two years after saying all this, he went on a campaign of "security checking" everyone in sight. It became a crime of some magnitude to not divulge all one's withholds to an auditor. Very much enforced communication. Security checking involved using the E-meter as a police tool to check whether staff, students or pre-clears were "security risks." Such questions were asked as: "Have you ever accepted money for sex? Have you ever been unfaithful to your spouse? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever had anything to do with pornogra- phy? Have you ever been a drug addict? Have you ever been in- volved in an abortion? Have you ever had intercourse under the influence of drugs? Have you ever done anything you are afraid the police may find out? Have you ever done anything your mother would be ashamed to find out?" and many more such questions. Oh, yes, he knew what he was doing! The purpose was to intimi- date people, and discourage any critical examination of himself, his writings and organization. Extensive micro-fiche files of withholds (in this case, past disrepu- table deeds) of Scientologists all over the world were kept at Saint Hill Manor in England. It is probably true, as Hubbard said, that when a person feels he cannot withhold from a certain person, his IQ lowers with regard to *Souls Turned Inside Out* 141 that person. That, perhaps, explains why so many of his follo seem so unbelievably dense on the subjects of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. THOUGHT CONTROL A Scientologist is heavily indoctrinated into the idea that if he finds himself being critical of Hubbard or the Church or its executives, then the very fact of his being critical is proof positive of the fact that he himself is harboring undisclosed dirty deeds. This is a highly effective tool to "introvert them like a bullet," as Hubbard phrased it. In other words, a person notices, for instance, something actually wrong with Hubbard and he immediately has his attention boomeranged right back at himself. So instead of pursuing his examination of Hubbard he finds himself introverting into him- self, and often paying (400 dollars an hour or more) to have his with- holds pulled! Meanwhile Hubbard's errors and crimes are safe and sound, his image of infallibility intact. THOUGHT CRIME In George Orwell's 1984, Big Brother watched people's facial fea- tures by means of closed circuit TV cameras and, if anyone didn't seem genuinely pleased with the propaganda announcements being made, actions were taken to brainwash them. The lack of appropriate expressions betrayed "thought crime." In Scientology the probe for dissension goes deeper: Hubbard and his agents are able to probe the actual thoughts of their followers - via the E-meter - during confessionals. "Souls turned inside out," he told Ron Jr. in Philadelphia in 1952. He meant it. It is noteworthy that when somebody can look into your thoughts, giving you no option for privacy of consideration and opinion, some devastating things occur. This is especially so if you are (or consider that you are) dependent upon the approval of that somebody or group for your continued well-being and very survival as a spiritual being.: It is one of the inalienable rights that one be free to think whatever one wishes. It is also one's right to choose for oneself what is true for oneself. Also, while there are exceptions (the IRS for instance, has its own ideas on this), it is generally left up to the individual in a free society to select what he or she decides to communicate to others. 142 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE When one loses these rights, the only remaining defense becomes to actually change one's thoughts to conform with the acceptable "think" of the individual or group which has violated the sovereign territory of one's mind. One gets into the habit of thinking "right" thoughts and self censoring "wrong" thoughts. When some group, with the power to harm an individual, has full access to his thoughts, overriding his power of choice, that individual no longer has the option of rejecting any of the actions, mores, or con- siderations of the group. In Scientology one can no longer have a critical thought about Hubbard. For example: "Have you had a critical thought about L. Ron Hubbard?" is a question commonly used in security checking. If a Scientologist persists in having any critical thoughts about Hubbard, he will be penalized. As a consequence he learns to think only good thoughts about Hubbard and his Church; to never think critical thoughts about him or his Church and to censor out or "write up" (report to Church policing authorities) any criticisms he hears. This inability to select the thoughts one chooses without fear of re- taliation causes a person to become stupid on a given subject, there no longer being any option of safe objective analysis, based on a de- tached personal appraisal of the facts involved. This situation is similar to that existing in other dictatorships which have large spy systems and use torture and duress to get people to confess their own and other's "crimes." In these countries it is also imposed on people that they should squeal, even on their family and friends. And, like other dictatorships, the "custom" of writing re- ports, even on one's own spouse or parents, has long been enshrined in Scientology policy. In contrast, it is one of the fundamentals of the legal systems of civ- ilized societies that thoughts, by themselves, cannot be held against an individual. A person is sovereign in his own mind. One has the right to think freely and no civilized court has jurisdiction to interfere with that right. It is only when thoughts are translated into actions (or when they are communicated in the form of witnessed or documented plans to commit criminal actions, as in conspiracy), that legal penalties are re- sorted to. Investigation into alleged crimes must be conducted within a cer- tain set of guidelines according to the Bill of Rights in the U. S., which proscribes "unreasonable searches and seizures.'' In other words, the *Souls Turned Inside Out* 143 rights of the individual are carefully balanced against the rights of so- ciety for protection against any individual's crimes against it. Evi- dence from lie detectors is inadmissible in court in most cases, and police have to gather their evidence within a severe set of guidelines. These principles are blatantly violated by the Scientology "confes- sional," as practiced by Hubbard's Church. In the Church's confessional an individual's mind is opened up with the aid of the E-meter and with false representations that his revela- tions will be kept strictly confidential. (To be fair, the auditors usually believe that it is confidential and are usually oblivious to the fact that their written notes may be perused by the intelligence arm of the Church.) **** The kind of thought control described in this chapter is greatly aided by the fact that the E-meter does appear to expose to the practitioner those things which the person holding the cans (electrodes) finds difficulty facing up to. The needle of the device does appear to react when the mind's eye scans near those things. And as this occurs a com- petent auditor gently prompts "that," "there," "that": coaxing the sub- merged mental picture or idea into full view in one's mind. The same E-meter needle reaction will continue until the person fully faces up to whatever he is repressing. It is very impressive to most people, when they first get auditing, that the auditor can apparently discover what they are thinking. They find it sheer magic that they can dredge up considerations that they have had in the distant past, but have long since forgotten. Most who have experienced auditing will tell you that the meter assisted them in the process of bringing to light, and discarding, old false and fixed ideas which had been affecting their lives negatively. The meter, they will say, helped them bring these ideas to the sur- face, thus allowing re-inspection of them, enabling them to realign their thinking in a more optimum fashion. There was, they will claim, an increase in self-confidence and newfound abilities. The E-meter is a tool, as are the actions of basic auditing. They can be used as tools to help others. This is the positive side. Or they can be used as bait, to lure another into a trap. And, violating the essence of what auditing' was proclaimed to be *Auditing is also known as "processing" as one "runs processes," that is, asks questions, applies a procedure. 144 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE all about, these tools can be used, in an authoritarian environment, as weapons to harm, intimidate, and subjugate. All this was well known to Hubbard. And he used or abused these things as he saw fit, choosing to use "black" or "white" Scientology entirely at his discretion as to whether or not either aided his objec- tives. "Black Scientology," whether used on individual Scientologists or an outside "enemy," is to be kept hidden. "White Scientology" is to be promoted like crazy. This principle is similar to Hubbard's more openly stated policy about keeping intelligence and PH separated. "PR is overt," he wrote. "Intelligence is covert. "Threat and mystery are a lot of the power of intelligence. Publicity blows it." Hopefully with this book, the "threat and mystery" of black Scien- tology will be blown. **** Shortly after Ron Jr. left the organization in late 1959 "because of his overts and withholds," his father made an appeal to all Scientolo- gists in an official technical bulletin. He urged them all to assist in a new project designed to bring about a "greater group" than has ever before existed. All Scientologists were to.... "1. Get off your own overts and withholds, and "2. Urge other people to get off theirs." He asks that each make "a full list of present lifetime overts and withholds...signed and sent to HCOWW [Hubbard Communica- tions office World Wide]." He continues reassuringly: That these files exist in my personal possession should make it effec- tively impossible for anyone to try to use this information. (Emphasis added) (Ron Jr. was spilling the beans all over the place and Hubbard, it seems, had to know what others knew about his dark secrets. But that was only a small part of it....) Some time after Hubbard set up the Guardian office in the mid- sixties, the practice of keeping extensive dossiers on people, includ- ing records of withholds from their pre-clear folders, was expanded. *Souls Turned Inside Out* 145 On December 15, 1969, Mary Sue Hubbard put this practice into official - albeit secret - policy, addressed to "all Deputy Guardians for Intelligence." The "Guardian Order" sanctioning this practice was numbered GO 121669 MSH, and dealt with "Internal Security." It contained a "Major Target" as follows: To use any and all means to detect an infiltration, double agent or disaffected staff member, Scientologist or relatives of Scientologists, and by any and all means to render null any potential harm or harm such have rendered or might render to Scientology and Scientologists. Under the heading "Vital Targets" it states: To establish intelligence files on all such persons found to be infiltra- tors, double agents, and dissaffected staff members, Scientologists and relatives of ScientologiSts. Under the heading "Operating Targets": To make full use of all files of the organization to affect your major target. These include personnel files, Ethics files, Dead files, central files, training files, processing files (emphasis added), and requests for refunds. To assemble full data by investigation of each person located for pos- sible use in case of attack or for use in preventing any attack and to keep files of such. There is a note in the text of this order which advises that those following the order "be effective and imaginative in your collection of data and in your actions to nullify any attack or threat of attack." Mary Sue also notes that the program is a "continuing one regard- ing which projects will be issued from time to time." This order was followed, over the years, to the letter. **** L. Ron Hubbard had some major problems with government and various mental health groups and other private institutions during the late sixties, especially in the U.K. Apparently his inclination was, at that time, to "pull their with- holds," to find out what they knew but weren't telling. During the latter part of the 1960s he had achieved some success 146 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE with Guardian's office intelligence agent infiltration of some of these organizations. With these wins fresh in his mind, he wrote up his "Snow White" program in 1973, while living secretly in Queens, New York. This program was designed to handle certain U.S. Government Depart- ments and Interpol (perceived at the time as the biggest thorns in his side), once and for all. The title "Snow White" signified the concept that these agencies would be snow-white clean of all withholds once Scientology intelli- gence was done pulling them. 13 Snow White and the Scientology 11 (or Hubbard's Watergate) The first I heard of it, there was a shrill call from a friend who was on staff in Los Angeles. It was July 8, 1977. A raid by some 134 FBI agents, armed with sledge hammers and crowbars, had been launched early that morning on the Sunset Bou- levard "complex" in Los Angeles (formerly Cedars of Lebanon Hospi- tal). Other raids were conducted simultaneously at the Manor (Cha- teau Elise) nearby, and at the Washington, D.C., organization. They had carted away thousand of boxes of confidential materials, "including pre-clear folders," I was told. We were called that night into the Fifield Manor (Chateau Elise) for a special briefing by the PR people, Heber Jentzsch and Vaughn Young The mood was feverish when we arrived despite Heber Jentzsch's inevitable jokes equating the FBI with the Nazis. The FBI's search warrant was going to be challenged in court and those seized documents would never be made public. They would see to that. The press quickly responded to the raids, and were generally sym- pathetic to the Scientologists. Columnist James J. Kilpatric blasted the FBI, calling the agents "klutzes": "What troubles me is the sheer crushing power that our Gov- ernment can bring to bear when it chooses. Even if the Scientologist prevail in the end, they will have been put to stunning legal expenses. 147 148 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Their normal operations will have been disrupted for months. And all for what? Is the FBI's purpose prosecution or persecution?" I couldn't understand why the FBI would raid a church. This was es- pecially so later, when it was explained to us by Church representatives that all that the Church could in any way be held guilty of would be steal- ing Xerox paper from certain government offices. I never doubted the sincerity of Scientology's intentions behind the outpouring of anti-FBI literature, much of which was legitimately criti- cal of abuses within that organization, which subsequently poured out of the Church Guardian's office. This was just another example of the abuses by this FBI gestapo organization against a church. It took me a few years to get a fuller story of the events and person- alities that had culminated in this raid, a watershed event in the his- tory of Hubbard's adventures. It took me even longer to learn that when the news hit, Hubbard was holed up in La Quinta, near Palm Springs, along with Mary Sue Hubbard and the top brass of his secret service elite of the Guardian's office. Operation Snow White had backfired. What did Operation Snow White consist of, and why had it gone so wrong? Interestingly enough I first learned some of the key facts from read- ing a book by Omar Garrison, commissioned by the Guardian's office. This book glorified the adventures of the "intrepid" G.O. "freedom fighters," despite the fact that it essentially admitted the illegal na- ture of the acts concerned. This was after all a Church which had been subjected to extreme government attack and dirty tricks. The book was in fact titled Playing Dirty. Wrote Garrison about operation Snow White: It was a super-secret operation that would be unimaginable to most people. A government official remarked in awe that it would have done credit to the intelligence service of a major country. Hubbard's G.O. agents had pulled off an amazingly successful cam- paign of infiltration of numerous government and private agencies. *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 149 Besides accessing and copying voluminous government files about Hubbard and his church, they had also placed disinformation into various files. (Oddly enough, among the files stolen were those on then California governor Edmond Brown Jr., Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, singer Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and others.) It was not till 1980 that I actually read the account of Michael Meisner, a key player in Operation Snow White. I read a document prepared by the FBI. This was a thick legally worded account of events that had led to the raid. The information had obviously been compiled mainly from the testimony of Michael Meisner. By that time Mary Sue Hubbard, and other top Guardian office officials, had stipulated that the information in it was true. This stipulation was part of a guilty plea, which ended the trial pro- cedure, a procedure which could have embroiled Hubbard in the le- gal maelstrom. Protecting him was the prime consideration, even if it meant certain jail for the others. Years later when Hubbard was asked in writing, by a Rocky Moun- tain High reporter, what his part had been in the Snow White Affair, he replied: I learned about it like everyone else, after the fact and could only shake my head in dismay. I was never involved in any of the incidents to which you refer and even governments and courts recognize the fact and actually my name has never come up in connection with it beyond the passing mention that I founded the Church. Quite the contrary. The FBI had in fact labelled Hubbard an "Unindicted Co-conspirator." **** Project Snow White began to be implemented in early 1974 when Jane Kember, Mary Sue Hubbard's immediate junior, titled "Guard- ian for Life," issued a written order (Guardian Order 1361) declaring full-scale war on the IRS in the United States. The overt "weapons" in the war were to be litigation in the courts and a public relations campaign. The covert "weapons" were to be the penetration of the IRS Intelli- gence Division, the IRS Special Services Staff, and the Chief Coun- cil's office, by "covert G.O. operatives" (Scientology spies). 150 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE The targets of all this spy activity by the Scientologists were, ini- tially, the IRS offices in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles and also London, England. MIKE MEISNER'S STORY Mike Meisner was a 20-year-old student at the University of Illinois at Urbana in November of 1970 when he was introduced to Scientol- ogy by a friend. During the next two months, he took several courses at the Urbana Church of Scientology franchise. In January the following year, he left the University to become a full-time course supervisor at the fran- chise. In May he was sent to the Church of Scientology in St. Louis where for the next eight months he was trained to become an auditor. After returning to the franchise and continuing his duties as a supervisor for a time, he assumed the position of Executive Director of the fran- chise. In mid-May of 1973 he was recruited for the Guardian's office and moved to Washington, D.C., with his wife Patricia, who also joined the G.O. He was taught that the intelligence bureau, which he was now a part of, deals with safeguarding the environment within which Scien- tology exists, by removing and rendering harmless all those perceived to be enemies of Scientology. (In other words, implementation of the Fair Game Law had been entrusted to this group.) This was accomplished, he was taught, by infiltration, theft of docu- ments and covert operation. Wrote Gerry Armstrong: B1 [the intelligence Bureau] was created by L. Ron Hubbard who patterned it after the intelligence system developed by Nazi spymaster Reinhart Ghelen. Following weeks of training in G.O. procedures and policies in D.C., Meisner was sent to Los Angeles for intensive on-the-job train- ing in the "Intelligence" Bureau there. He was taught that strict adherence to the chain of command within the organization was of paramount importance. He was taught how to place agents in organizations targeted for *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 151 infiltration, how to steal documents, and other overt and covert intel- ligence gathering techniques. In November of 1973 he returned to D.C. as head of intelligence, where his duties included obtaining personal information about and "handling" Scientologists who were dissident or disaffected. In January of 1974, Mike Meisner was promoted by Jane Kember (Guardian World Wide) to head Bureau 1 in Washington, D.C., mak- ing him responsible for all intelligence operations in the area. On November 21, Jane Kember wrote a letter to Henning Heldt headed: "Re Interpol Washington." In it, she informed him that the Guardian's Office had "some documents illegally obtained, that indi- cate Interpol Washington was in touch with Interpol Paris, London. ..." (Emphasis added by the FBI) She added: "We know that Wash- ington, D.C., has police files on LRH...and Interpol Washington has a file on LRH as well." Hubbard had apparently become convinced that Interpol was be- ing used to disseminate negative materials about him to various coun- tries, resulting in the difficulties the ship and various Scientology Or- ganizations were running into. Later in the letter Jane Kember directed, "It is important that we get cracking and obtain these files and I leave you to work out how." In late summer of 1974 Meisner was instructed to recruit a covert operative to infiltrate the IRS in D.C. Gerald Wolfe was selected. He eventually got a job at the IRS as a clerk-typist. He was code named "Silver. " While he was settling into this job, other agents were infiltrating IRS offices in Los Angeles and London. All documents relating to Hubbard, Scientology, etc., were or- dered to be photocopied. Mike Meisner met with his superior, Don Alvarazo, who showed Mike the bugging devise he had brought with him from L.A. The same day Mike and another G.O. operative entered the main IRS building seeking to find out where a meeting was to be held a few days later. They subsequently placed the bugging device in a wall socket of the targeted room. Don Alvarazo and two other agents waited in a car nearby and over- heard and taped the "big pow wow about what to do about us." Duke Snider (Meisner's superior) wrote a letter shortly afterwards saying "We must be careful with this transcript [of the meeting] as even in the distant future in the hands of the enemy the repercussions 152 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE would be great. There are new laws on this federally, and a strong post-Watergate judicial climate." Meanwhile Gerry Wolfe, as a plant in the IRS, was not an instant success. He let his superiors know that he was unable to obtain the documents he had been ordered to find and copy. So Mike Meisner and his co-agent, Mitchell Herman, entered Gerry's workplace to demonstrate that it was possible to get the docu- ments. They went to the seventh floor of the building and took a Sci- entology file from the filing cabinet there. It was taken from the building photocopied and returned the next day without detection. Following that "achievement" there were many others. By December 4, 1974, Wolfe had sent off two shipments of docu- ments to G.O. headquarters in England, each about "ten inches thick. " Gerry Wolfe continued searching the files of various offices on his own while Mike Meisner oversaw the operation and organized the Xeroxed materials mailing to his superiors. During the first five months of 1975 alone, the documents located by Gerry Wolfe and photocopied totalled some ten feet in height. After it was discovered that many of the files they were looking for were in the offices of Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Dodell, plans were made to gain entry there also. It was deemed necessary that Meisner also obtain an IRS I.D. card such as the one Wolfe had obtained as part of his job. In order to obtain one, Meisner and Wolfe entered the main IRS building after hours, using Wolfe's legitimate I. D. Then, using one of the tools of the burglary trade, they forced open the door to the room where the I.D. equipment was located. Using a flashlight, Wolfe picked up four blank I.D. cards (two each) and typed in fictitious names. They then took turns photographing each other's images onto the cards. Badge numbers were taken from a log they found in the room near the equipment. Subsequently, five other Scientologists followed their example, making similar counterfeit cards. On May 25, 1975, Mary Sue wrote a letter to Jane Kember. It states: Our overall strategy with the IRS shall be as follows: 1. To use any method at our disposal to win the battle and gain our non-profit status. ...(Emphasis added) *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 153 Hundreds of Scientology agents were placed in a variety of govern- ment and private organizations during this period. **** It was well known to the Scientologist C.O. hierarchy that what they were doing constituted breaking and entering and was therefore a felony. It was also known that to use the government equipment and paper constituted theft, and was a felony. A letter from a legal researcher to top executives in the G.O., which was later found dur- ing the FBI raid, spelled out the law on these matters. Meisner and Wolfe regularly briefed their seniors on their activities. AN ORDER TO PROTECT HUBBARD AT ALL COSTS LEADS TO COMPLICATIONS Events leading up to these complications were as follows: On April 4, 1976, a Scientology case, in which the Church was suing for documents regarding the Church withheld from them by the government, was in progress. An apparently insignificant discus- sion occurred between the judge and the government attorney. This exchange was destined to create major consequences.... The judge asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Dodell if he had considered taking Hubbard's deposition (i.e., had he demanded Hub- bard be present to testify)? "It is an interesting thought Judge Hart...." responded Dodell. "Why don't you take his deposition?" asked Judge Hart. "I will certainly relay that suggestion..." responded Dodell. Alarm bells were set off by this exchange. Hubbard's safety was paramount, and he would have been notified immediately of the dan- ger. Hubbard would then have immediately alerted his G.O. execu- tives to handle "terminatedly" any threat to him! (This panic reaction was, I believe, most likely what eventually led to the FBI's uncovering of Operation "Snow White.") In response to this brief colloquy in court, a project was precipi- tated by G.O. executives: a complete investigation was to he done re- garding Judge Hart, and Dodell's office toas to he penetrated to moni- tor his intentions regarding deposing Hubbard. So Mike and Gerry entered the U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C., at around four P.M. and went to the third floor to locate 154 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Dodell's office. It was located in a highly secured area. Finding the door locked they unsuccessfully tried to break in. A few days later Gerry phoned Mike from Dodell's office. "Dodell's secretary left her keys on her desk!" he enthused. He had used them to get into Dodell's office. They met and then located a locksmith where they got duplicates of some of the keys. At about seven P.M. on May 21, Mike and Gerry returned to the Courthouse. They entered in the usual manner with Mike using his "John M. Forster" I.D. "We're going to the library section to do legal re- search," they told the security guard. Apparently approval was given and they were issued an elevator key and proceeded to the third floor where they signed the library log using the fake names on their I.D. cards. At the first opportunity they left the library and went to Dodell's office where they gained entry using one of their keys. They copied all the documents they found. A week later, Mike and Gerry again went to the Courthouse and went through the same procedure to gain entry. This time, however, they entered the library through the back door without signing in. They used their duplicated key and this time collected more docu- ments relating to Scientology and also some relating to the FDA and D.C. police Department, and photocopied them nearby the office on government equipment. As they were returning through the library to Dodell's office with originals, they were stopped by the librarian. "Did you sign in?" he enquired. When they said "No," he had them do so. "You are not to return to this library unless you have specific au- thorization from the regular librarian," they were told. Then they returned the originals to Dodell's office and left the building. A few days later, the night librarian Charles Johnson and a Security Guard got around to notifying the United States Attorney's office that two individuals who had in their possession IRS I. D. cards had been seen using the photocopying machines in the U.S. Attorney's office on the previous Friday evening. *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 155 Both Johnson and the guard were instructed to immediately con- tact the FBI if the two returned to the Courthouse. Meanwhile another G.O. project was begun called "Project: Target Dodell." Its purpose was stated to be to "render Dodell harmless." Hubbard wanted any threat to him stopped. So, in line with this project, Mike Meisner was directed to return to Dodell's office to steal personal files in order to devise and formu- late a court operation to remove him as Assistant United States At- torney for the District of Columbia. So, in furtherance of that operation, Mike and Gerry again went to the Courthouse on June 11, 1976. Entering at about seven P.M., Meisner signed in and they pro- ceeded to the library and showed the night librarian the written per- mission which they had earlier received from the head librarian. When they went to Dodell's office there were cleaning ladies doing their chores there, so they returned to the library and acted like re- searchers while they waited for the cleaning crew to vacate. Meanwhile the night librarian contacted the FBI. Two FBI agents arrived while the two were still waiting in the li- brary. They demanded to see their I.D. cards Mike presented his card and told them that he had since resigned from the IRS. While one FBI agent continued to question the two, the other went off to contact a U.S. Attorney. "We're here to do legal research," Meisner told Agent Hansen. "We used the photocopying equipment to photocopy legal books and cases." He gave her, as his home address, an address a few doors away from his actual residence. After fifteen minutes of questioning Mike Meisner asked, "Are we under arrest?" No, they were not under arrest, was the response. "Ok, let's go!" he said to Gerry. Agent Hodges saw them leaving, and called to them. "Agent Hansen told us we could go," Mike replied. After leaving the Courthouse they walked a couple of blocks to make sure that they were not being followed, then caught a cab to Martin's Tavern Restaurant. From a nearby public phone they called their superior in L.A. and told him the details of their misadventure. 156 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE After another couple of calls, Mike was told to leave the next morn- ing on a flight to Los Angeles. THE COVER-UP On the plane Mike wrote up a detailed report of the previous day's Courthouse incident. When he arrived in Los Angeles, his report was turned over to Henning Heldt (Jane's junior and head of the G.O. in the U.S.), and a full description of all the events was, shortly thereafter, sent to Mary Sue Hubbard. The crisis was analyzed and a tentative plan was adopted to contain or stop the investigation. A shore story was devised for Gerry Wolfe should he be arrested. Another story was worked out for Mike. One which would support Gerry's. The highest priority, recognized by all parties, was to prevent the FBI from making the connection between the two and the Church of Scientology. It was argued that if Wolfe allowed himself to be arrested, and gave the proper cover story, then the investigation could, be contained. Then following Wolfe's plea of guilty, Meisner would surrender, give the same story as Wolfe and also enter a guilty plea. This plan had a good chance, he proposed, of terminating all FBI investigation with little or no connection to Scientology being made. Heldt approved this plan. A cover story was devised: the whole thing was "a prank that had gone sour." **** Gerry Wolfe, who by now had also arrived in Los Angeles, was drilled on the story and assigned an attorney to aid him through his arrest. On June 30, 1976 Gerry Wolfe was arrested in the main IRS build- ing by FBI agent Christine Hansen. He was charged with the use and possession of a forged official pass of the United States. He was re- leased on his own recognizance, pending a preliminary hearing. In a letter dated July 1, Mary Sue wrote: He: Mike and the FSM" [FSM = Field Staff Member: Gerry Wolfe] From an investigative point of view it was really too easy for the op- *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 157 position. All they had to do was to trace back the common entry [sic] points of the log back for both Mike and the FSM [Wolfe] until they arrived at the point where the FSM used his correct I.D. card. She urged that she be kept informed as to what happened to Wolfe. In response to that request, she received two letters. In one she was told that the prosecutor had been informed that Gerry's I.D. was all a lark gone sour, and that Wolfe had been instructed not to go any- where near the Church of Scientology; the writer felt it was still possi- ble that there would be a minimal punishment for Wolfe and no con- nection made to the Church. When the case came up for preliminary hearing, a U.S. Magistrate found that probable cause existed and ordered the case "bound over the action to the Grand Jury." A few days later a warrant for the arrest of Michael Meisner was issued for use of a forged official pass. Mary Sue responded to the discovery that the FBI was onto Meisner: Wonder how they got onto him? On getting him abroad, unless you have good ID for him different from his own, it might be dangerous. He would better be "lost" in some large city where it would be difficult [sic] to find him. What a shame. Meisner was moved to a series of different motels. Meanwhile there was a lot of communication going back and forth to and from Mary Sue regarding how best to proceed. In late September, FBI Agent Hansen requested the Church of Scientology to provide her with examples of Meisner$ handwriting. Meisner was told that it had been decided that false examples would be given. THE FRUSTRATIONS OF MICHAEL MEISNER A few weeks later Meisner expressed concern for his wife and par- ents and complained that he was being kept almost totally unin- formed of G.O. actions in the ongoing cover-up. He was assured that he would be kept informed in the future and that Mary Sue Hubbard was concerned about the situation; anything he wanted to express to her would be sent directly to her. He wrote a letter to Mary Sue in which he said: 158 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE In my opinion, no matter what story we use, the longer we wait to implement it, the less believable it will be and the more...the gov- ernment will be inclined to believe that the Church is behind it. Meisner was audited three times a week after this, but despite this, towards mid-March, he began to become upset at the lengthy delays. By late March he wrote Henning Heldt demanding that he take a more active role because the delays were "becoming intolerable." By April 27 (almost six months after he first hid out), Mike was again upset about the slowness of events and Weigand was notified that Meisner now intended to "leave for either Canada or D.C. Satur- day." The next day Mike's auditor Jim Fiducia and two G.O. executives visited him to persuade him against leaving for Canada or D.C. on his own. Mike, however, was adamant that he would leave unless the Wolfe situation was handled promptly. "HERB" GETS ROUGHED UP Heldt informed Mary Sue of the situation with "Herb" (Meisner) and that he was ordering the Information Bureau to "arrange to re- strain Herb and prevent him from leaving, and to guard him so that he does not do so." When Meisner was told that from that day on he would be placed under guard, he hotly responded that there was no way he would ac- cept any guards. He also complained bitterly that the whole situation had been mishandled by the G.O. and that this fact had resulted in his becoming a fugitive. The guards were placed there anyway. He was next visited by a top G.O. executive who warned: You will no longer be permitted to make demands and threats on the Church. You are to become a decent, co-operative, contributing part of the venture and nothing else will be tolerated! He and the guard searched Meisner's apartment and removed any evidence that might have connected Meisner to the Church. The meet- ing concluded, according to a report, "with the guards in charge. " At six r.M. on May 1, three Info Bureau Agents and two body- *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 159 guards visited Meisner and told him he was to be moved to another apartment. He refused, and threatened to cause a commotion if forced to do so. The two guards handcuffed him behind his back, gagged him and dragged him out of the building. Outside they forced him onto the back floor of a waiting car. Dur- ing the trip in the car one of the guards used his feet to hold him down. At the new apartment, still in Los Angeles, three guards remained to secure him. He was prevented from leaving for the next three weeks. During this time he determined that it was best to co-operate with his captors, and he corresponded with Heldt to ask his help in having the guards removed. He also accepted auditing. On May 13, Wolfe entered a plea of guilty to a one-count indict- ment charging him with the wrongful use of a Government seal. Mike was informed of this and by the third week of May, partly due to his co-operation, his watch was relaxed and his guards began to take him out of the apartment, for short periods. It was at that time that he was shown a written G.O. program: It had been decided that Meisner could not surrender to the FBI until the IRS had granted the Church of Scientology of California its re- quest for tax-exempt status. This contradicted previous assurances made to him, and so alienated him further from the Church. He didn't complain, however. By the end of May he was guarded by just one person. One day when he was out with his guard he escaped by jumping into a taxi. He went to the bus station and caught a bus to Las Vegas. He knew of a motel there that even he could afford. He needed time to think about his predicament. He was still committed to Scientology and didn't want to leave the organization precipitately. After a night in Las Vegas, he called Los Angeles and asked to speak to Heldt. Heldt pleaded with him to return to L.A. and the G.O. He initially refused but agreed to meet with Info Agent Douglas the next day in Las Vegas. He was eventually persuaded to return to L.A. to speak with Henning Heldt, and they met at Canter's Restau- rant. Heldt assured him that both L. Ron Hubbard and Mary Sue were working on his case and would do everything to help him. "You will have to continue to be under guard" he was told. But he should consider the guards his friends not his enemies. He agreed to 160 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE remain in the G.O.; but later described the situation as an "armed truce." THE SENTENCING AND PERJURY OF "SILVER" Almost exactly a year to the day after their fateful confrontation with the FBI in the Courthouse library, on June 10, Wolfe ("Silver") was sentenced to a term of probation and was required to perform one hundred hours of community service. This was a major victory for the Scientologists. The relief was to be brief, however: Immediately following his sentencing Wolfe was served with a subpoena to appear that same afternoon before the U.S. Grand Jury which had been investigating the entries into the U.S. Courthouse. It was one P.M. and the Grand Jury was attempting to identify the person or persons who had caused and conspired to perpetrate the violations. They wanted the real reasons why Mike and Gerry had penetrated the security system on June 11, 1976. A Grand Jury member asked the question: When did you first come to know that the D.C. Bar Association had a library on the third floor of this building2 A: I don't remember the exact date. Q: Why did you want to come to the library? A: To study. Q: To study what? A: To learn to do legal research. A: Why did you want to learn to do legal research? A: Well, I was planning on going back to Minneapolis to complete or further my studies in music and I thought that in addition to clerical skills that I had that if I could learn to do legal research that I could perhaps get a better paying, more interesting job to help pay for my school. Q: How did you propose to learn to do legal research in the I).C. Bar library? A: Someone was going to teach me. Q: Who was that someone A: John Foster. A: You only knew him by John Foster? A: Right. There were other questions, and all of Wolfe's perjured answers forwarded the shore story that had been pre-arranged. *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 161 **** After his appearance before the Grand Jury, Gerry went straight to the Church of Scientology where he was debriefed by G.O. officials. Excerptions of that debriefing entitled "Silver Hearing and Grand Jury," went, according to the routing marked at the top left-hand cor- ner of the document, at least as high as Mary Sue Hubbard. On June 13, Meisner was visited by Heldt who had him read a handwritten letter from Mary Sue. In the letter she warned him that if he escaped again he would be on his own. MIKE ON HIS OWN The fact is that by this time Mike had decided that if the watch over him were ever relaxed he would immediately leave the Guardian office, surrender to federal authorities, and co-operate in the ongoing investigation. He was feigning co-operation in the hope that the guards might be removed. This tactic worked. By the evening, after the agent left with the positive report about Mike's state of mind, he was no longer guarded at night. The following Monday at six A.M. he took a few clothes and left the apartment, took a couple of different buses to elude any potential tail the G.O. might have placed on him, got off the bus randomly and placed a call to United States Attorney Gary Stark in Washington, D.C., and told him that he was ready to surrender. He was told to stay where he was and wait for the FBI agents to arrive. After his surrender, he was sent to Washington, D.C., to meet Stark. He agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge which carried a five-year prison penalty, without any condition except that he co- operate with the Grand Jury investigation. He was placed in the pro- tective custody of the Marshal Service. Meanwhile Heldt was informed: "Herbert was found missing to- day. "A note had been found from him stating that he would call in a week and that he was not going anywhere he could be located, and that there was no further purpose in discussing his motivations. It was speculated that he was hiding, probably somewhere in Los Angeles, doing legal research regarding possible defenses in his case. All documents that could connect him with Scientology were re- moved from his apartment and fingerprints were carefully wiped out. 162 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Mary Sue was alerted. All libraries in Los Angeles were ordered to be checked to find if Mike was in any of them, and all incriminating documents in the Guardian's office were placed in the "Red Box."* The G.O. received a letter on June 29th from "Herb" postmarked San Francisco: I know you don't understand what's going on, but I still need time to myself. I'm making enough money to get by on so there's no problems. I'11 be in touch in a couple of weeks. Herb. Unknown to them, the letter had been prepared by the FBI, to allay G.O. suspicions while they readied their raids on Washington and Los Angeles G.O. headquarters. Mary Sue did sense something wrong, however. She wrote to Heldt: I frankly wld [would] not waste Bur1 [intelligence] resources looking for him but wld instead utilize resources to figure out a way to defuse him shld [should] he turn traitor. On July 4th a warrant was signed by Judge Henry Kennedy. It al- lowed the FBI to conduct a search of the Church buildings in D.C. Another warrant was issued in Los Angeles. So at six A. M. on the morning of July 8, 1957, FBI agents arrived at the Scientology G.O. establishment to conduct what was, according to Omar Garrison's book, the largest such raid ever in U.S. history. Another raid was conducted, almost simultaneously, in D.C. Mike Meisner qualified for the Witness protection program. *"Red Box", is explained in a document (seized during the FBI raid of the Church, precipitated by Meisner's testimony). This document orders: "All the Red Box material from your areas must be centrally located together in a removable container (ideally a briefcase), locked and marked." Appended to that document is the "Red Box Data Information Sheet." This sheet answers the question, "What is Red Box Data?": "a) Proof that a Scnist [Scientologist] is involved in criminal activities. b) Anything illegal that implicates MSH, LRH. c) Large amount of non-FOI docs [Non Freedom of Information Documents ille- gally obtained]. d) Operations against any government group or persons. e) All operations that contain illegal activities. f) Evidence of incriminating activities. g) Names and details of confidential financial accounts." *Snow White and the Scientology 11* 163 **** While they fought it off in the courts for almost five years, the fate of the 11 was sealed. They were headed for jail. This scene, exposed by Michael Meisner, would also have enor- mous ramifications in Hubbard's life. His moves to protect himself from becoming embroiled in criminal proceedings were destined to open up a Pandora's box of new prob- lems for him. 14 Freaking out Paulette Among the materials that the FBI seized from the Church of Scien- tology was a sheet of paper headed "P.C. Freakout." It detailed a pro- gram to have Paulette Cooper, a New York journalist who had written a book entitled The Scandal of Scientology, incarcerated in prison or a mental institution. Her book included an interview with L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., and re- vealed Hubbard's connection to "Black Magic" and Aleister Crowley. This was the first time these subjects had been broached in a book. Hubbard determined - evidence indicates - to stop the book and to intimidate other writers and publishers. Paulette Cooper had, prior to the raid, been facing charges by the FBI that she was guilty of felonies. She had been framed by Hub- bard's Guardian's office. The documents, seized by the FBI, finally proved this conclusively. In regard to the government infiltrations of the previous chapter, Hubbard's agents might be seen by some to have been a Scientology David taking a sling shot to a government Goliath; but in this project they could be seen as a Goliath gleefully crushing a David underfoot: A sadistic bully. Paulette Cooper testified `about these events in 1981, to a hearing on Scientology by the City Council in Clearwater: My basic interest is as a writer; I like investigative things.... I went in and took their weekend course. During the time, I wandered away from the group where they were teaching the particular, well, TRs, as they call them, and I came upon a list of people, who - I don't remember for sure if it was a Fair Game 164 *Freaking Out Paulette* 165 order, but I think it was because these people were being declared en- emies of mankind. I remember one woman's name was on there.and it declared her an enemy of mankind for pushing five men down a flight of stairs. And how could she do that? It just didn't ring true. And I decided to contact some of these people when I came home. And I think I took about five names, the five top people, and every one of them had an unlisted number, disconnected phone. Well this was in 1968, and the people Scientology was attracting were twenty-two, twenty-three years old. And just by chance, a whole group of people are not going to have five unlisted numbers unless there's a reason for people to unlist their number. So, it began to bother me that, you know, was this so-called respect- able Church perhaps harassing people? And in that one weekend, I had noted that they had lied about certain things, and I wondered about a church lying to people. And I decided to look in the library and see if I could get any information, any book. And I discovered that all the stories had been clipped out of every single magazine pertaining to Scientology and I wondered whether this Church was, perhaps, possi- bly stealing things. Well, I spent the next couple of years doing research into Scientol- ogy. And my first article came out in December of 1969. That's also the month that I received my first death threat. And then a number of mysterious events occurred, both then ` during the time within the next year and a half until my book came (ana I was followed on several occasions; we found a phone tap on ,ut. phone; I was being multiply sued already at that time. Oh, people kept calling me and trying to take me out, and it seemed like people wept trying to get to me. And this went on for four unpleasant years, including four lawsuits, one of which was for somebody else's book. And when that happened, I got really annoyed. And I became the first person to sue them for harassment. It was actually shocking to them because Hubbard had written that an enemy of - that no one would ever sue, that they had too much to hide and that people were criminals (whoever attacked the Church), and, therefore, we were going to just wither away and die.... Well, about October of 1972, they started a big campaign to finally silence me or attempt to stop me. That month I received the second of what was ultimately to be five anonymous, absolutely disgusting smear letters about me. This particular one called me a part-time prosti- tute.... 166 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE During this same period of time, there were a large number of at- tempts to get into my apartment, which was on the ground floor of the building that I lived in at the time; it was not well guarded, and I was quite concerned. I received a tremendous number of really disgusting calls, and I remember one day counting eleven calls.... I finally decided that I was going to move to a higher security apart- ment, even though I really could not afford to do so at the time. I moved on December 15th. The person who took over the apartment was my second cousin. We bore a physical resemblance because we're about the same age and she was very petite, and we both had short brown hair at the time. And a series of mysterious circumstances occurred. The important thing was that she opened up the door to someone who had flowers and rang my bell. And I was no longer living there, although my name was still on the door. When Joy opened the door to get these flowers, he unwrapped the flowers and there was a gun in it. And he took out the gun and he put it at Joy's temple and he cocked the gun, and we don't know whether it misfired, whether it was empty and it was a scare technique, what happened, but somehow, the gun did not go off. And he started choking her, and she was able to break away and she started to scream. And the person ran away. And so she called a detective and he said, "It's a very wild attack because there doesn't seem to be any motive for it." There was no at- tempted rape, there was no attempted robbery, and why should some- body just suddenly try to kill her.... About a week or two later at my apartment, I received a visit from the FBI. And they informed me that the public relations person from Scientology had claimed that she had received a couple of bomb threats and asked - and had named me as somebody likely to send bomb threats. I didn't take the whole thing very seriously, and the FBI asked me if I would mind being fingerprinted. And I said that I would not, and I was fingerprinted. [Later] I was called for a grand jury....I didn't think this was any- thing very serious and did not bother to retain a lawyer, had very little money because I had used all my money to move to this more expen- sive, higher-security apartment. And when I got there, they told me that I was the target of an inves- tigation into the bomb threats. And I went and had to hire a lawyer, and every lawyer wanted - the least we could get was five-thousand dollar retainer, which, in those years, was like paying ten thousand dollars, you know, today. And to suddenly have to pay this sum of money and find out that you're in serious trouble.... *Freaking Out Paulette* 167 Finally, I went before the grand jury, and I tried to answer every question as truthfully as 1 could.... They kept asking me again and again, "Did you ever see this letter? Did you ever touch it? Do you know who might have? And I said, inci- dentally, "Yes," that I suspect they might have confrontations in the press. And they asked me to step outside the room. And when I came knew I was in very serious trouble, and they asked me what my social security number was, whether I was on drugs, and did I realize what I had said so far. And again, they asked me the same series of questions. And they said, "Well, Miss Cooper, if you've never touched this let- ter before, could you tell us how your fingerprints got on it?" I felt like a grand piano had just hit me on the head. I - I fainted sitting up; the whole room just turned upside down and I didn't know what to do. And then, of course, the lawyers wanted more money. And on May - let's see, May 19th, 1973 - I was indicted on the three counts of sending bomb threats through the mail; two counts were for two letters. One was for perjury for saying before the grand jury that I hadn't done it and that I thought this public relations person might have done it. On May 29th, ten days later, I was arrested and arraigned. The next eight months were a terrible, terrible nightmare in my life that I still feel sometimes that I suffer from to this day. I had fifteen years in jail over my head and fifteen thousand dollars in fines. I was petrified about going to jail, more so, perhaps, because of my small frame and the fact that I heard that women's federal prisons were rough places. I risked having my career totally destroyed because - and I had been successful. And as a freelance writer, what editor is ever going to give an assignment to someone who's been indicted or convicted for sending bomb threats to someone they opposed? I was very concerned about the indictment and the trial coming out in the newspapers. The public does not know the difference between indict and convict, and they think that if you're on trial for something, you must have done it or where there's smoke there's fire. I was left with the terrible public humiliation that every person I ever knew in New York would read the details of the trial and these accusations. I was most concerned about my parents, who had adopted me when I was six years old, and how humiliating it would be for them and their friends to have to explain and to go through a trial like this. During this period of time, I went through a terrible, terrible de- pression and a number of my friends, which I can't blame them for, did not stick by me. I was depressing to be with. I had been seeing a man for five years and had intended to marry him, and he left as a result of my depression. 168 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE I was released on my own recognizance. I went through a period of very, very acute anxiety....I couldn't sleep till about four in the morning and I'd wake up about six with my stomach just in my throat and worrying about what the next day would bring and what was going to happen at the hearing. And this went on for eight months, and I was just totally exhausted, sleeping two to four hours a day.... All the money I had had gone to the lawyers, and I went into debt to try to continue to pay for them. The - in the end, just the main lawyers cost nineteen thousand dollars.... I developed, for the first time in my life, acute agoraphobia; I couldn't leave the house. I think that this really started with this at- tempted murder that I felt had been intended for me.... And meanwhile, during this period of time, there was a friend, a new friend, who I met under somewhat mysterious circumstances, but he was very, very helpful. And I obtained an apartment for him in my building, and he did some of the food shopping that I could not get out and do. And his name was Jerry Levin.... The worst period of time was approximately two weeks before the trial. My lawyers informed me that, with a federal case, it was a ninety-five percent chance of conviction. They gave me the good news that, for the trial, they wanted my parents to be seated in the front row and watch the entire proceedings. And I kept saying, "You can't do that to them. It's going to be awful enough for them to read it in the paper."... They felt that one circumstance that might get me acquitted was the mutually close relationship with my parents. On top of that, going through some Scientology material I had ob- tained, there was the name of Jerry Levin. Now, I felt horribly be- trayed, but at the same time I simply did not want to believe it. I was very naive, and his name was a very common name, especially in a city like New York. Meanwhile, we had tried every single move possible to get the trial stopped. And - but I was in a very very nervous state and it was impos- sible for me to be tested correctly. And we went to some doctors who said that they felt the only thing that might work would be...sodium pentathol or "truth serum " So, the problem was we couldn't find a doctor who would give me a sodium pentothal test because, by this time, I weighed eighty-three pounds; I had started at about ninety-eight. And it became very, very dangerous to go and put somebody under, as if for an operation, and do that. And I just said I didn't care if the...sodium pentathol killed me because, if I had to stand trial for what I didn't do and humiliate every- *Freaking Out Paulette* 169 one and go through this humiliation, that I would just as soon be dead anyway. And we finally did find a doctor two weeks before trial who gave me a sodium pentathol test. I was unconscious for seven hours. I don't know what was said during that [time]. I do know that, when I came to, my mother was standing there and I said, "What happened? What did I say?" And she just said, "It's O.K. It's a11 over. There won't be a trial." The government wanted to save face because they don't like to ad- mit that they've made a mistake. So, they said that they...would postpone the trial, but they would not actually drop the charges at that time. The government did not drop the charges and, for two years after all this, I still had to worry on a daily basis whether one day there was going to be a trial and all of these things that I was afraid of, the prison and so on, was going to happen. Paulette Cooper goes on to tell about the harassment she received over the next couple of years. She began to receive copies of a letter she had sent out in her late teens and a copy of psychiatrist's report (that had been stolen from her psychiatrist's office by a Mr. Dardano, while he was an agent for the G.O. He also testified at the Clearwater hearings, having left Scientology by that time). By 1975, the charges had been dropped. In the summer of 1977, the FBI raided the Scientology organiza- tions, based on Michael Meisner's testimony. Paulette continues: On October 12, 1977, the FBI called me. Now, remember, this was a five-year period that I had never been able to prove my innocence; the government considered me a criminal. I had a, quote, record, end quote. And the FBI called out of the blue and said, "We have just received evidence that you were innocent of those original charges." I put down the phone and cried.. **** Paulette Cooper learned from the FBI that the Scientologists had broken into her New York lawyer's office. She finally saw the seized documents at the end of 1979, when a judge ruled 23,000 of them available to the public. Among them were two that made it absolutely clear that she had been criminally framed. 170 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE One document was found that indicated that there had been some consideration of using the mafia against her, but they decided instead to frame her "so that Scientology would not look bad." Another document proved that Jerry Levin, the fellow who had been "helping" her during her worst months, had been "calling a di- ary into Scientology. This included reports as to how close she was to suicide: "She can't sleep again...she's talking suicide. Wouldn't this be great for Scien- tology!" 15 "I Resigned in 1966" - Hubbard, From Secret Desert Command Post Perhaps it could be described as locking the stable door after the horse has bolted, but since there was probably a real threat of a subse- quent FBI raid at La Quinta (a high-class area near Palm Springs), that description might not be fair. Besides later being the location for the production of"educational" or instructional Scientology films, there was, initially, at La Quinta a major project to shred, "vet" (cut out signatures with a razor blade) and burn all documents that could in any way tie Hubbard, his wife Mary Sue, or Jane Kember to the Guardian's office activities, and Hubbard to control of the Church. "Hubbard had resigned in 19GFi," was the "shore story" that had now taken on tremendous importance in the wake of the FBI raids. He was now said to be just a writer in seclusion, who sometimes consulted top Church officials. All evidence to the contrary had to be eliminated. "If it isn't written it isn't true" was his commandment, and it was followed exactly over the years. So all his orders were in written form, as were all communications of importance between his execu- tives and staff around the world. A great deal of this demonstrated his total dictatorial control of his Churches and the Guardian's office. 171 172 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE There was a lot of paper to destroy. "LAND BASES" IN THE DESERT In early 1977, there were some 400 people in La Quinta, posing as the "friends of Norton Karno." Much of the following dialogue describing that era is edited from a taped briefing by John Zegel, who is the step-father of Mark Yeager, a member of the current top "elite" rulers of the Church. John Zegel and Mark's mother resigned from the Church four years ago. Mark disconnected from them, calling them "Squirrels" and "Suppres- sives." His mother had proudly given him permission to"join Ron" in 1973, when he was twelve years of age. John Zegel was in a position of knowing many of Mark's friends, who left the Sea Org concurrently with John's resigning. They related these events to him. His taped briefings became a sort of under- ground "news media" among ex-Scientologists in 1983-1984: On the 15th of July, 1977, a week after the FBI raids, having spent a week conferring with Mary Sue about the matter, Hubbard made a de- cision to leave La Quinta. With him he took Dede Reisdorf, Claire Rousseau and Pat Broeker. They left in a station wagon named "Beauty," in the middle of the night with their lights off. Once they were an adequate distance away they turned their lights on and made their way to Sparks, Nevada. Hubbard was ill during the trip. He was having stomach trouble and this is not a happy time for anybody. Pat Broeker and Claire Rousseau, under assumed names, went out and set up an apartment. The cover story was that Pat and Claire were a young married cou- ple, Hubbard was their elderly uncle and Dede was their cousin. This "family" was almost completely incommunicado for nearly six months. Hubbard was spending time working on his health. He took long walks every morning and worked on the script of Revolt in the Stars, which he envisioned would be made into a major film. It would deal with a "catastrophic interplanetary incident that occurred 75 mil- lion years ago." After they had been in Sparks for a short time, cash was becoming a problem, so Pat Broeker contacted Annie, his soon-to-be wife, in Clearwater. "*I Resigned in 1966*" 173 They arranged for one million dollars in cash to be taken from the Church by Annie. Subsequently, she met Pat in the L.A. Airport where they exchanged suitcases. Each had a matching suitcase, and were disguised in some fashion. The money arrived at Sparks, but they were still uncertain that the money had been sufficiently laundered. So they took the hundred dol- lar bills, which was how the bulk of the money arrived, to the various casinos and broke the money down as it was needed. They remained in Sparks until the last day of December 1977. They then headed back to the Rifle hacienda in La Quinta. Since the filming was now to begin, more property was needed. Two large ranches were located in Indio, California. One was 140 acres of grapefruit and date palms called "Silver," and another 10-acre plot of grapefruit and date palm, with a hacienda called "Monroe." The film crew would eventually live at Monroe, and in the middle of Silver's grapefruit orchards, a huge barn was built, which was actually a film studio. In September of 1978 Hubbard had another major incident with his health. It is unclear as to whether he had a heart attack or a stroke, but it is known that David Mayo, who at that time was senior case supervi- sor Flag was summoned from Flag to La Quinta to audit him. Dr. Gene Denk was in attendance when Hubbard arrived. He pro- nounced him "very seriously ill" with vital signs very, very low. He said that Hubbard's heart was arrhythmic, and he prepared the neces- sary facilities for revitalizing the heart. Hubbard eventually recovered, but remained on heavy medication thereafter, especially blood-thinning drugs. John Ausley tells of some of the events of the period: Hubbard would suddenly, overnight, turn someone of his choosing into Dracula, when in fact they had been an instrumental force in building the entire group. How do you do this? You insult them to the core. And what it engenders is fear in the others. "No matter how big you are, I can wipe you out just like that!" There was this California surfer type. He was a Class Twelve. And he was the type of Scientologist who always wanted to work it out with two-way comm. (He wanted to discuss any disputes in order to resolve them.) He was like one of the inner sanctum. And he was quite a good counselor. Hubbard had this rule that you weren't supposed to mess with the locals sexually, or "public on lines" (customers). Anyway, this guy had decided to get laid. And there was some girl 174 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE he was getting along with. And this was not so esoteric. This girl was in the Sea Org. It wasn't as though he was messing around with a public person or local. She was a tech groupie: she wanted to go to bed with a Class Twelve. So he sleeps with her. Then Hubbard writes this issue and says he's been messing around with public. And makes him the garbage col- lector. It's like Hubbard sat down and figured out what would be the most degrading thing he could possibly do to this guy to defile him in front of his peers. So he collected garbage for a week or two, and he'd occasionally go, rather meekly, "I don't think this is right..." Hubbard had decided to degrade him. He just kind of went for him! He had to prove to everyone that he would sacrifice a Class Twelve for no reason. **** An interesting description of the La Quinta era was one covered in the Riverside Press Enterprise by reporter Dick Lyneis: A Las Vegas woman, who spent a secretive six months in the River- side County desert in 1978 helping Scientology founder L. Ron Hub- bard make movies, said she worked as "slave labor" while Hubbard lived like a king. Mrs. Adell Hartwell said Hubbard had his own home which was sur- rounded by an electric fence and protected by guards. "He had his own valet," she said, "and was always in the company of his `messen- gers' who were teenage girls and he had a motor home, a boat, two Cadillacs, and a Jeep and two girls who drove him everyplace." Mrs. Hartwell, on the other hand, said she often worked long stretches without eating and - along with her husband, Ernest - lived in a "shack" which they said they had to share with a variety of desert vermin. She said they didn't get the promised Scientology counseling and were forced to work 12-hour days, with one day off every two weeks.... Mrs. Hartwell was there from May until October of 1978, while her husband spent only two months there. The entire group, which au- thorities think arrived early in 197f), was gone by last March ['79]. Movie making was the principal activity. Location shooting was done in nearby cities, and Hubbard, who Mrs. Hartwell said was the "producer, writer, director and everything" for the movies, used his Scientology followers as actors, musicians, costume persons, set work- ers, and other movie jobs. An amateur dance team, the Hartwells had been promised that once they got to the production area, which they were told would be in "*I Resigned in 1966*" 175 Florida, they would be trained to act, and their dance talents would be used. Instead she ended up sewing costumes and her husband worked on movie soundtracks. Mrs. Hartwell described Hubbard as being about six feet two inches, and 275 pounds. She said he "dressed very sloppily. He always had one suspender, a cowboy hat, and had a bandana around his neck. He cussed and swore all the time. He used the filthiest language I ever heard in my life." "No one could call him by his name, Ron," she said, "because that was a breach of security. Everyone always referred to him as The Boss." She said members of the group were instructed to notify a Sci- entology attorney in Encino if anyone approached the property and asked questions about their identity and affiliation. Mr. Harhyell said Hubbard got the maximum out of the group, "by controlling everyone by fear and threats of discipline." Discipline, the Hartwells said, took strange forms. "He (Hubbard) got mad at a messenger once," Mrs. Harhyell said, "because she overspent some money on an errand, so they took away everyone's supply of toilet paper for 10 days." Hubbard, who is 69, was looked upon as god-like by the persons there, said Mrs. Hartwell, who admitted he had a "strong influence" on her. "One day he touched me," she said, "and I could just feel a force there that was hard to describe." "His messengers," she said, "were there to cater to Hubbard's every need. The girls would stick cigarettes in his mouth and light them. They had to catch his cigarette ashes. If a drop of sweat was on his fore- head, they had to wipe it off. Every word he said had to be written down by the girls. You can't believe anything if it's not written down. Whenever he appeared people would clap. If it was four in the morn- ing and nobody could see straight, people would clap." The sense of worship that persons within the Sea Org feel for Hubbard, Mrs. Hartwell said, is "almost fanatical." "The feeling among most people there," she said, "was that when Ron Hubbard goes (dies), we are going to go with him." In March of 1979, with Hubbard still staying at La Quinta, a "secu- rity flap" occurred. Eddy WALTERS: One of the major points that put him into deep hiding was when Ernest Hartwell and I went to La Quinta to see him and he panicked. Ernest Hartwell had left La Quinta and returned to Las Vegas 176 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE where he talked to Eddy Walters, who was a counselor at the org there. He described the conditions at La Quinta and his observations and opinions of Hubbard. Eddy was a G.O. staff member who was as hard and dedicated as most of those chosen for intelligence work. But Hartwell's story, since it was messing with his illusions about the founder himself, was disturbing. He wrote up a report of his interview with Hartwell and was almost immediately confronted with a visit from Artie Maren, a very senior G.O. official who had come all the way from Los Angeles to "handle" him. Eddy, who was inclined not to believe Hartwell, now couldn't un- derstand why the fuss. If what Hartwell was saying was indeed the ravings of a crazy man, what was the big deal? Artie was obviously in a huge sweat about this report and begged Eddy not to talk about it or pursue it further. All this made Eddy very curious and, during a subsequent conver- sation with Hartwell, he decided that he and Hartwell should go out and face the Old Man. "Right up to the point where I went out to La Quinta I still believed in him. I still believed that he'd somehow straighten it out. That's why I went out there," Eddy told me. When they arrived, they were "confronted with armed guards and the paranoia was intense." "What he did, instead of confront me, was to run," says Eddy. Eddy couldn't figure out why Hubbard should run from him. "I'd expected that he'd stand up to me. I'd been living in Las Vegas and my motivating idea was that this man, who had so much to give the world, was headed in a certain direction. Now I was faced with the dilemma: if that was the case, why would he run from me?" Eddy Walters was expelled and declared suppressive and the mim- eographed issue, making it official, was already being handed out by the time he and Ernest Hartwell had made the five-hour return trip to Las Vegas. Hubbard fled to a small community about 2O miles south of River- side called Lake Elsinore. There he and his assistants lived in a motor home for approximately a month. The next location Hubbard lived in was a place called "X." "X" was an apartment block in a small town called Hemet. Hemet is the town closest to Gilman Hot Springs. Two apartments were taken there, one in which Hubbard lived, and one for the messengers and the other people who accompanied him. "*I Resigned in 1966*" 177 In October of 1978, another facility had been purchased. It was known as Gilman Hot Springs and included that resort and a motel known as the Massacre Canyon Inn, about 20 miles west of Palm Springs. Gilman Hot Springs included a 27-hole golf course and a va- riety of other facilities. The total purchase price for the properties was 2.7 million dollars and the Church paid for them in cash. Hubbard had huge offices that were renovated and constructed for him at Gilman. He also had a house that was renovated for his use, called "Bonnie View." How- ever, neither of these was ever put to use. **** Dick Lyneis wrote in the Press Enterprise: Church of Scientology activity in Riverside County may be more ex- tensive than its officials acknowledge. Besides its Riverside Mission, the controversial church until early this year maintained a secret mission near Indio where its elusive founder, L. Ron Hubbard, led a group engaged in making church training and indoctrination movies. Additionally, there are strong indications that a group now occu- pying the former Gilman Hot Springs resort, near San Jacinto, may be a Scientology project. Although spokesmen for an individual who says he owns the old re- sort, and officials of the Church of Scientology deny they are con- nected, there are significant links between the desert mission and the Gilman Hot Springs activities. Rev. Heber Jentzsch, of Los Angeles, a Scientology spokesman, said he "has no information" that his Church has any involvement with Gilman Hot Springs. Persons at both locations have been linked to Scientology.... Why the group insisted on so much secrecy, while shooting Hub- bard's movies, could not be determined. But the Church has a record of cloaking much of its activity, including property ownership. In addi- tion, church members, court documents filed recently in Washington reveal, go to great lengths to keep authorities from finding Hubbard because they fear he is being sought by law enforcement authori- ties. Security was so tight at the desert location the Hartwells said they didn't know where they were going until they got there. And when they arrived in the desert, they were instructed to tell friends and 178 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE members of their family they were in Florida for advanced Scientology training.... While the Hartwells were in the desert, they were not allowed to make telephone calls or to send mail directly. If they had permission to make telephone calls, they were instructed to tell the other party they were calling from Clearwater, Florida. If someone called them in Clearwater, the person answering took the name and telephone num- ber of the caller, and forwarded the message to the Hartwells for a re- turn call.... Early this year spokesmen for the trust said the new occupants of the property were members of something they called the "Scottish High- land Quietude Club." At various times the spokesman said owners of the trust were "wealthy Eastern investors" or wealthy investors from the Palm Springs area.... Riverside County sheriffs authorities became suspicious about the occupants of the two ranches at La Quinta when they learned the group was filming movies. A department source said it was feared someone was making pornography movies, but the properties were va- cated before an official investigation could begin. Captain Reid said his investigators have been trying to learn the identity of the Gilman resort owner because of inquiries made to the department by residents of the area. "We heard rumors like organized crime was taking it over," he said. "and we felt we had to look into these rumors." A raid by the Riverside Sheriffs office on the Riverside Mission in July of 1979 and the above article's appearance in the Press Enter- prise did nothing to make Hubbard's hiding place in Hemet more se- cure. Along with this unwelcome publicity there were increasing IRS legal and investigative activities into Hubbard's financial affairs. All this, combined with Tonja Burden's going to see the FBI and anti-Scientology attorney Michael Flynn (Tonja could tie Hubbard into G.O. activities), had to have had quite an effect on Hubbard. Hubbard's response to these events was "Operation Bulldozer Leak," the biggest of a series of shredding and vetting operations to hide his control of the Church. This was conducted mainly at Gilman Hot Springs, which was the administrative control center of Scientology In- ternational. By February or March of 1980, Hubbard took off from Hemet with Pat and Annie Broeker, traveling to San Louis Obisbo, some four hours drive up the coast of California. Here he lived secretly in a his Bluebird motor home until his death on the 24th of January 1986. "*I Resigned in 1966*" 179 Since the raids by the FBI, all attempts to cover up the full story seem to have created further problems. During his reign at his desert hideout, first in La Quinta and on through his stay at the Hemet apartment block, he had initiated some major changes. In November of 1976 he had issued an LRH Directive stating that prices around the world had not been raised for over a decade and that they needed to "catch up with inflation," so they would begin be- ing raised at a rate of 10 percent a month until they were "caught up with inflation." This reAected his panic reaction to the FBI raids. The only real priority, communicated by his actions, appeared now to be his personal safety. Money became even more important. Lawyers and private investigators, for both defense and attack pur- poses, are expensive. 16 The Saviour Lives Just Down the Road! Until the first press about Hubbard's presence in La Quinta ap- peared in early 1980, I was unaware that Hubbard was living just down the road, some 25 minutes by car from my home. By that time my life was in a shambles, my family kept alive by a mortgage on our house. My troubles had begun after "Source" moved into Riverside county. ...In late 1977 the FBI raids had just happened. These raids - the re- sult of illegal acts inspired by Hubbard - made it apparent he'd committed a major blunder, and left his ego bruised. So subsequent to the raids he was thrashing around trying to find scapegoats. Anyone and any pretext would do, so long as attention shifted from him. Franchise holders were seen to fit the bill. The fact that he was living so close by put me high on the list of targets for attack. Most other major franchise holders in California (and subsequently the U.S. and Europe) were later subjected to simi- lar treatment. **** When we arrived in the U.S. eight years previously in late 1969, my wife was seven months pregnant with our first child. We were both Class VIII auditors, the highest class of auditor in Scientology at the time, and we had been hired to work for a franchise in Tustin, 180 *The Saviour Just Down the Road* 181 California, near Disneyland. Except for our house back in New Zealand, which we had mortgaged in order to fly to England in 1967, we were poverty stricken. Two and a half years in England on Scien- tology staff pay does that to people. Despite the poverty and some disillusioning experiences with high Church officials, we were - at the time - still full of enthusiasm for Hubbard and "his tech." This was partly because he and "the tech" had been so well presented by the words and example of Hubbard's key representative: John McMaster. McMaster was the most prominent person (other than Hubbard, of course) in Scientology while we were in England (1967-1969). His work at Saint Hill Manor in England probably contributed more to the financial success of Scientology - during the mid- to late sixties - than any other individual. When we arrived there the place was a hum of enthusiastic activ- ity. Lectures by John McMaster were given in the chapel to overflow- ing crowds of enthusiastic students. McMaster's talks were evidence to me that he had attained and ex- perienced something paranormal, existential, or whatever words peo- ple use in a vain attempt to convey whatever is considered a true "re- ligious experience." John's glow of affection, and his other spiritual qualities, seemed evidence of the achievability of the most cherished dreams of Scien- tologists. The fact that he was Hubbard's representative and "the world's first real Clear" gave credence to Hubbard's many written claims. John's talks and "presence" reminded each listener of their own brushes with this "reality of our true godlike nature." Besides the realm of individual spiritual abilities and the like, McMaster spoke of world peace, of creating a new civilization based on love and understanding. He told me in a recent interview: I was so excited about the function of auditing and its potential for assisting individuals to become more able and aware, that I was willing to overlook Hubbard's faults, as they gradually became known to me. That was up to a point of course, the final point being my realization that his intentions were entirely self serving I saw that he was in it for money and personal power, and his actual intentions were not as stated. The basic function of auditing is a wonderful thing, but Hubbard 182 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE perverted it. The idea of counseling has been around for an awfully long lime. What is the Socratic method but a form of auditing?* He asked me if I would go and promote the subject, and I did. I didn't know at the time what he really intended to do with it. He got the technology to a point where he had a sort of assembly line as he called it. And he told me he was putting all these "square ball bearings" on the beginning of the assembly line, and then turning them into "round ball bearings" at the other end. That was his idea of "standard tech." But there is magic in auditing. Good magic. The important thing is not that the magic was abused - that needs to be pointed out - but that the magic should be brought to life.... For a period of time, Hubbard trusted me implicitly with the tech- nology and so on, and relied on me for the information because, al- though he did a lot of talking, he couldn't audit He could not audit. He had to resort to a sort of black magic hypnosis. This was to try and convince the person that he was making gains. Then, of course, after about three weeks the person collapsed. And this was explained by Hubbard as being because there was a suppressive person around the corner, causing him to lose his "gains " He couldn't audit, so he had to use somebody for auditing research. At this point in time, I was the one he used. I would give him the information and then he would write the bulle- tins. He couldn't tell me what to do, because he didn't know himself. I had to do all the difficult cases; to go and review them, and this is where we found out so many things. I had a wonderful sort of learning ground, if you like. This was partly because I had to learn to leave behind in Saint Hill Manor all the ne- gative things he said about the people who I had to go out and handle. I had hundreds of students and pre-clears, and I had to be absolutely free from his ideas when I closed the door of that manor. It was the "good magic" which my wife and I had observed and ex- perienced, and the example of John and a few others that motivated us as we crossed the Atlantic in late 1969. Upon our arrival in the U.S. we worked in Raymond Kemp's Orange County franchise for a year, during which we managed to ac- cumulate enough money to buy a house and put a down payment on a *Perhaps with this in mind, Hubbard had once referred to Socrates as a insisting that he had merely "squirreled Buddhism." Of course Hubbard claimed to be Buddha. *The Saviour Just Down the Road* 183 car. We then commuted to nearby Riverside to set up our own fran- chise. It wasn't easy. We spent the next three years struggling to stay alive. We finally sold the Tustin house and the one in New Zealand. We invested all the money into the franchise, and began to do quite well. Then we searched for new quarters and eventually came up with a 40,000-square-foot brick building (originally built in 1909 as a YMCA) and we moved there during the latter part of 1974. It is still amazing to me how much we were able to achieve. It was accomplished as a result of a combination of our youthful idealism, hard work, and service; along with slogans, and hard sell, and the im- age of a god on a far-off yacht researching "the upper bands of OT." I had been to the Apollo by this time, and some of the Sea Org zealous- ness had rubbed off on me. Franchises were extremely permissive in their operation when compared to the totalitarian Sea Org (and were tolerated by Hubbard as a necessary "PR" activity for attracting "wogs" into Scientology). Franchises delivered the "lower" part of"the grade chart." These "lower grades" more resemble a form of psycho-therapy, as con- trasted to much of what is called the "upper levels," which some have referred to as "bad science fiction." The lower grades deal with resolving unwanted habits, fears, inhi- bitions and psychosomatic ills, and - generally - are aimed at helping a person straighten out his everyday life. Even some of Scientology's severest critics (such as attorney Michael Flynn) admit that these lower levels can be beneficial when they are done without the per- verting control mechanisms of the Church of Scientology. By late 1977 we had over a hundred staff and we were doing some 400 hours of auditing a week. We were sending lots of people to the Flag land base, where we ended up spending almost half a million dollars on "staff enhancement" by mid-1978. I pushed hard for statistics, while remaining aloof from the day-to- day hustling to make it all happen. We were the number-one single franchise in the world at this time. That crown was held tenuously, with Martin Samuels's Sacramento franchise neck and neck. It was a friendly rivalry. We had, at Riverside by late 1977, accumulated some $840,000.00 in reserves projected to cover our future highly idealistic expansion plans. But, as was the case in most Scientology orgs and franchises, we had also put a lot of staff and public into debt. 184 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE While not approaching the severity of"discipline" that was occur- ring on the flagship, we nevertheless pushed the staff intensely, with a similar message of self-abnegation for the greater cause. The group's achievements was a collective source of enormous pride. We cer- tainly had no doubts that we were helping mankind. It was around this time, unbeknownst to me, that Hubbard had moved into Riverside County. I began to feel the heat. **** It was difficult for me to understand the hysteria that was being generated, since I had no idea that Hubbard was endangered by the evidence uncovered by the FBI during their raids. Nor did I know that he was fearful of the potential testimony of a pretty young teenager (Tonja Burden). Hubbard had become increasingly obsessed with the idea that the franchises were a threat to him. This belief began to override in im- portance even the enormous resources in people and dollars that they were generating. His paranoia probably stemmed from the fact that he couldn't control the franchises entirely: they were separate corpo- rations, legally autonomous. While this separation had been designed to protect him from legal liability (generated by the fact that franchises directly contacted suit- happy "raw" public), it also meant that the franchise holders had con- siderable independence of choice as to what to do with their own fol- lowers and financial resources. Those resources, he now feared, could be targeted at him. While it had never occurred to me that the fran- chise's bank accounts enabled me to afford lawyers and so to sue Hubbard, it obviously had occurred to him. **** John Woodruff was one of the "guns" Diana Hubbard used to "shoot down" Mike Davidson, who had been the head of the franchise network for ten years. Davidson, a well-educated and intelligent Englishman, had demonstrated a sense of fair play, protecting us well from what I now know to have been Hubbard's crazed Management. On the other hand Hubbard's daughter Diana was renowned among franchise holders for mindlessly sticking to her own narrow interpre- tation of "Daddy's orders." Now Woodruff was assigned to "investigate" me. In an early con- versation with me he stressed that he was a company man who would *The Saviour Just Down the Road* 185 ruthlessly follow orders. He had dark, dead, unfeeling eyes: blank disks. He was very much into "finding dirt" on me, so as to discredit me in the eyes of my staff and "public." Hubbard had already decided to take my franchise, but they wanted to do so with a minimum of up- heaval among the Riverside staff and "public." In mid May of 1978, I got a call from an aide telling me that Diana wanted me to come to Florida to tell her about how I kept my statis- tics so high. When I arrived at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Florida I was greeted by hugs and kisses from Diana Hubbard's aide Nancy Foster, and a pleasant smile and greeting from Diana (a beautiful woman in her twenties, with thick red hair cascading to well below her waist). I was escorted to the fourth floor and entered a room where another aide was seated with a severe-faced G.O. agent. I sensed danger. I was handed resignation papers. They wanted me to resign from the board of directors of my franchise, and also from its bank ac- counts. I wanted to know why. "It is merely a temporary state of affairs to ensure that you are loyal and, given that you do the retraining steps and auditing that has been decided on, you will be put back on the board in two months," I was told. They continued to assure me that I would get a full fair hearing, and that I was not in any danger as long as I did their program. If I did not cooperate they would know I was an S.P. and the appropriate penalties would be applied. Under this pressure, I signed. There was no hearing and, after the three worst months of`my life, I finally completed all the exhaustive requirements and asked to be reinstated in my franchise per the agreement. I was subsequently ushered into a meeting with Woodruff and one of Diana's aides. "You cheated on all your courses!" lied Woodruff, obviously getting a sadistic pleasure out of my apparent pain. "You are an S.P. and you will never run another franchise." Upon returning to my home in Riverside, I wrote up petitions; but by now I knew that Mary Sue had approved the move against me and I began to believe that Hubbard was inaccessible. **** During the previous five years I had experienced what it was like to 186 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE be a cult leader, to be Hubbard's agent. There was a seductive aspect to this which was very powerful indeed! As Hubbard's representative I had begun to be seen, in the eyes of his followers at Riverside, as similarly superhuman. It snuck up on me by easy gradients. Anyone who has succumbed to Hattery or ego-stroking has experienced the same thing, if possibly on a smaller scale. It is somehow hard to realize that there is something seriously amiss when one is the beneficiary of this kind of adoration. The power I was able to wield created a persona that was not me. I knew it even then, but could not - and probably did not want to - shake it off. It was like booze to an alcoholic. Up until this removal in 1978, I had experienced a modicum of the same disease that had consumed Hubbard. Yet because of the subse- quent period of absence from the madness of Hubbard and his agents, leaving me to quietly contemplate at home, I had been cured. Well, not quite completely - some powerful symptoms lingered still.... In spite of everything, I still saw Scientology as the way to a better world. It had been a major part of my life for seventeen years, and in some ways I was still a zealot. In October of 197Y I had for the second time been to England unsuccessfully appealing for the return of my franchise. There was a knock on the door of my house. I answered and the man flashed a badge. It was Sheriff Jensen and he wanted to know if I was Bent Corydon. These guys were "the enemy," was the message that had been in- stilled in me by Hubbard over the years. Their presence was all "part of a plot to destroy Scientology." So I shut the door in his face and went straight to the phone to report the incident to the G.O. The agent I spoke with praised me for the way I had handled things. I began to get very concerned because I had a series of reports and documents that I had been gathering, which were part of my attempt to have myself vindicated. I felt these documents were what the sher- in may have been looking for. After all they showed actions which might be illegal on the part of Church officials who had been discipli- ning me. So a few days later, I took them downtown to Xerox them, planning to send the copies off to Mary Sue Hubbard and hide the others at my brother's place. Returning home, I drove down my driveway, which is restricted on both sides by a low brick wall. Once one has entered, there is no ra- tional place to go except to back up onto the road. *The Saviour Just Down the Road* 187 Halfway down the driveway I looked up and noticed Sheriff Jensen and two plainclothes officers. It flashed in my mind that they must have had me under surveillance, in order to get the documents which were now lying on the seat beside me. I could be in the position of blowing it for the Church! So I slapped the gears of my little Ford Capri into reverse and headed back up the driveway. Jensen yelled and as he ran for his car, another officer jumped back into his and roared down the road to effectively block my exit. As I went back down the driveway, Jensen ran right in front of me yelling. I was oblivious to what was being said; my only concern being how to get away and protect the documents. He jumped onto the flower-bed and pulled his gun. Apparently my car was aiming in his direction as I went down the driveway giving him legal rights to shoot me. "Stop or I'11 blow your fucking brains out!" He had a gun some 18 inches away from my head, but his warning meant nothing. I was ob- sessed with finding a way to escape, and kept telling myself I couldn't let them have the documents. I decided to try backing over the flower bed. So, slamming the car into reverse and revving up the engine, I sped backwards and hit the small mound causing the car to leave the ground and land at the bot- tom of the hillock. In the rear view mirror I could see three officers with guns drawn and pointed at the back of my head. However, they didn't fire as I roared across the lawn and onto the street. Escaping, I stored the papers at my brother's house. I then called the Guardian's office, and they provided me with a lawyer who went with me to the Riverside jail, where I spent one of' the worst nights of my life. There was a later investigation into the inhumane conditions in the Riverside County jail, which did not sur- prise me. My brother finally bailed me out and we walked outside into a clear sunny California day. There were two charges of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, plus seven counts of conspiracy and grand theft in connection with loan applications made by public and staff at my franchise. These loans were for services taken there. The Sheriffs officers had not been at my house to get my documents, they had been there to arrest me on what amounted to an invalid warrant regarding the loan fraud charges. Had I not resisted I would have had no problem. 188 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE It turned out that the original visit to my house, where I refused to identify myself, was an attempt to get me to turn State's evidence. It appears that the Sheriffs office believed that the Gilman Hot Springs property had been bought by the Mafia. After all the name "Scottish Highland Quietude Club," and the two-and-a-half-million cash pur- chase, were somewhat unusual. They did want a pretext to raid the place, as Hubbard had feared. Since they had no pretext to do so, they were looking for another way of gaining some leads. Loan fraud charges were seen to fit the bill. In late 1979 (a year after I had been removed from the franchise), the Sheriffs office had raided the Riverside Mission of the Church of Scientology Their charges had to do with loan applications and their key witness was Riverside staff member Todd Carter. They had hoped to add me as another witness against the Church. Failing to get my co-operation and, regardless of the fact that they had not the slightest evidence, they added me to the indictments. Sheriff Jensen later confided in me that they were really not inter- ested in the staff at Riverside, but wanted to get some leads that went higher up. **** There is considerable evidence that I was to be the meat Hubbard wanted thrown to the dogs, in order to prevent the investigation from going higher (to Gilman, near where Hubbard was living, and where there were plenty of real shenanigans). My lawyer at the time was convinced that this was the case. She called me one morning on the phone, screaming, "What the fuck is going on!" (She is very much a lady and it would take something out- rageous to cause her to use that kind of language.) It turned out that Terry Colvin of the Press Enterprise had called her and asked if her client Bent Corydon was going to change his plea to guilty. He had been paid a visit by Church president Heber Jentzsch, he told my attorney. Jentzsch had told him that I was guilty of all the charges against me and that the Church would co-operate with the D.A. and the press to put me away. Despite all this, the original charges of Conspiracy and Grand Theft were dismissed in preliminary hearing. The Judge berated the deputy D.A. for having no case. *The Saviour Just Down the Road* 189 Prior to my removal from the franchise in 197tl, I had been assured by my attorney that all was legal with the loan applications. I had not known of the extent of the loan application "fluffing." "Fluffing" means to exaggerate figures such as income and leave out or lessen debts owed, in order to qualify for a loan (a practice which I'm told is common in the U.S.). In the Riverside situation, loan officers were telling our sales people ("registrars") which figures were needed for loan approval. They did this knowing fully that the information would be used to falsify a specific application. Since our people had gained an excellent reputation for loan repayment, the loan agents were anxious to make loans and collect their commissions. The judge decided that, since the banks had not relied on the false information, there had been no fraud. But I had pushed hard for statistics. An activity, which is amoral at best. However, no laws had been broken. So, while I was cleared of the conspiracy and loan fraud charges, I did have a problem with the my outrageous cult inspired behavior in my driveway. I ended up pleading no contest to one misdemeanor charge of assault with a deadly weapon. I got a thousand-dollar fine and two years' probation, which was reduced later to one year. My record was then expunged. Though it may seem hard to believe, I gained something positive from all this. During the legal proceedings I read a lot of law, giving me a greater understanding of what Hubbard had contemptuously labelled "wog justice." This was a major factor in my being able to free myself from Hubbard's manipulations. I got to be good friends with Sheriff Jensen (he jokingly calls me "Killer Bent"). I appreciate the fact that he didn't shoot me that day. My attorney had told me that, had these events occurred in Los Angeles County, I would have had a nice neat hole through my fore- head. So I asked Jensen why he hadn't shot me. I get curious about things like that. He said, "Because of the look in your eyes." I asked, "What did you see in my eyes?" I needed to know. He said, "You were scared shitless!" Thank God for the look in my eyes! 17 Hubbard Derails a Reform Movement During my legal battles over the loan situation and driveway of- fense, I followed the news as Mary Sue Hubbard and the other ten raised large amounts of funds for their legal defense against the fed- eral indictments resulting from the FBI raids of 1977. When later Mary Sue's defense was seen to be futile, and the legal heat was be- coming directed increasingly at Hubbard himself, Hubbard ordered a "palace coup" by his "kids" (his youthful messengers) and the Execu- tive Director International Bill Franks against Mary Sue Hubbard and other top G.O. executives. David Miscavage "handled" Mary Sue Hubbard and Bill Franks was assigned to "handle" the head of the Guardian's office, Jane Kember. With the entire old G.O. top hierarchy headed for jail, Hubbard ordered his messengers to set up a "Watchdog Committee." In early 1981 Hubbard also created a new post of Executive Di- rector International. This was announced to be a resumption of the post''vacated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1966." The new appointment to Executive Director International was Bill Franks. By appointing him to these posts Hubbard had ostensibly made him "Ecclesiastical Head" of the entire Church. He was said to be the equivalent of the Pope in the Catholic Church. It was presented to Franks that he would be assuming all of Hubbard's administrative functions. However, Bill told me years later, after leaving the Church, that he had since concluded that 191 192 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Hubbard set him up in order to help him rid himself of Mary Sue and Jane Kember (making them scapegoats for the break-ins). To pull this off was tricky for Hubbard, since there was the possibil- ity of triggering an emotional reaction from the two women. They were capable of exposing his part in the Snow White operation. Mary Sue and Jane, knowing Bill was their enemy, but not knowing Hub- bard was behind their ouster, would be prone to blame him rather than Hubbard. I knew Bill Franks well. He had helped me out of scrapes in the past and we had a common dislike for the Guardian's office top exec- utives. I met him by chance on the street in Los Angeles shortly after the coup against Mary Sue and Jane Kember. "How are your attempts to get your franchise back going?" he asked. (It had been over three years since I had been defrauded of my position at the Riverside Mission.) "I have essentially given up trying, since I keep winning appeals just to have the findings cancelled," I told him. On his advice, I subsequently called someone in England and got a Board of Review; I was called there to appear. By November of 1981 I was informed that the findings were posi- tive. But I still did not have the details, when Bill Franks called a "Mission Holders' Conference" in Florida. **** The Florida mission holders' meetings might have turned out to be a turning point for Scientology, had Hubbard been able to consider actual reform along the lines of the proposals of Bill Franks and the mission holders. That was, of course, not to be.... Hubbard had never been considered to be the villain by mission holders. We mostly assigned that role to Jane Kember and her dep- uty, Herbie Parkhouse. These were the real bad guys, and they were gone. So now there appeared to be some hope for the first time in four years. Even Raymond Kemp, a veteran mission holder who had been suing the Church for return of property coerced from him, was in- vited. Including such an "enemy" at an official meeting was unprece- dented. He and his wife Pamela brought with them documents seized by the FBI during their raids. Among these were a special Training Routine called "TR L." The "L" was for "Lie." It was a secret training routine for G.O. personnel, to drill them in the art of lying! *Hubbard Derails Reform* 193 The Kemps were in fact the first to speak. Theirs were highly emo- tional speeches which were followed by others by myself, Martin Samuels, Dean Stokes and Allan Walters. We told our stories. I, for one, was pretty choked up. The crowd of over a hundred were supportive and our speeches were punctuated by applause. We were at last among friends. We could say anything; they understood. It was safe. Many others took turns telling their stories and a revival time at- mosphere pervaded the room. Then the subject turned to Bill Franks. He was absent. A "manage- ment representative" (Jens Bogvard) was brought on stage and ex- plained that Bill had been guilty of promiscuity and was being hand- led "over the rainbow" (Gilman Hot Springs, near my franchise). So we became painfully aware that (despite his proclaimed Pope- like status) Bill was answerable to somebody. Who? "The Watchdog Committee," was the answer. "Who are they?" someone asked, voicing the question that was in all our minds. Nobody understood what these alphabet people were: "WDC," "CMO." Bill was one of the few people who knew and (un- beknownst to us) Hubbard had directly ordered him not to reveal their identities. The next question for Jens was about how they had discovered about Bill's "promiscuity." Jens, who is a genuinely likable fellow, answered candidly: "His phone was tapped." Someone in the audience exclaimed that tapping telephones was a felony in Florida. Since this tapping had obviously occurred after Jane Kember and the others had been kicked out, this put a whole new complexion on things: Others besides the jailed top G.O. execu- tives were apparently involved in violating the law. It was decided to adjourn until a representative of the "Commo- dore's Messenger Org" could get to Flag to face our questions, and when Bill could also be there to give his views. Some ten days later the meetings resumed. Bill Franks was back, as was Annie Tasket, a representative for the Commodore's Messenger Org (C. M.O.) and a member of the Watch- dog Committee. In response to questions she explained (as Bill entered and sat near her on the podium) that Bill had not been locked up-imprisoned - while he was "over the rainbow." She could not see Bill's face and 194 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE kept chirping out the official line. The rest of us saw his face go taut and redden. "Don't lie to my friends!" he finally blurted out and he told us what had happened while Annie looked crushed. Bill Franks explained under oath in 1985: I thought I was doing what Ron wanted me to do. No way did he want a bunch of little kids directing criminal actions to continue within the Church. So for me, I didn't even have a second thought about that.... I called them [the Watchdog Committee members] up and said, "Look, the game's up. You have to come down. If you are giving or- ders, you are going to have to be accountable for them." Bill's action, and our support of it, so it turned out, was considered high treason so far as Hubbard was concerned. There was no turning back. BILL FRANKS: It [the management of Scientology] was totally out of control.... And that's what I tried to change. [It was] not only myself, but... other people in that room really caring about the corruption in the Church and wanting to change it. And that's what was considered to be so offensive to the CMO, that we should try to change the corruption in the Church. The incredible thing is that the Watchdog Committee eventually turned up. Meanwhile, outside of the meeting hall while we all waited for the WDC, negotiations were going on between myself and my wife and the people who had been running my mission during the three years I had been gone. Amazingly, during these meetings things resolved. My franchise (including the building) was returned to me and another mission was established North of Los Angeles for those leaving. The cream of the staff were taken along with $50,000.00, while I and those remaining assumed the financial liabilities. Given the actual situation, this was hardly justice; but even some restitution was probably unique in the history of Scientology. No one else that I know of has ever had all they worked for Shanghaied by Hubbard and his mob and recovered any substantial part. I believe [4 pages of plates; 23 photos] 1. L. Ron Hubbard on his grandfather's ranch in Nebraska around 1916. 2. As a boy scout. 3. Ron the Aviator. 4. In his twenties, possibly in New York's Greenwich Villiage. 5. An early episode of looking for gold. 6. In Puerto Rico. 7. As a Scientology executive in the early fifties. 8. In his office at Saint Hill Manor in the early 1960s. 9. Ron the Biker: sporting a new Motorcycle at Saint Hill. 10. "Making breakthroughs" in horticulture. 11. On the Grounds at Saint Hill. 12. The Commodore fondling his "Kools" on board the flagship *Apollo*, during the early 1970s. 13. Hubbard at typewriter in a hideaway apartment in Queens, New York, in 1973. 14. Grooms Gerry Armstrong (left forground) and Pat Broker (right forground) with brides (c. 1975). Hubbard (at the head of the table with package) is as ever accompanied by a group of messengers (in this instance, dresses for the occasion). 15. With brides. 16. Messengers dressed as bridesmaids. Pat Broker's future bride, Anne, is in the right foreground. She and Pat are now the new leaders of Hubbard's Church. 17. In disguise, doing photography in Queens, 1973. 18. Ron the Movie Director. Taking during the late 1970s near Hemet, California. 19. Ron the Gambler. The most recent photograph, taken around 1979 in the Riverside County desert. 20. Aleister Crowley, self-proclaimed "Beast 666." 21. The most displayed of Hubbard's official photos. 22. "Crowley's Cross" as depicted on his Tarot Cards. 23. The Scientology cross, displayed in all Churches and worn around the neck of their ministers. [end of plates] *Hubbard Derails Reform* 195 that this could occur only because of a vacuum of power and the re- sulting confusion at the top of the Scientology hierarchy. This was the situation surrounding the uprooting of Mary Sue and the G.O.'s top brass while the "kids" took over. **** Finally David Miscavage and Norman Starkey and another six or seven executives arrived. Miscavage, the top Commodore's Messen- ger, was twenty-one years old. It was the first time most of us had heard of or seen him or most of the others. Yet here were our leaders. They lined up across the stage. They looked tense. The mood of the room blackened. Dean Stokes, who was M.C. at the time, saw that the chemistry was all wrong. A confrontation between these "libertarian" mission holders and this uptight authoritarian group was going to mean trouble. He announced that the Watchdog Committee would be in- vited to discussions with Bill Franks, and a few others. He explained that, once things had been resolved in a more closed session, the rest of us could join in the dialogue. They filed out. The next day an announcement was made that all was fine and that Bill Franks would be left in charge. Bill, for his turn, spoke in glowing terms of Miscavage, and so we all believed that truth and justice had prevailed. I didn't realize then that it was all a charade, but Bill had certainly begun to suspect it. If I had known that, I would have won- dered why Bill was going along. He answered that recently. BILL FRANKS: Messengers are considered to be emissaries of Hubbard. This is axi- omatic within the Church. These people are given incredible amounts of power based on that. And so there is no way I'm going to hold an emissary of Hubbard, in the frame of mind I was in at the time, up to public ridicule.... I was trying to relax the man [Miscavage]. What was actually happening at the time of the mission holders meeting was that Bill had been "put in charge" as an additional facade for Hubbard. Bill was supposed to have "instinctively" understood that he was merely to be window dressing. Hubbard was still in control while operating through new additional facades, consisting of the mysterious WDC and Franks. These fronts were designed to protect Hubbard from 196 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE the same criminal prosecution that had already consumed his previous facade, consisting of his wife and her G. O. clique. Hubbard had not counted on Bill Franks and the mission holders' backlash reaction against what we considered "G.O. type abuses." Franks naively believed that Hubbard had genuinely stepped down, leaving him with the top spot. Bill's reform efforts were constantly getting derailed by these "kids," however (secretly implementing Hubbard's intent), so he feared they would go on to commit crimes simi- lar to the G.O. bunch. His problem was that these "kids" were, to him, still "Commo- dore's Messengers" who were, in that role, to be treated as one would treat Hubbard himself. But now, some of them were also Watchdog Committee members. Bill was, he believed, senior to WDC mem- bers in his capacity as "Ecclesiastical Head of the Church." So, he was left with a dilemma: he never really knew if and when the "kids" spoke for Hubbard as "messengers." So he never knew if and when they were functioning in the role of his juniors or his seniors. **** We mission holders had made our bid to reform the Church in con- cert with its titular head, and lost. We were to pay the price for hav- ing challenged Hubbard's top agents and (without our knowledge) Hubbard himself. I learned much later that, following this, messages were shuttled between Hubbard and Miscavage regarding the mission holders' meetings. Pat Broeker, who represented Hubbard and carried his written messages, met secretly with Miscavage and David Mayo in a restaurant which was located just a mile from my mission. Hubbard was livid! He wrote that the mission holders had been infiltrated by government agents in an attempt to take over Scientol- ogy. So Bill Frank's fate was sealed. Hubbard targeted the mission hold- ers, myself included, for a greatly accelerated program of takeover. It was only days after the mission holders meetings in Florida that the "Religious Technology Corporation" was officially created. Mis- sions were now "Junior Corporations" to RTC, whose assets would be directly under Hubbard's control. RTC articles contained, unbeknownst to us, a clause which man- dated that all junior corporations to RTC would be subject to arbi- trary dissolution on orders of RTC executives, and, upon such disso- lution, all assets would go to RTC (Hubbard). *Hubbard Derails Reform* 197 **** Within two weeks of the mission holder's meetings, and Misca- vage's assurances to us that Bill would remain in power, twelve uni- formed agents of the RTC stormed Bill's office and removed him on direct orders from Hubbard. Other heads began to roll (unbeknownst to me on Hubbard's or- ders). I was stunned. Nothing had really changed. It may even have been worse since the old G.O. guard was deposed. Hubbard's part was kept secret, but for the first time it began to eat at me at some level of my consciousness that Hubbard must be involved somehow. There was hardly a day when at least one of these expulsions didn't arrive in the mail. The top executives and personalities of Scientol- ogy, some 600 people who had given the most important youthful years of their lives to work ridiculous hours for the cause, were now officially declared to be evil psychotic beings. 18 Hubbard's "Billion Dollar Caper" To understand this caper, some background information on Hubbard's methods of raising personal income is necessary. In 1969 Hubbard wrote a PR article entitled "What Your Fees Buy," in which he stated: Even today I draw less than an org staff member, and they draw very little... None of the researches of Dianetics and Scientology were ever paid for out of organizational fees. With my typewriter I paid for the re- search myself. Occasionally orgs were supposed to but they never did.... So the fees you pay for your services do not go to me.... He went on to explain that it "takes a lot of money to deliver Scien- tology services" and that it also takes an "enormous amount of money to fight the vested mental health interests," who use "their press con- trol" and "government stooges" in an attempt to prevent Scientology from messing up their plans "for a 1984 World." Pure PR; another shore story. What did Scientologists' fees buy? Howard E. Shomer, who worked for "Author Services Interna- tional" (which serviced Hubbard's personal assets and income, and which was in fact the senior management of Scientology at the time) till early 1983, signed checks made out to Hubbard weekly. They were in the million-dollar range each week during the last six months 198 *Hubbard's "Billion Dollar Caper*" 199 before he left. At that level, Hubbard would have been receiving 52 million dollars a year in salary! Bill Franks, while Executive Director International, kept discov- ering new foreign accounts the entire time he was on post. He does not know how many there were that he never discovered. BILL FRANKS: The problem was how were we going to get the money for Hub- bard? He was not supposed to take in the money personally. So sepa- rate corporations were set up. This is RRF, Religious Research Foun- dation. We used to call it Ralph. That was a code name. Money would be put into Ralph, that would be accounts [in] Liech- tenstein. This is a Liberian Corporation. And he would draw from it. So in other words all of this money actually made its way over to Ralph. [It went] through these various people and various organizations, and from Ralph, then it went right to Hubbard. In addition to all the above disguised flow lines of money to Hubbard, Franks received an order to pay money to him directly. Ac- cording to Franks, the idea was formulated to bill the Church. The first was a billing of 85 million dollars for the use of the Mark VI E-meter, which Hubbard claimed to have developed. In other words, he was going to be presenting bills to the Church, and the Church was going to pay him. Says Franks: We had the hundred fifty million in Sea Org reserves. The problem was how were we going to get the money out to Hubbard. In a good week, [the income of the Church of Scientology was] two million dollars a week.... Scientology was able to generate such huge sums of money because of single-mindedness towards the goal of getting money to Hubbard. It was total single-mindedness. It was big-league sales, totally indoctri- nated by the organization to get every last dime. Laurel Sullivan (who served as Hubbard's personal PR) states: In November of '73...he said to find out which publics or catego- ries of people he derived his income from and then prioritize them ac- cording to the attention I should spend on these publics. (Emphasis added) 200 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE As his public relations person, I was to stay briefed on all of his activ- ities, all of the things that he was involved in [photography, promo- tional materials, management and technical writings], and his general production...so that appropriate billings could be done.... Installments [payments to him for "backbillings"]...were substan- tial. [One billing prior to 1980] for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars was for research expenses spent apparently by him during the time he spent in New York, which was almost one year. At least that's what the trip was defined as ["research"]. That [was] the trip to New York where he was hiding out. The Snow White project dame out of that. [The project that brought on the FBI raid and for which his wife took the rap.] According to an affidavit by Gerry Armstrong, a conversation was. held about September 28, 1980, in the Cedars complex, Los Angeles. Laurel Sullivan, a top Church legal executive and an American Church attorney were the key people present. The following exchange occurred: Legal executive: "The only reason it's worked so long...is because everyone has effectively been bound by the authority of LRH and has ignored corporate lines. (Emphasis added) "...CSC [Church of Scientology of California] has rendered much service to many foreign Scientologists and RRF has got the money. ...It obviously is the classic case (loud laugh) of inurement, if not fraud." (Emphasis added) (Several laughs) LS: "Well put." Speaker Unidentified: "It's all privileged." Another speaker: "The tape recorder is going here, Charles." THE SCIENTOLOGY MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL CAPER ..."MONEY! REPEAT MONEY! REPEAT MONEY! REPEAT MONEY!" - L. RON HUBBARD (Stressing in a transcribed confidential taped briefing the enormous income to be made from the Scientology Missions International caper) Some 20 months prior to the Florida mission holders' meetings, in early 19tl0, Hubbard had announced to a select few aides a new ca- per. It was to begin with selling mission "starter packs" to well-to-do *Hubbard's "Billion Dollar Caper*" 201 Scientologists. Each pack would consist of"at least ten thousand dol- lars' worth of Hubbard's books," along with a charter for a"parish." All of this was to cost the "investor" around 35 thousand dollars per parish. Some existing mission holders were also required to buy two or three or more such purchases just to maintain what they had al- ready been operating for many years. Scientology Missions International was, per Hubbard's instruc- tions, to be set up separately from the old existing"Mission (fran- chise) Office World Wide" network, of which (as of December 1981) I was again a member. Then at some opportune point in time, when the SMI network was in full swing those in the old Mission Office World Wide network were to be "persuaded" to "move over" into SMI (and pay the fees necessary). SMI was a network that would, in contrast to the old MOWW, be totally dominated by Hubbard in the same way as were his "official" organizations (Churches). Said Franks: I first heard of it in a taped briefing from him. He presented it as a billion dollar caper....I eventually became the person responsible for establishing SMI. SMI was financially tied in with the Liberian Corporation, called Religious Research Foundation (RRF, "Ralph"). Regarding getting the old-time mission holders to give up their au- tonomy as part of the MOWW network, Hubbard had said: "It is a very simple operation. You simply move them over. You don't make it a penalty for them to move over, you make it an advan- tage....This is a matter of selling. And those who don't move over, you simply start applying rules and regulations to. You lean on them. And they'll move over...." (Emphasis added.) **** This SMI "caper" was in full swing when, just before New Year's day 1982, I walked back into my franchise after three and a half years' enforced absence. The Riverside mission was still a Mission Office World Wide (MOWW) franchise. The legal officer lost no time getting the new "contract" sent to me to end that situation. I then called for a briefing with him and two other mission holders. The contract he showed us gave them the power to do whatever 202 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE they wanted. Now the tricks and deception were built in "legally," with cleverly worded, disguised phrases. And I knew that if I didn't sign, my fate would be the same, only with a little extra trouble for the intel boys, who would concoct a great "fair game" project. I nevertheless put off signing. Then the heat came: the loaded "suggestions" and innuendoes. I re- membered these all too well from 1978, when I was tricked into signing over my mission and its bank accounts. This heat to sign the new "contract" was not my imagination: one mission holder actually continued to refuse to sign, and his expulsion stated this refusal to sign as the number one reason he was expelled. Finally around late September, I signed. **** It was October when we were all invited to come to a Mission Holders' Conference in San Francisco. which was to be attended by the top brass of the Commodore's Messenger Org. Having signed these "contracts", we were now subject to the whims of these powerful "kids."... 19 The Saviour's Revenge Hubbard's attempt to use trade-secret and industrial espionage laws to enforce "church doctrine" is probably unique in the annals of religious and legal history. Deploying "Finance Police" operating un- der an "International Finance Dictator" to enforce the sending of "customers" from "franchises" to the higher Church also has a bizarre ring to it: something out of Hubbard's pulp fiction. The invitation to the Mission Holders' Conference created an air of mystery. So much brass in attendance had to mean some momentous announcement and changes. There were a bunch of us who arrived about the same time at San Francisco International Airport and there were lots of hugs and greet- ings. The October air was crisp despite the sunshine as we stepped through the automatic doors to get the bus into the city. Dean and Melanie Stokes from Texas sat with me on the bus and Dean expressed his conviction that he would lose his mission again. I disagreed and tried to be positive. There were preliminary events, but the meeting did not finally happen till Sunday night at eight P.M. Between the initial Friday evening meeting and Sunday night people steadily arrived and the tension grew. Most of these mission holders had, like my wife and me, invested their houses and ten to 30 years of their lives into their "franchises," based on Hubbard's representations in his policies that they would be "theirs. " Even if they were to be run non-profit, at least one could draw a salary and expenses and live decently. We had mostly a middle-class standard of living and families to sup- port, and these kids who now seemingly ruled Scientology, who had 203 204 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE never known what having to get an education for their children and pay a mortgage and insurance was like, made us nervous. My wife had just given birth to our second child, a boy. Thus, for us, this problem was particularly intense. Discipline was to be kept light in missions, Hubbard had written. The very worst that could happen would be that we would lose our rights to call ourselves a Scientology mission. But these policies gave no one any great comfort now. Experience had demonstrated to us that policy was made to be broken where management was con- cerned. Any one of these kids could wipe us out on a whim. We finally were ordered to take the elevators to the fourth floor and the room there began to fill up from the back. It was indicative of the mood that the front rows were empty while the back rows were jam- packed as the brass lined up on the stage. There were uniformed Sea Org members around the edges and at the entrances to the room continually firing flash cameras at us, ap- parently to take our pictures. Later we discovered it was an attempt to intimidate and hypnotize. Norman Starkey, with his thick guttural South African accent, be- gan to yell at the people in the back of the room to come up to the front rows. No one moved. His shrill tone and the general atmosphere had everyone in an odd state. How should one react? This was outrageous. But to say any- thing or take action could be dangerous. He then yelled at someone. No one was quite sure who. The tone was the same as that used by an angry master when disciplining his dog: "YOU! COME UP TO THE FRONT ROW!" The target of Starkey's wrath turned out to be Gary Smith, who had a franchise in Hayward, near San Francisco. Gary lived in Blackhawk, a community of multi-million-dollar houses. He had financed a classy mission because he and his wife believed in Scientology but, unlike most of the rest of us, did not need it for his livelihood. He had come to the meeting with his wife Suzy and their three-year-old blond daughter Carrie. "Yes YOU in the red shirt. You know who I mean!" yelled Starkey at Gary, who was by this time looking around him to see who this guy might be yelling at. Finally, realizing that he was the only one with a red shirt on, he *The Saviour's Revenge* 205 replied, "Thank you, but I have my wife and daughter here and we're quite comfortable." Starkey was stung by this public questioning of his ultimate author- ity: "You have to the count of three, and if you don't move by then you're going to be expelled and declared suppressive!" he yelled. "One! two!"-Gary did not move - "THREE! Get him!" Uniformed guards ran towards him from several places in the room, and as they got near him Gary stood up and said firmly, "Don't touch!" Gary Smith is no lightweight. He worked out regularly with weights and had a good record in college football as a quarterback. He took his daughter's hand and they and his wife walked deliber - ately towards the door at which stood several guards. No one touched him. When he had left the room it was announced that he and his wife were suppressive persons and would be declared such. They would no longer be running the Hayward franchise which they had financed and built up. Their franchise subsequently disbanded. Then Kingsley Wimbush, an Australian who was currently running the most productive mission, was expelled. The privilege of expelling him was assumed by Miscavage himself. He announced that Kingsley was a suppressive in tones that betrayed his absolute pleasure. Kingsley and his wife (good friends of mine: sincere and well-inten- tioned people) visibly froze as Starkey pointed at him and abused him as a "Squirrel. "* He was ordered to leave the room and did so, leaving his wife sitting in shock with an empty seat next to her. It took her a couple of minutes to collect her wits, at which time she also stood up and walked towards the door. "Declare her as well!' exclaimed Miscavage. Dean Stokes had been right. He was about to lose his mission again. He was next. His wife Melanie and I had worked very hard to get it back for him, as he had done for me after I had lost mine in 1978. For Dean, his franchise had meant his whole life for some ten years, now he took all this in stride. It was almost a relief for him, it seemed to me, as I watched his demeanor. The never knowing "if" and "when" had been driving him crazy. *One who alters Scientology technology. 206 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE With these instant expulsions out of the way, Miscavage strutted. He had delivered Hubbard's retaliation for our "mutiny" 10 months previously in Florida! The Saviour's revenge was sweet. There was more to come. Larry Heller, a Church attorney, was introduced by Miscavage and dutifully lectured us on copyrights and trademarks. The underlying message was that we might have been bold enough to assert our views in Florida, but now that we had signed the new SMI "contract" we would be thrown in jail if we didn't respect the kids' authority and toe Hubbard's line. Heller's suit and tie contrasted with the dark naval uniforms, with lanyards and captain's hats with scrambled eggs, the others were wearing. HELLER: Most of you are probably familiar with what a trademark is but per- haps, for our purposes, a small explanation might be in order. A trademark is a symbol which is held out to the public representing to that public a certain quality of product or service which, when the public buys under that trademark, it's assured of getting. To give you a very simple example. Some of you might have had a glass or a bottle of Coca-Cola with your lunch today. Hypothetically, one or two of you might be in Hong Kong tomorrow and have a bottle of Coca-Cola with your lunch as well. That Coke is going to taste ex- actly the same tomorrow when you get to Hong Kong as the bottle of Coke that you opened up today. As long as it has that Coca-Cola sym- bol on it, comes in that very distinctive bottle, that means that you're going to get a certain mixture of ingredients, a certain effervescence. Scientology, as all of you know, also has trademarks....Those trademarks, just like the Coca-Cola trademarks, represents a symbol which assures the public of a certain quality of Service which they are going to receive if they purchase something or receive services under that trademark. He talked about how those trademarks had been owned by L. Ron Hubbard, but had been "donated" to the Religious Technology Cor- poration who sub-licensed them to the Church of Scientology and SMI. Then he got closer to home: what did all this have to do with us? RTC has a right to send a "mission" directly to the individual mis- sion holders to determine whether the trademarks are being properly *The Saviour's Revenge* 207 used by you. This mission may review your books, your records, and interview your personnel.... If there is a determination by RTC that Scientology services being given by any of you under "Scientology" trademarks are not on Source, then RTC...has the right to immediately suspend any utilization by individual missions of those trademarks. The word "immediate" is the key word here. There need not be, at this point, a hearing in order for there to be a suspension. RTC will order that you no longer use the trademark and you must stop or be subject to civil penalties and ulti- mately criminal prosecution....You will then be fined or thrown in jail. From advice I later got from other attorneys, these assertions, to say the least, stretched the facts regarding this issue so as to make them appear much more alarming: and generalized than they actually were. There is certainly a question here as to whether the courts have any business monitoring religious doctrines and rituals. It appeared to me, even at the time, that they were trying to have it both ways. They wanted full protection by the government as a business. Yet they demanded no interference from the government with their "religious" practices and doctrines. And, in fact, the U.S. courts were being called upon to ensure that these "religious doc- trines" were not deviated from: hardly separation of Church and State! Next - Commander Steve Marlowe, Inspector General from the Religious Technology Corporation: The fact of the matter is you have a new breed of management in the Church. They're tough, they're ruthless, and they are on Source!" he announced. Holding onto upper level students and pre-clears when they should be moving up the bridge, which is exactly what we're here for, are over. They [the actions of mission holders of denying them "custom- ers"] are violations of long-standing policy. They [the mission holders' actions of holding onto "org customers"] enter into such criminal or civil charges as conversion, theft, not to mention Industrial Espionage and Sabotage which will get you two years in the pokey. I sat through all this while the cameras kept flashing at us, thinking this is so bizarre. I knew most of the mission holders in the room, and I knew how they detested what was happening, yet we all clapped at 208 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE the right places. The guards were watching for anyone with disagree- ment showing on their faces. Ray Mithoff, the new chief Case Supervisor was really being a zealot: The future can either be bright or very bad. I know for me it's going to be very bright and for someone who's out there squirreling and try- ing to get other people's attention off of Scientology and onto some- thing, just to fatten their own pocket or whatever, that person's future is black. You hear Mr. Starkey mention a bit of how black it is. It is really black. It is so black I can't even describe it right now. I can't even find words to describe how black that person's future is. In fact it is almost as black as the future of an FBI agent. I mean it is really black. The depth of that blackness and the length of time that that person will be in oblivion is just immeasurable.... In the same vein, Norman Starkey said of a defector: He will never, never, I promise you, for any lifetime, get any au- diting or ever get a chance to get out of this trap....That means dy- ing and dying and dying again; forever, for eternity.... Then Wendall Reynolds, was introduced as the International Fi- nance Dictator! He said: Now right now you guys are Counter Intention on my lines [mean- ing we were getting in the way of what he was trying to do], maybe one exception in this room, but I doubt it, because you guys are sitting on public [I assumed he didn't mean it literally - but meant holding onto their customers], you're ripping off the orgs, you're doing all manner of crazy things.... Now some of these guys you see standing around here are Interna - tional Finance Police and their job is to go out and find this stuff and if you guys are guilty of it, you've just had it! So, are we talking the same language here now... Now this convention is costing the Church money. You're all going to sign 5 percent minimum Corrected Gross Income (income after overheads are paid) to this DMSMH Campaign. This meant that we were to pay 5 percent of our mission's income to a IIli advertising campaign for Hubbard's book, Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health. The book was published by a for *The Saviour's Revenge* 209 profit corporation and the royalties went to Hubbard, yet our non- profit franchises were supposed to carry part of the costs. It sounded illegal to me. When, later that morning (the meeting ran on till 2.30 A.M.) I was told to sign the contract for 5 percent, I told the Finance Policeman that I wanted to put a proviso on the form stating that it was signed on the proviso that it was legal. He told me, "Sign!" When I still hesi- tated he said, with a sarcastic grin, that I could ask Wendall Reynolds the Finance Dictator about it. I signed knowing that any other action was dangerous in this charged atmosphere. THE FINANCE DICTATOR: You're going to get Dianetics and Scientology as a household word. ... And if you look at it Battlefield Earth [a science fiction book by Hubbard] has been released on the same pattern as the early 1950s, when LRH was a popular writer, with DMSMH released right on the heels of it and that put it right on the best-seller list! And right now Battlefield Earth is selling out and selling out and selling out again. So we got a tremendous popularity thing going and you guys are getting a gift at 5 percent of CGI [Corrected Gross In- come]. It's a total gift. So if I hear one person in this room who's not coughing up 5 per- cent....as a minimum you've got an investigation coming your way, because you got other crimes in your mission. Questions on that?.... We were pulled out one at a time to have mug shots taken by a uniformed photographer. It was then announced by Captain Lesevre, in a heavy French ac- cent, that teams of finance police would be coming to our missions and that we were going to be paying for them. The price would be $15,000.00 a day. We were all finally told we could leave on the proviso that we wrote a letter to Ron thanking him for the event and acknowledging him for his contributions to us and mankind. Guards blocked the door until we were given clearance. **** Homer Shomer told me recently about Miscavage and company's 210 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE excitement as they returned to Author Services (on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood) where Homer worked at the time: When they came back from the meeting they were laughing and joking about how they had really "socked it to those bastards." The look on Kingsley Wimbush's face when he was expelled was a source of great amusement - very funny! And there was much backslapping and mutual congratulations. Norm Starkey was quite a hero for his expul- sion of Gary Smith. They called a special sta meeting to brag. It was also only recently that I learned that Hubbard was the prime mover behind the actions of his messengers at the San Francisco meeting. Homer Shomer told me that he saw a note from Hubbard which told these guys: Congratulations on your handling of these franchise holders. As far as I'm concerned you can get rid of all of them. We don't need them! I believe that this revenge for the Florida "mutiny" was Hubbard's last major move as a manager of the Church as such, a move that pre- cipitated a major schism. Following this, according to an ex-aide, he became preoccupied with preparing for his death and with preserving the myths he had created about himself: He became obsessed with recovering his bio- graphical and other personal documents turned over to a courtroom in nearby Los Angeles (Chapters 21 and 23). 20 Thousands Break from Hubbard's Church Not only had the mission holders been hit. Some 18 of the top mes- sengers and executives immediately under Hubbard had been purged, accused of "working for the enemy." Among these were some of the highest "tech trained" people, including David Mayo, who had for over a decade been what is essentially the Archbishop of"Standard Technol- ogy," the Case Supervisor International. It was Mayo who had been called to the dying Hubbard's side when he had become the victim of a stroke or heart attack in 1978 and had assisted him back to health and participated in the development of the "Nots tech."* Also included among the 18 who were purged were the two execu- tives who had headed the mission network, John Axel and Roger Barnes. They had been imprisoned at Gilman Hot Springs, with guards outside the doors of their locked rooms, and along with the others were then transferred to a separate property, some 15 wiles away in a secluded area in the San Jacinto foothills. Here they could not "contaminate the other crew." Their story over the next six months or so included watching David Miscavage and Steve Marlowe regularly spit in the faces of some of the inmates there. In one instance John Axel (top franchise executive) was re- ported to have been told to take off his glasses by Miscavage, and then punched in the face. *The secret OT levels that bring in the greatest amount of money to Scientology. These are covered in Part II. Chapter 13. 211 212 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE **** After my return to the mission, I received constant calls for one thing or another, always accompanied by threats. One particular inci- dent symbolized the ridiculousness of the situation: We were ordered to sell 1000 copies of Hubbard's recently released science-fiction book Battlefield Earth "before Thursday" or I would be kicked out as mis- sion holder. I was at home shaving when the phone rang. The receptionist at the mission informed me that there were three uniformed Sea Org people there, saying they were Finance Police. Wallis Hooker was the leader of the group. He was wearing offi- cer's regalia, and the appropriate severe "no-nonsense" expression. He briefed me on the seriousness of the situation. We had been hold- ing on to clears and not sending them off to the orgs! They were there to see that all "clears" (50 percent of our "public") were sent immediately, and that an astronomical quota of staff and "customers" were sent to Flag (in Florida) in less than two days, paid in full. We were to be billed for this pillage, to pay immediately at the end of each day, 15 thousand dollars a day. (By this time we had just $30,000 left, which was far below outstanding bills.) The first day came to a close without our having met the impossible targets they had set. "Get me a check for 15 Gs!" demanded Wallis. I told him I needed to speak to his superior because what he was demanding was illegal. It was forcing me to do something that was not only counter to the interests of the corporation of which I was in charge, but would bring about its bankruptcy. Wallis was terrified of questioning the orders he had received, de- spite the fact that I could tell he secretly sympathized with my plight. He kept mumbling about being sentenced to the Rehabilitation Pro- ject Force. Yet I was able to get him to call a person he addressed as "Matisse." In what was genuinely an act of courage for the man, he presented my argument to him. Then he went suddenly silent, and as he listened to the reply, I watched him blanche and almost pass out, muttering an occasional, "Yes, sir! Of course, sir! I'm sorry, Sir! Right away, sir!' When he dropped the receiver, he had taken on a new resolve. He took a deep breath and started in on me in the manner that Matisse had obviously pounded into him. There was to be "no more bullshit!" I was to sign the check or be *Thousands Break from Hubbard's Church* 213 expelled. I had five minutes, and he had ten to get back with Matisse and report that he had the check, signed by me for 15 Gs, in his hand. I signed and he called. We were down to 15 thousand dollars in the bank and no prospects of further income to cover immediate urgent bills. I called all over, everyone I knew who had not yet been kicked out. There weren't many. It quickly became clear that the orders anima- ting poor Wallis came from "very high up" - which was code for Hubbard himself. Then I received a call from Matisse, and in a strong German accent he yelled, "You will sign another check for 15 Gs tonight. If you do not have the check signed in 15 minutes you will be going to jail for a very long time!" There was no doubt that he meant that I would be framed in the same manner as they had framed Paulette Cooper - something I was aware of by this time. I had no doubt they could pull that off. Any heroic stance of not signing would be futile, I decided, because who- ever they put in after me would be happy to sign. Then the place wouldn't have a chance. I signed, and was informed that I was to get a plane to Santa Clara in Northern California and report to Matisse for a security check. On the way up I schemed how I would pull off lying on the sec check. The truth would obviously get me expelled and I would have no chance to figure out how to salvage my mission. I would lie while clearly facing the truth in my own mind. For in- stance, if they asked me if I was communicating to any suppressive people (most my friends were "suppressive" by now and I always ac- cepted their calls) I would say "no" while picturing in my mind talk- ing to them. The basic theory is that the meter reacts to those things that one resists confronting. Thus I would confront freely the truthful answer while verbally lying. If I told the truth to these tyrants I would obviously be declared, and the mission would collapse as a working installation and all my dreams and those of my friends at the mission would be smashed. For four hours the next afternoon, Matisse and an American Sea Org officer, whose name escapes me, interrogated me on the E-meter. I lied as much as necessary, and got away with it! They tried every trick to catch me out, but the meter constantly verified that what I was telling them was the "truth." They were puzzled, and as I left, Matisse told me (placing his 214 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE thumb and forefinger close together): "You have come this close to having your throat cut!" I was subsequently reminded repeatedly "not to take out any loans on the building or try to sell it!" It was coming through loud and clear. I had only a short time left and there was no way they would let us continue to keep the prop- erty, which was worth a substantial amount of money, in the name of the corporation we controlled. They obviously had plans to transfer the property out of our control. They had their hands full with other situations, but as soon as they could muster the manpower, a caper would be pulled that would turn us into an org and, unless I signed an undated resignation, I would be replaced with someone who would. Over the next few days there was a call from someone in the Guard- ian's Office. This person wanted us to go to the courthouse and xerox some papers that had to do with the L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., case against his father's estate. I went down and read the file while it was being copied, and some of the stuff was eye-opening! For the first time I began to wonder se- riously whether Hubbard himself was behind all these atrocities. The case notes also made mention of the Armstrong case prog- ressing in Los Angeles, so I noted down the case number. Two days later Mark Lutovski and I drove to Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse. It was during this drive that the idea was first brought up: "Were there any circumstances under which we would consider breaking away from the Church of Scientology?" We quickly dropped any discussion of what we had been thor- oughly indoctrinated was the ultimate treason, the highest of crimes! What we read in the court records shook us both even more than had the thought of leaving. The evidence was coming through loud and clear: L. Ron Hubbard had been lying to us; he was not who he said he was, and he had undoubtedly been behind the Guardian's Office in their implementation of the "Fair Game Law" against gov- ernments and individuals. When someone sent me an anonymous letter containing the arti- cles and by-laws of the Religious Technology Corporation, which in- cluded what was essentially a license-to-steal-reaI-estate clause, I de- cided that some action had to be taken to protect the building. My wife and Mark agreed. The clause stated that RTC had the power to dissolve any junior *Thousands Break from Hubbard's Church* 215 corporation (which included all SMI corporations) at will, at which point all assets (such as our building) would be distributed to RTC. I called the lawyer and asked him for a solution to my dilemma. How would I protect the building, assets, and our beliefs (which we by now recognized as very different from those of the Church of Sci- entology as practiced) without alerting Church authorities? It did not take long for events to develop, making it necessary to use contingency measures recommended by our lawyer. There was a call soon enough on a Friday night. I was ordered down to see the Master at Arms (who had disciplinary authority) at SMI in Los An- geles the next day....I had no illusions about the fate of the mis- sion: it was to become an "official org" (headed by someone who would sign an undated resignation) with or without our co-operation. Some hundred people attended the meeting where we announced that we wanted to break away from the Church of Scientology. I gave a talk giving the reasons as best I was able, since my own mind was still in some turmoil. There was a standing ovation at the end and people crowded around to wish us well. **** The next day all hell broke loose! Our staff and public were being called till three in the morning, being told that they would be damned for all eternity if they stayed with us. Many left, but few went to the Church-authorized official mission hurriedly made operational down the road. Other missions splintered in the U.S. and Europe, but the majority of missions, over the next few weeks, just fell apart. This was devasta- ting to Scientology's international income over the next couple of years. The following nine months were quite hectic: I travelled to several European countries, aided by a couple from England, and "splinter groups" were springing up everywhere. It developed into a major schism reported in The New York Times and noted in Time and People magazines. The central figure (the Martin Luther) consolidating much of this "independence movement" was David Mayo, who set up his group in Santa Barbara in late July - ironically, it turned out, not far from San Louis Obisbo where Hubbard lived secretly in seclusion. The Church went utterly bonkers. There were parchment-like 216 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE posters distributed with Old West criminal characters pictured and "Wanted, Squirrels, Dead or Alive" on them. ("Squirrels" had previ- ously been defined as people who "altered the tech." Now it meant any- one who dared to help others with any aspect of"the tech" without gro- velling before the Church's self-declared "ruthless managers.") We were sued for 4.2 million dollars and private investigators were hired to spy on us and David Mayo. The suit was in line with Hubbard's writings on how to handle this kind of situation. Since we had no money, it was designed to break us with legal fees. Mayo was also sued, in an innovative legal maneuver, under federal racketeer- ing laws (RICO) for "theft of trade secrets" (for using written "tech- nical materials written by Hubbard - which had in actual fact been written by Mayo and then been published by Hubbard over his own name). Hubbard had written: The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than to win. The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly. I discovered that L. Ron Hubbard Jr. had a listed phone number in Carson City, Nevada, so I called and spoke to him for some hours. **** This era is rich with stories: There was a fancy plot to get me jailed in Denmark on trumped-up charges. Denmark operates on Napoleonic law and one can be jailed until trial without bail. There were tickets paid for me waiting at the Los Angeles Airport. I had been suckered into believing that there was a businessman who would pay me twenty thousand dollars for counselling (which we needed badly for our legal defense). Previous to this plot, an Englishman (ex-Scientology Sea Org Inem- ber Robin Scott) had gone to Denmark with a couple of friends and pulled off a "caper" against the Church of Scientology there. He stole "highly confidential" upper level materials (for which Scientologists were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to be audited on - see Chapter 13: "Are You Haunted?"). Dressed in Sea Org uniforms, his partners entered the Danish Scientology Org and announced they were from the RTC and demanded to inspect the state and security of *Thousands Break from Hubbard's Church* 217 their confidential materials. When their orders were complied with, they demanded to be left alone, and absconded with the material. Robin Scott was later jailed and languished in prison for a month. While I had nothing to do with this in any way, the G.O. had ap- parently managed to get someone to allege to the Danish Police that I had. A couple of hours before I left for England, however, I was tipped off. My friend in Denmark went to the airport the next day to see who was there to "greet" me, had I been on the plane. Sure enough, there was a member of the Danish constabulatory and a well known mem- ber of the Danish Guardian's Office! Another G.O. covert operation involved planting a spy in my group who was ordered to get a floor plan made of my building, especially noting the location of my Office. After that there were break-ins, dur- ing one of which many pre-clear folders were stolen. He also had or- ders to discourage my key staff from working for me, along with a host of other destructive projects. My friend Mark Chacon defended 23 small claims suits brought by Scientologists loyal to Hubbard (orchestrated by the G.O.). We won 21 of these cases. The chaos was not limited to the U.S.: a shy young man in Stuttgart Germany, who had started a franchise in the mid-seventies and made it a huge success, was in trouble. When the Finance Police had arrived he went out on a limb to meet their insane financial demands. He raised nearly a hundred thousand dollars. He was summoned to the Flag Land Base in Florida. While there, independently from Scientology he joined up with a high stakes, high risk attempt to salvage a sunken ship off the coast of Florida. Shortly thereafter he was dead, having drowned. Martin Samuels, besides being expelled and removed from his four franchises and school-the school being located in a former Jesuit monastery in Sheridan, Oregon - lost his wife of 17 years (who the Finance Police turned against him) and the custody and affection of his two young children (they had been drilled to disconnect from "the S.P. "). He was tricked into turning over every penny he had. Busted and emotionally devastated, he sought refuge with his parents. He later told me: Since the beginning of my time in Scientology there had been a bold vision of inspiring ideals. And myself and many other bright young people were attracted to that vision. 218 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE And I and they dedicated the most precious years of our lives to it. Specifically in the mission network we sensed something was wrong. We couldn't articulate it or put our finger on it, and we worked at the pe- rimeter away from the corruption. When the corruption and abuses became blatant and undeniable, the better people were the first to leave, until there developed a vast exodus of all the brighter more decent people. My time of final awakening came in November of 1982. **** Hubbard had, in a sustained frenzy of blind fury, wiped out his most lucrative source of new customers and future income: the mis- sions. It would be more than two years later before a new "laissez-faire" era was proclaimed. As usual, some new Scientologists, capable but misinformed individuals, came to Hubbard's rescue. A successful chiropractor, in San Francisco, finding himself im- pressed with "Hubbard's" management techniques, set up "Sterling Management Systems," targeted exclusively at professionals. This de- veloped into a slick business-style program of seminars, some under different names, such as "The Advisory." While the promotion for these seminars does not mention Hubbard or the Church of Scientology, a Church representative claimed that 40 percent of graduates end up "starting on The Bridge." The seminars, along with a multi-million-dollar Pr blitz ad cam- paign for Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health, consti- tuted the new program for recruiting: "raw meat" into Scientology. One claim, made by a seminar leader, was that Lee Iaccoca was a success because he used Hubbard's management techniques! 21 Hubbard's PR Biography lies Exposed "I have never lied to you or conned you." - L. RON HUBBARD, 1983. Concurrent with the events starting with my "Bonnie and Clyde" confrontation with the sheriff in my driveway in late 1979, were the discovery of boxes of Hubbard's private documents at Gilman Hot Springs. A few years later, this resulted in a flood of material being revealed that changed my life and views dramatically. Another result was a widened schism within Hubbard's Church precipitated, in part, by my promotion of this material internationally. As some background to these events, here is an excerpt from one of several short biographies circulating among Scientologists as promo- tional handouts or introductions to Hubbard's books during the sixties and seventies: L. Ron Hubbard was born in Tilden, Nebraska, on the 13th of March, 1911. His father was Commander Harry Ross Hubbard of the United States Navy. His mother was Dora May Hubbard (nee Water- bury de Wolfe), a thoroughly educated woman, a rarity in her time! Ron spent his early childhood years on his grandfather's large cattle ranch in Montana. It was on this ranch that he learned to read and write by the time he was three and a half years old. L. Ron Hubbard found the life of a young rancher very enjoyable. Long days spent riding, breaking broncos, hunting coyote and taking his first steps as an explorer. 219 220 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE It was in Montana that he had his first encounter with another culture - the Blackfoot (Pikuni) Indians. He became a blood brother of the Pikuni and was later to write about them in his first published novel, Buckskin Brigade's. Before Ron was ten years old, he had become thoroughly educated in schools as well as by his mother. By the time he was twelve years old, young L. Ron Hubbard had already read a large number of the world's greatest classics - and his interest in philosophy and religion was born. Not that the explorer in him had been stilled. Far from it. A Montana newspaper of the period reported thusly on one of Helena's newest high school students: Ronald Hubbard has the distinction of being the only boy in the country to secure an Eagle Scout badge at the age of twelve years. He was a Boy Scout in Washington, D.C., before coming to Helena. In Washington, D.C., he had also become a close friend of Presi- dent Coolidge's son, Calvin Jr. whose early death accelerated L. Ron Hubbard's interest in the mind and spirit of man. The following years, from 1925 to 1929, saw the young Mr. Hub- bard, between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, as a budding and en- thusiastic world traveller and adventurer. His father was sent to the Far East and, having the financial support of his wealthy grandfather, L. Ron Hubbard spent these years journeying through Asia.... These writings, containing numerous bogus claims, influenced many in their decision to make Scientology a "career." Some of the claims were published in Who's Who in America which, to many, amounted to confirmation. One who was influenced by Hubbard's lies was Gerry Armstrong. After he left the Church in 1982, he wrote: My research throughout 1980 and 1981, however, revealed a very different, and to me shocking picture of Hubbard, his past, creden- tials, accomplishments. [Contrary to his claims] he had not graduated in mathematics, nor was he educated in higher mathematics. He was not educated in advanced physics. He did not obtain a bachelor of science degree. He was not a civil engineer. He was not a nuclear physicist. He was not a member of the first U.S. course in nuclear physics. He did not excel in his subjects at university. He attended George Washington University two years, 1931 and 1932. He was placed on probation after the first year, and in the second *Hubbard's PR Biographies Exposed* 221 year his grades deteriorated. He failed both his mathematics courses his first year and got D's when he repeated them the second year. The one course he took in molecular and atomic physics he failed. He did not return to George Washington University thereafter. Hubbard did not pursue post-graduate studies at Princeton. During the war, he attended a less-than-four-month course in mili- tary government which was given by the Navy on the Princeton cam- pus. I had seen diaries Hubbard kept of his time spent in Asia, and corre- spondence between him and his parents and associates from the pe- riod, and was able to determine fairly accurately the truth behind his claims about this period. He was not in China at fourteen and did not spend several years travelling thoughout Asia. He did not study with lama priests. He was never in India. He attended school in the United States during the years fourteen through eighteen. Hubbard's father, who was a naval officer, was stationed on Guam, and Hubbard travelled twice by ship to Guam to the U.S. and back, once in 1927 and once in 1928. On those trips the ships stopped briefly at various Asiatic ports in Japan, China, Hong Kong and the Philip- pines. The only time Hubbard travelled into the interior of China was on a tour sponsored by the YMCA given to children of U.S. service personnel stationed in the Pacific. His total time in Asia was a few weeks. He visited a "lamasary" while on the YMCA trip and noted that the lama priests sounded like "bull frogs." His appreciation of Eastern culture was perhaps summarized when he wrote in his notes in 1929: "The trouble with China is there are too many Chinks here!" ARMSTRONG: I amassed approximately two thousand pages of documentation con- cerning Hubbard's wartime career: what he was doing what vessels he was on, fitness reports and medical and VA disability records. The truth is far different from the public representations. He was not crippled and blinded during the war. [Nor was he, "as a matter of medical record, twice pronounced dead."] He did not cure himself with his discoveries. He was not "Mister Roberts" [played by Henry Fonda]. He was re- moved from the U.S.S. Algol as "unfit" before it went into action. He did not command escort vessels from 1941 to 1946. 222 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE He was not awarded 21 medals and palms. At the beginning of World War II, Hubbard was assigned to Naval Intelligence in Australia. He was there briefly until ordered back to the U.S. as unsatisfactory for the duty, and after his return was transferred out of Intelligence. He had command of two vessels: the first for a month during refit; the second for two and a half months during outfitting and shakedown. He was removed from command of the first for exceeding orders, and from command of the second when he fired the ship's guns in Mex- ican waters causing an international incident. In a diary he kept through part of the war he revealed that he had his men lie for him in the Naval Board of Investigation convened to investigate the incident. He claimed to have sunk two Japanese submarines during the shakedown cruise during his second command, nt the Commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier, Admiral Fletcher, stated in a report that "an analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area." Hubbard spent the last few months of the war in a naval hospital with a duodenal ulcer. He was awarded four standard medals for his wartime service. A copy of a letter from the Department of the Navy listing his naval assignments and medals [spells this out.] At war's end he was awarded a 10 percent disability for the ulcer. In 1946, he "appealed the disability award, claiming in addition to ulcers to have "conjunctivitis" or inflammation of the eyes, and an infection in the hip joint contracted as a result of transition from the tropics to the eastern winter cold. In October 1947 he wrote to the Veterans Administration asking for psychiatric treatment, stating, "I cannot account for no rise above long periods of moroseness and suicidal inclinations." In 1948 he was able to get his disability award increased to 40 per- cent for the duodenal ulcer, infection of the eyes, bursitis of the, right shoulder and arthritis of multiple joints. In August 1951 Hubbard took another set of VA medical examina- tions and complained of the same conditions for which he was receiv- ing a disability pension (and of which he would claim in his Dianetics and Scientology promotional literature he had already cured himself). He was still receiving the 40 percent disability compensation in 1973, according to a letter from the VA. **** In early July of 1986, I interviewed Gerry Armstrong about his dis- covery of Hubbard's biographical materials. Says Armstrong: *Hubbard's PR Biographies Exposed* 223 They had rented the shredder and we had 200 people and the entire property of Gilman Hot Springs dedicated to this shredding. They had this paper shredder which was so big! This thing took them through like in quarter-inch swaths! W w w w w w w w w r r r r r r r r r r t h h h h h h h h h h h! It was a big big big, giant munching shredder! Laurel Sullivan says they called it "Jaws," but I think they also called it "lgor." This was a bigger cover-up incident than anything that had ever happened before. At the previous major shredding operation at La Quinta, we were ordered to shred anything which connected Hubbard to the G.O. At Gilman each person went through his stuff that he had been as- signed. There were people who did nothing else but shred, called "Shredder Operators." This time the criteria had been expanded: a. Any evidence of Hubbard's control of Scientology. b. Any docu- ment that showed that he had ordered anything at all. c. Any docu- ment that showed that he was intending to reside at the Gilman Hot Springs property. d. Anything that showed that he had ever been to the Gilman Hot Springs property. Each person had to go though any documents in his area. I was in charge at that time of the household unit at Gilman. In the household unit, we were setting up a house for Hubbard. We tiled the floor. His bedroom tiles were dark blue and the room itself was painted dark blue. This was because he had some theory about sleeping in dark rooms and how much better he slept.... Anyway, late one night I came across a box of stuff. And it was about eight inches deep, maybe 12 inches wide and 16 inches long. It was all beat up, opened, you could see that the lid had all kinds of tears. Brenda Black had found it and she handed it over to me. I looked through it. And I knew right away that this was a whole different thing than I'd ever seen in Scientology. These papers were out of a whole different realm. A real letter written by Hubbard? You've got to understand I knew all about Standing Order Number 1; that S.O. 1* was a lie. These letters I was now witnessing were mainly the ones between him and his first wife. There were also two diaries, which he had kept from [his days in] *LRH Standing Order # 1: "All mail addressed to me shall be received by me." Replies to Scientologists' letters to Hubbard, written over Hubbard's signature, were, with few exceptions, written by someone other than himself. Neither letters nor replies were received or seen by him. Interestingly enough, the few exceptions were mostly from non-Scientologists, such as people involved in the field of science fiction writing and editing. 224 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Asia. And then there were all sorts of other assorted papers going all the way back, some into the 19th century. Brenda wanted to know what to do. And I remember my Scientolog- ical mind going back and forth on whether or not to keep these docu- ments. Did it make sense2 I had to evaluate, because the whole place was mustered into destroying documents. We found several boxes, and Hubbard's biography had suddenly be- come possible, because now we had some material. All we had before were these things written by Hubbard, and a few old science fiction magazines. Now all of a sudden we had letters, we had diaries, and so on. All there was known prior to that, even by the top PRs, was the public picture that had been manufactured by Hubbard. I wrote Hubbard a despatch proposing the biography idea. He answered that with a couple of paragraphs. I did not have any idea of the extent of the materials I had stumbled onto. Neither, it turned out, did he. I did a little bit of reading of the documents. Then I started to as- semble it into some kind of sense. It was real difficult, given the time and distractions. In the beginning of February the messengers moved to the Com- plex, two and a half hours away in Los Angeles, where they were now "The Messengers!" They just descended on the place and had this impact on the joint. There was DM (David Miscavage) and the WDC (Watch Dog Commit- tee). Laurel and I moved to L.A. also, and with us went the LRH ar- chives. In L.A. there are collectors and early Dianeticists, and other people that knew Hubbard, so some research could be done there. I got in touch with collector Virgil Wilhite and we paid him $65,000.00 for his collection of LRH memorabilia, early books and other writings that the organization didn't have. **** I met Omar Garrison in East Grinstead, England, in September of 1980. I had been sent there especially for the encounter. The meeting went well and within three weeks we set up an Office for Garrison at the blue building in Los Angeles. Garrison arrived in Los Angeles and signed a contract with the Or- ganization, to do the biography. He received twenty thousand dollars. At that time, I had ready for Garrison about seven or eight binders of material of the earliest materials that I'd found and those were *Hubbard's PR Biographies Exposed* 225 mainly the letters between Hubbard and his first wife-"the Skipper Letters," she went by "Skipper" and he was called "the Red Head." Great letters! You should see these things. They're mind bending. But they're mainly under seal by the Court. In those letters, you could just see an incredible battle building be- tween him and his wife: Hubbard being so....you cannot believe how ruthless he is being in those early letters! When Omar was taking over his office I was giving him materials, and I remember thinking that I really resisted saying anything at all about what my conclusions were at the time. I had by this time some kind of confused thought of what the whole thing was about. I remember thinking "I'll wait and he can look at the materials. I didn't know if I could talk openly to Garrison. He was completely, up to that point, if not a died-in-the-wool advocate of Scientology, at least a firm opponent of Scientology's enemies.... Between these interviews with various people from Hubbard's past, we were having meetings with Dr. Denk, in which he worked with us to get Hubbard the Nobel Prize. Hubbard said, "Unlimited funds allo- cated for this project."... I never even said anything to Garrison until it was a little more op- portune, until I was more certain that he'd looked at some of these ma- terials. I think because I was his contact, I spent some time with him, out drinking together. He was writing, and who does he talk to? So he talked to me. Pretty soon there was this slight conspiracy. It wasn't that we were conspiring to do anything, but rather it was a conspiracy of people who knew that there was something radically dif- ferent from what had been presented to us before. It took some time, but I remember Garrison commenting about having all those letters, and me sensing at that time that it was almost safe to talk to him. Inside the Church there was no one to talk to. And I didn't know if he was going to turn on me. But it was better than in there because in Scientology you can trust no one. It was no single thing that was bothering me about Hubbard. It was that as soon as I knew the picture, I knew the picture. It was a quantum leap. Now you know t152 thousand data and sud- denly doink! a quantum leap. Suddenly ail the data is different. There was a point, for instance, where I knew that Hubbard had lied. But I just could not attack the man. And I figured, wait a minute, this is really mind bending. I know now he lied! I decided that in order for us to even know if there is any validity to the subject of Scientology, whatever validity there is has got to stand on its own. It can't stand on a web of lies. 226 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE As this was going on in my head I was talking more and more to Garrison. So I knew at that time that Omar knew what was going on with Hubbard.... A lot of the very early books that I gave Garrison were in Hubbard's own handwriting. And Hubbard, in his own handwriting, would intro- duce a book with "facts about L. Ron Hubbard". So Omar and I would get a kick out of finding more "facts" about L. Ron Hubbard. After a while we would dig up some more of these things written by him, and we would joke, "Oh, no, no more facts!" We had by this time come to know that the "facts" were just so much horseshit. You could be guaranteed that if it was in the "facts about L. Ron Hubbard," it was a lie. And Laurel Sullivan would write these PR pieces. And as I assem- bled more data they got it a little more accurate, but still they really couldn't change things from the way they were before. So this problem was developing - that we now knew it was all lies. It was a shock for Omar, I think. He became real paranoid from knowing what he knew. I began to go through the materials and tried to separate out what truth there was, and what we just couldn't say. I wrote a number of dispatches in an attempt to get the lies removed from the various biographical sketches in books and promotional litera- ture; and the last dispatch was to the Master at Arms having to do with Starkey's response to a previous report of mine. Starkey dropped into Archives, where I was working, one day. He was there to ask questions. I had just gotten back at that time from seeing Nibs [Ron Jr.] with Omar. I said to Starkey that, in my opinion, a lot of the problems with Nibs had been created by the organization. I said that Nibs was not 100 percent wrong in this whole thing. "He looks like he could be a decent guy," I said. And then somehow we got up to Hubbard's lying, and I said, "Lis- ten, we can't continue to claim that the guy's a nuclear physicist." And Starkey said, "Well he never said it! Just a bunch of stupid PRs said it." So I walked over to the shelf [filled with] the books we'd bought from Virgil which contained the original Scientology 8-80, done in 1952, which was a manuscript edition, and there it was....I showed to Starkey where Hubbard claims, in his own handwriting, to have been a nuclear physicist. Starkey just stomped out of there. Then a few days later I was called out to Gilman Hot Springs to talk with the Master at Arms about a report from Starkey. It was a secret *Hubbard's PR Biographies Exposed* 227 report saying that he was concerned as to what documents I might have given Garrison, and he was saying things like, "Armstrong is stating that we are responsible for Nib's problems." This was a fairly accurate rendition of the way I had spoken about it, but it was apparent that it was completely unacceptable that I do such a thing. It would just be a matter of time till I was "busted." So I was desperately trying to get Garrison everything that I could. I now knew that the whole thing was crazy, but also that I couldn't quit the job until I was through getting Garrison what he needed. The pressure of the situation was getting to me. I was one screwed up kid in those days. So I worked as long as I could and copied virtually everything I could for Garrison. I knew I had to do that, because I knew that I would soon be sec checked on what I'd been giving Garrison, and so I had to get it to him before that. I knew that they were in a dilemma. They have been pumping all this stuff out for so long and all the author's sections are already pub- lished. Now what are we going to do? And one of the books they were about to republish was All About Radiation, which states on it's cover, "By an Atomic Physicist* and a Medical Doctor." Well wait a minute, it's copyrighted by L. Ron Hubbard and written by L. Ron Hubbard. Which one is he? What are you going to say, "He's not the nuclear physicist, he's the medical doctor"? Someone in charge of the reprinting of this book wrote to Laurel. Now Laurel was faced with quite a dilemma: We've been saying for years that he's a nuclear physicist. Now are we going to change it? If we change it now, that's like saying, "Wait a minute, last time he was a nuclear physicist!" Someone suggested a "scientific researcher " and Laurel wrote back and said, "No, I think we'd better stick with the `atomic physicist.' I don't really like it, but you know, what exactly is an atomic physicist in any case? We can justify it; and certainly he is a physicist or some- thing..." (The Church has recently used the fact that Laurel Sullivan said that to claim that she and not Hubbard was the source of the atomic physi- cist claim!) Joycelyn [Armstrong's wife] was still working for me at that time and we were copying madly to get all we could to Garrison. Every day I was going to Costa Mesa in Orange County, where Omar Garrison lived, and I would take down a box of materials that I *Mary Sue Hubbard, in the later trial over these "Armstrong" documents, admitted Hubbard was not a nuclear physicist and that she and Hubbard used to laugh about this claim being on the cover of All About Radiation. 228 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE had copied. Then I'd take down a box of shirts or books or whatever, until we got down to the point where we had, box by box, totally moved the whole place out. The last thing we had was Joycelyn's bicycle, and we made like we were going off for a ride. We were gone. I had Garrison's truck, parked right on the corner. I went and threw the bike in it. We went to Garrison's place in Costa Mesa. The follow- ing morning we left and went to their place in Utah and stayed there for a week. It was the great escape right under their noses. During the next several months Gerry Armstrong and his wife were subjected to intense harassment, which included being followed by several Church - hired private eyes virtually everywhere they went; sometimes they were followed by three cars at a time. When he turned his photos of Hubbard, which he legitimately pos- sessed, over to collector Wilhite for a promise of six thousand dollars, Church agents subsequently got to Wilhite and "persuaded" him to hand the photos over to them. Continues Armstrong: So within 24 hours of that I called [attorney] Mike Flynn and, within a couple of days, flew out to Boston to see him.... The more I looked, the more rotten Hubbard became. Also, the more the organization appeared more and more as nothing but illusion and evil. Just look at the stuff they write. Just how distant it is from the truth. And the ends to which they'll go to create "truth." To make illusion appear to be something else. The illusion, for example, of Battlefield Earth as a "legitimate" blockbuster bestseller... One of the wealthy Scientologists, by the name of Ellie Bolger, appar- ently paid a huge amount of money to the organization, which they then disbursed to staff members to go down to B. Dalton or whatever and buy the book. (The publicity from Hubbard's science fiction "best-seller" would, in turn, get the Dianetics book selling. And this, plus a multi-million dollar TV and billboard advertising campaign, has in fact managed to get it back onto The New York Times' best-seller list four times in 1986. According to Hubbard's plan, "raw meat" would subsequently pour into Scientology orgs). *Hubbard's PR Biographies Exposed* 229 **** Wrote Hubbard, "The highest one can attain to truth is to attain to his own illusions." He later explained: "Reality is basically agree- ment." Whether these statements are true or not, they perhaps reveal a great deal about the workings of L. Ron Hubbard's mind: His illusions are supreme! Agree with them and voila! You have re- ality! In his lectures and his writings he seldom looked back to see what he had originated. If he had bothered to listen to his own lectures, especially the early ones, he would have been flabbergasted at how much he had revealed about himself. In a Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture he states: Now you say you have to be absolutely truthful. Sincerity is the main thing, and truthfulness is the main thing and don't lie to anybody ...and you'll get ahead. Brother you sure will. You'll get ahead right on that cycle of action, right toward zero!...It's a trap not being able to prevaricate.... You say, "You know, I was downtown the other day and there's this Yellow Taxi there, and I started to step into this Yellow Taxi, and I'11 be a son of a gun if there wasn't a big ape sitting in the back smoking a cigar. And I closed the door and walked on down the street." This makes life more colorful! His prevarications about his life, certainly make him more colorful! 22 Operation Juggernaut": Hubbard Targets Boston Lawyer "The yapping gnats [critics of Scientology] that are trying to stop our juggernaut will be disposed of. "-CAPTAIN MARK YEAGER (one of the top five elite) An attorney from a small Boston law Office, Michael Flynn, was un- expectedly thrust into an arena where, as the then number one "en- emy" of L. Ron Hubbard, he was confronted with a highly organized and financed operation to "destroy" him. Michael Flynn thought he was just handling a minor case concern- ing return of a small amount of money owed when he agreed to repre- sent a young former Commodore's Messenger called La Venda Van Shaick in 1979. But because of what Ms. Van Schaik knew about L. Ron Hubbard, the fact that she had gone to an attorney would have set bells ringing and red lights flashing at Hubbard's desert hideout. Hubbard wrote often about "the enemy" and the "war" that was being fought, which required vigilance, dedication and sacrifice on the part of his troops. Hubbard perceived Flynn as, and declared him to be, the key agent of these enemies. "Enemy" Michael Flynn's story was told to me by Flynn himself, during lunches and dinners at the time of the Armstrong trial. He was by this time Armstrong's trial attorney. A brief resume of these talks, and the papers for a lawsuit later filed 230 "*Operation Juggernaut*" 231 by Flynn vs. Hubbard, will give a better idea of the battle that was culminating in the courtroom of Judge Brekenridge, on the fifth floor of the Superior Court Building in Los Angeles, in the summer of 1984. This was the scene of the Armstrong trial. MICHAEL FLYNN VS. L. RON HUBBARD Michael Flynn claimed in his July 1985 lawsuit that there is a zoritten conspiracy by Hubbard, and his Church acting as his agents, to "de- stroy" him, beginning from July, 1979 to the present. He targeted Hubbard in his lawsuit because "Hubbard executed and established an elaborate written plan to exercise total dictatorial control over Scientology and others." Hubbard did this, he claimed, by ordering that each of the "Scien- tology" corporations be chartered, and he ordered that: a. Undated resignations be signed by all Corporate Officers, which he kept in his possession, and whenever any board members contested his orders he simply replaced them with others who would comply. b. He was a required signatory on all bank accounts in Scientology over $5,000. c. Hubbard supervised and controlled, in writing, an organization called the "Guardian's Office," which he placed in each of the "Scien- tology" Corporations for the purpose of enforcing his express daily or- ders, which orders he routinely called the "daily battle plan." The G.O. was established and directed by Hubbard and was trained on manuals written by Hubbard, **** Another organization now doing Hubbard's bidding is Religious Technology Corporation, to which he assigned all Scientology trade- marks, but RTC also was fully controlled by him through the use of written advance resignations. The policy "legitimizing" Hubbard's agent's pursuit of Flynn was this one written by Hubbard: This is the correct procedure. 1. Spot who is attacking us. 2. Start investigating them promptly for felonies or worse, using our professionals, not outside agencies. 232 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE 3. Double curve our reply by saying we welcome an investigation of them. 4. Start feeding lurid, blood, sex crimes, actual evidence on the at- tackers to the press. (Emphasis supplied) Don't ever submit to an investigation of us. Make it rough on our attackers all the way. Another policy Hubbard ordered enforced: The following is a list of the successful...actions used by [our] in- telligence [bureau]: - Using...[sex] on someone high in government to seduce them over to our side. - Infiltrating in every group with an end to getting documents. - Covert third partying with forged or phony signatures. - Anonymous third partying [stirring up trouble by a campaign of disinformation]. Particularly the Internal Revenue Service... - Direct theft of documents - Impersonating a reporter over the phone. The following are possibilities for collecting data: 1. Infiltration 2. Bribery 3. Buying information 4. Robbery 5. Blackmail It was pursuant to this and other secret policies laid down by Hubbard that the offenses against him had been committed, claims Flynn. A special operation in line with the above policies and the "Fair Game policy" was designed for Michael Flynn. It was labelled "Operation Juggernaut" and designed to "lie [about], cheat, sue and destroy" him. Under "Juggernaut," he claims, the following acts were performed: His offices were infiltrated and files of his were stolen. He was har- assed and some of his clients were "rated" from him. He was de- famed privately as well as in the 1 sep suits were brought against him, his news-media. Nine groundless law as nine groundless bar complaints colleagues and employees, as well Flynn further claims that water to get him disbarred. private airplane in an attempt to mwas placed in the fuel tanks of his pants in the plane at that time, murder him. There were four occu- cluding his son. "*Operation Juggernaut*" 233 He further claims that they threatened to poison him and kidnap his clients. False and defamatory articles were published and distributed at his law school, and false information was given to the IRS in order to ini- tiate an investigation. Furthermore, Hubbard's agents illegally ob- tained his bank account information; placed dirt in his car's fuel tank; and generally engaged in a wholesale pattern of abusive and harassive behaviour. All this began in July of 1979 when a young woman, La Venda Van Schaick, approached him for the purpose of obtaining a "refund" of monies paid by her to the Church in the amount of approximately $12,800. Flynn sent a letter to the C.O. for the purpose of obtaining the money and thus saving the trouble of a lawsuit. They refused to pay. Within days of that letter being sent, Hubbard, who was then in Hemet, California, ordered an immediate infiltration of Flynn's law Office by G.O. agent Chuck Malone, who sought employment from Flynn posing as a private investigator. His purpose was in fact to steal records and information. He was not hired. Van Schaick began to be followed and her apartment kept under surveillance, and numerous strange and suspicious circumstances occurred in her daily life. The same was the case with Flynn. Yet all that had happened to cause all this fuss was one letter re- garding a refund! Then there was a reply: a letter stating that the Church would be willing to pay approximately 50 percent of the funds paid by Van Schaick. But it also suggested that Van Schaick should not sue the Church for the balance of the funds because she had an extensive drug history, and had had "three abortions," had "attempted sui- cide," had severe mental problems, and had signed an agreement never to sue the Church or Hubbard. All this stuff, she told Flynn, had come from her pre-clear folder which had been divulged under the strictest of confidence. Flynn then began getting anonymous calls suggesting that repre- senting Van Schaick was a "dangerous matter," that no one "messes with the Church," and that if he had any doubts about this he should contact others who had "sought to interfere with Scientology." Then at a small airport, he claims, he observed "unidentified indi- viduals viewing his small plane and seeking information about it." On about October 19, 1979, he was flying this plane to South Bend, Indiana, when the engine began to malfunction at approximately 234 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE 8,000 feet and lost power entirely for a period of some time, and he was forced to land at an airport nearby. He claims that he subse- quently discovered large amounts of water in the fuel tanks, "al- though prior to take-off I had gone through the normal pre-flight ex- amination without discovering any water." Flynn believes that water balloons, which are designed to dissolve about an hour after takeoff, were placed in the tanks by G.O. agents, on the express orders of Hubbard. Over the next several months Van Schaick was subjected to numer- ous incidents, such as having her house surveilled, being run off the road in her car, numerous telephone calls to her neighbors suggesting that she was an unfit mother, calls to her employer "resulting in a loss of her job as a waitress," attempts to convince her that Flynn was en- gaged in harassive behavior against her in an attempt to have her fire him, and attempts to separate her from her husband. Specifically, a G.O. agent named Gary Klinger was sent from Los Angeles to convince her that the "harassive things" that were being done to her were being done by Flynn. During November of 1979 nine of the highest officials of the G.O. were convicted of a variety of crimes, and approximately 30,000 docu- ments, seized by the FBI during the raids in 1977, were released to the general public. Flynn sent an employee to the Federal Court in Washington to copy thousands of these documents. In large part, the documents verified the allegations made by Van Schaick: namely, that Hubbard and the G.O. were responsible for the numerous inexplicable and harassive incidents that had occurred dur- ing the prior several months. These documents revealed a 15 year pattern of infiltration, bur- glary, bugging, and harassment. There were hundreds of documents showing the use of confidential information by Scientology corporations against individuals such as Van Schaick, used often for the purpose of frustrating their legal rights. Some even specified the use of extortion and blackmail. The documents also showed extensive use of the legal system to harass with groundless lawsuits. Cases that were known to have no merit were nevertheless brought in order to break individuals finan- cially with legal expenses. When Flynn filed Van Schaick's lawsuit in December of 1979, the publicity regarding it swamped his Office with hundreds of telephone calls over a period of weeks. "*Operation Juggernaut*" 235 These calls were from a variety of individuals and organizations. They included parents whose children had committed suicide while in Scientology, individuals who had been hospitalized as a result of Scientology involvement, authors, reporters, individuals who had al- legedly been defrauded by Scientology, and various law enforcement agencies. Lawsuits and bar complaints by the Church against Flynn and his clients began to accumulate, and as time progressed were being dis- missed as groundless, but at large expense to those concerned. Behyeen August 197Y and up to at least September of 1981 the G.O., pursuant to Hubbard's orders, had stolen, according to Flynn, 20,000 documents either directly from his Office or from a trash dumpster. Many had been taken directly from his Office files. These were used for, among other things, blocking the legal reme- dies of Flynn's clients, presumably to ruin his practice. They were also used in aid of all the other tricks played on Flynn himself. Between January and May of 1980 hundreds of former Scientology members contacted Flynn seeking legal help. Tonja Burden was one of these. Flynn filed suit on her behalf in Federal Court. Flynn was placed on top of the Church's "enemies list," a copy of which he received from someone who had recently left the Church. In June of 1978, with some 50 cases being planned against them, the G.O. offered 1.6 million dollars to resolve all existing and pend- ing litigation. Flynn accepted "in a good faith effort to resolve the en- tire matter," since the G.O. promised reform and the financial costs of conducting all the litigation was staggering. Flynn having "ex- pended $200,000" of his own money already. During the summer of 1981, however, Hubbard replaced some of his agents in the G.O. with several young members of the "Commo- dore's Messenger Org." They had served Hubbard personally throughout their teenage years, were approximately 21 to 22 years of age, and fanatical adherents to Hubbard. These included David Miscavage. They were put there, according to Flynn's affidavit, to command the C.O., because Hubbard believed that Flynn had not been ha- rassed intensively enough, and Hubbard intended to increase the level of "attack" and harassment of him. These messengers, on Hubbard's orders, adopted a plan to broaden "Operation Juggernaut" and to conduct an all-out campaign against Flynn in order to bring him to his knees. This involved a highly secre-. 236 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE tive written plan adopted by Hubbard, Miscavage, Starkey, and others to attack Flynn "on all fronts." A meeting of lawyers in Atlanta, Georgia, was convened by Mis- cavage and Starkey. Its purpose was to initiate Bar complaints, law- suits, depositions, motions for disqualification, contempt motions and other forms of harassment making use of the judicial system. Using the materials taken from Flynn since 1979, and some expen- sive legal talent, they devised various plots and put them into prac- tice. These involved setting depositions on dates when Flynn was tied up in other hearings, and timing notices so that Flynn appeared to be in contempt. Over the entire period of Flynn's involvement with Hubbard and the Church, Hubbard had, through the G.O., and through several attorneys retained by the G.O., systematically libelled and slandered him on hundreds of occasions, says Flynn. All this, he claims, was in furtherance of Hubbard's policy to "man- ufacture" libelous evidence, to "originate a black PR campaign," and to use "covert third partying." During the Armstrong trial the Church's attorneys virtually begged the judge to get Flynn off the case. One wonders why, if he really was the shyster criminal they said he was, they didn't bring the evidence into court and have the man removed from the case? **** One of the most interesting accusations against Flynn is that he is part of a world-wide "Rockefeller conspiracy to destroy religion." Apparently an offspring of one of the Rockefeller cousins (a great great granddaughter of John D.) had become involved, in some fash- ion, with Scientology. This seems to have precipitated a response by her parents. Author Stewart Lamont (Religion Inc.) who initially planned to write a pro-Scientology book but later turned critical, has this to say: [The Scientologists] point to a donation of $135,000 in 1983 from the New York Community Trust to the Scientology Victims, Defense Fund, which is administered from Flynn's Office. At first sight it looks peculiar. The Scientologists claim the source of the recommendation was an aide of Nelson Rockefeller who had clashed with them back in 1955 over the "Siberia Bill." Heber Jentzsch raged, "The Rockefellers backed Adolph Hitler during the Second World War and continue this tradition in present time by backing straw men who attack religious "*Operation Juggernaut*" 237 men and churches. Let it be known that we will vindicate Mr. Hub- bard's good name regardless of how many Rockefeller mega-bucks are poured into the Fund." These turn out to be weasel words when the donation is measured alongside the hundreds of others of a humanita- rian nature handed out by the Trust, totalling $350 million. There is already ample evidence in this book to show that many people have been harmed by Scientology and surely Michael Flynn, whatever his motives, cannot be expected to go on year after year charging nothing for his services. Until auditing is given free the Scientologists have lit- tle to complain about. Their attempts to discredit Flynn have been shown up time and again to be sleazy and inaccurate at the very least. 23 The Boss's Withholds Are Revealed in a "Wog Court" The Church side (representing Hubbard) was confident they would win the Armstrong trial. In their view, the biographical documents clearly belonged to L. Ron Hubbard. Mary Sue Hubbard (newly out of prison, on parole) had clear claims as custodian. She claimed that her personal letters being viewed by the likes of Flynn was tantamount to "mental rape. " The documents were now in the custody of the Los Angeles Supe- rior Court. The Church pushed for a speedy trial, without doubt at the insis- tence of Hubbard, who was secretly living a couple of hours by car from the courthouse, near San Luis Obispo. Any legal maneuvers, at any cost, were being used to ensure those documents were speedily returned "to their proper owner.., While the legal bureau fought hard for the return of"L. Ron Hub- bard's" documents, Church P.R. would later make claims that key documents involved were really "forgeries" planted by Government covert agencies. **** June of 1984 the trial began. Gerry Armstrong was on the stand for a couple of weeks, and the trial lasted a total of almost ten weeks. There were star witnesses brought on by Flynn who had known Hubbard and his finances inti- mately; and the Church brought on Mary Sue and even an old sea 238 *The Boss's Withholds Revealed* 239 captain called Thomas Moulton, who had served under Hubbard dur- ing World War II in the Northeast Pacific. I was fascinated by the proceedings and disclosures on the day when I first attended, and after that I took off almost every day from my other pursuits and drove the 50 miles to L.A. to attend. The opening arguments were presented for the Church and Mary Sue Hubbard, by Mr. Little CHURCH'S OPENING ARGUMENT (excerpts): This case is, in essence, a very simple case.... Mr. Armstrong in 1980, January or February of 1980, petitioned within the church that he be appointed as an archivist to gather up ma- terials that had been found in a building on church property in a place out in the desert called Gilman Hot Springs; it turned out to be a great deal of old material of the Hubbards which had been gathered.... Now the issue, therefore, is whether or not these private materials can be used by the defendant and introduced into evidence. They want these documents spread on the public record for use elsewhere. That is the intended objective. It is a desire to intrude into these private materials so that they can be used in the public arena in various ways, as part of what is in reality a very intense litigation battle and public battle that exists throughout the country in which Mr. Flynn is involved with the Church.... The documents themselves are private and are entitled to the pri- vacy protections of the United States Constitution.... ARMSTRONG'S OPENING ARGUMENT (by Flynn): It was Armstrong's decision what to shred. He decided that it [the box presented to him by Brenda Black] shouldn't be shredded on an initial cursory examination of the box, and entrusted it to Laurel Sullivan. Subsequently, after a lot of other documents in the identical location were shredded, Armstrong began to look through the box of docu- ments and he found documents which he thought had, quote unquote, historical significance, and he wrote a petition to Hubbard asking for permission to collect more materials to complete the biography project which had actually started in 1973; and the evidence will be that Laurel Sullivan and others actually began this biography project. But at various times it got derailed because the authors, one being a fellow named Peter Thompkins, wouldn't write what Hubbard wanted him to write. So eventually we come up to 1980. Armstrong writes to Hubbard. Hubbard approves it. 240 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Now, there is a key fact here and that is that Hubbard is in the proc- ess of fleeing because his wife has just been convicted of a felony, [for] obstruction of justice for stealing documents. There is a pending grand jury in New York for the frame-up of a journalist named Paulette Cooper, and there is evidence which was then coming in before the grand jury relative to Hubbard's involve- ment in that frame-up. So Hubbard flees. Subsequently he is determined to be concealing himself as a fugitive, and a federal court in Tampa so found. What happened is, because Mary Sue was on her way to jail, be- cause L. Ron Hubbard was fleeing, the control mechanisms within the organization over the documents deteriorated, and no one really knew (and to this day, no one knows, other than Gerald Armstrong) really what is in those documents (Because he is the one - other than Omar Garrison-who has analyzed them for years). So, even Hubbard himself did not precisely know what was in the documents. Now, Armstrong begins to go through them. He gets the approval from Hubbard.... Over a period of a year and a half Armstrong collects all these docu- ments, turning them over to Garrison and Garrison begins to analyze them to write the book, and starts writing the book. Well, Garrison...realizes that the representations that were made by L. Ron Hubbard right from his birth, right up to present...are false.... So Garrison realizes that he can't write what Hubbard wants him to write. In fact, if he follows any journalistic ethics, he's got to write just precisely the opposite.... Garrison rightfully, pursuant to the contract, has the documents. Armstrong has no documents at this point. He's turned them over to Garrison. For the next five to six months he works intermittently with Garrison on the biography project because they are now going to write their own, and he also works for a law firm part-time, subservently full time. Thereafter the Church begins to harass Mr. Armstrong..They do a number of things. For one thing they make him an enemy... and subject him to the Fair Game Doctrine. They steal photographs from him. They are his own private materi- als which he actually received from a third party.... They steal other materials from him, which had nothing to do with the collection of documents when he was working for Hubbard. At the same time, in light of a lot of harassive acts, he's got very *The Boss's Withholds Revealed* 241 paranoid. He's seen what the Church of Scientology over the last dec- ade, has done to other people. He knows what they have done in the criminal cases and he is fearful ...that they are going to kill him. He then goes back to Garrison and tells Garrison what is happening, and Garrison then gives him the documents...to defend himself. So he goes to a lawyer; namely me, and the reason he came to me is because he thought that there were very few lawyers in the United States who were willing to litigate against the organization because of what they do.... Garrison, for the next year thereafter, continues to prepare the bi- ography and, in fact, comes up with a publisher. Approximately one month after Mr. Garrison comes up with a publisher for the true biog- raphy of L. Ron Hubbard, he is approached by the Church of Scientol- ogy attorneys for Mr. Hubbard, and they basically make a deal with Mr. Garrison. He will give them back every document he has. He will not disseminate the information. He will give them back the manu- script that he has done based upon the documents, and he will be paid some, I understand, $240,000, or something in that range...in the summer of 1983.... There has been no conversion by Mr. Armstrong because he re- ceived the documents rightfully from Mr. Garrison..." **** Regarding his examination of Mary Sue Hubbard, Michael Flynn told me he had mixed feelings about her. She had, after all, been made a scapegoat for Hubbard's crimes. On the other hand, she had done what she had done, and she did appear completely unrepentant. In his examination of her, he did not appear to pull any punches. During one exchange regarding Guardian's Order 121669, (cov- ered in Chapter 11) where Mary Sue states: "...make full use of all files of the organization to affect your ma- jor target [prevent infiltration]. These include personnel files, Ethics files, Dead files, central files, training files, processing files (emphasis added), and requests for refunds." The Office headed by her, the G.O., had files that contained a great deal of information taken from "processing files"-also known as "pre- clear or "auditing" files: Q (by Flynn). Let me show you a document dated 27 September, 242 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE 1978, Info re ______ [a woman's name omitted in respect of her right to privacy]. ______'s auditing files start with July, 1963. It goes on to state who she has been promiscuous with, and masturbating with coffee grounds, that type of thing. Do you see that Mrs. Hubbard? A. I see that Mr. Flynn. Later Flynn, referring to a document shown the witness, and read- ing: Q. "Dear Cindy. Here is pertinent data from `s PC [pre- clear] files." Do you know who Cindy is? A. She might refer to Cindy Raymond? She worked in the U S Guardian's Office. Q. And there are references on the first page about the person's, for example, masturbation practices, that type of thing, Mrs. Hubbard, at the bottom. Witness: Yes. Have you got something on masturbation? You keep asking me about it. Q (by Flynn). Do you think your organization was interested in those types of things from a person's PC files, Mrs. Hubbard? A. I don't know. I am looking at documents that seem to indicate that there was, yes, Mr. Flynn. Prior to, and following, this testimony there was testimony from witnesses that pre-clear folder information was routinely "culled" for discreditable information and sent to "B-1", (the intelligence bureau). However, one high executive, Lymon Spurlock, testified that this practice was discovered by him to have been done by Guardian's Office personnel, who had since been removed. He added that he had never done such a thing and was outraged to discover such a prac- tice. Later, however, Nancy Dincalsy testified that she personally culled pre-clears' folders daily and sent "overt" lists to B-1 of the Guardian's Office, per standard orders. She also said that she worked as an auditor alongside Lymon Spurlock for many months, and that she observed him also "culling" PC folders for the G.O. daily. **** Captain Moulton was brought into the courtroom like the inevita- ble surprise witness in "Perry Mason." He was a handsome man in his *The Boss's Withholds Revealed* 243 late sixties, over six feet tall, with grey hair and a walking cane. The very image of a retired ship's captain. Church lawyer Petersen wore an air of triumph as he marched in with Captain Moulton. With a grin, he made an aside to Flynn. I couldn't hear the words exactly. It wasn't necessary. The intent was apparent: "We got'cha now!" It quickly became clear that Captain Moulton had served under Hubbard off the coast of Oregon, after which Hubbard was removed by Admiral Fletcher for exceeding orders.... Q [by Flynn]. He told you that he was injured by a Japanese Ma- chine gun? Captain Moulton amrmed that Hubbard had told him the story while they were in training together in a naval training class in Miami. Q. Did he describe the circumstances under which he was injured by the Japanese machine gun? A. Yes, in some detail; not entirely. Q. What did he tell you? A. That he had been in Soerabaja at the time the Japanese came in or in the area of Soerabaja and that he had spent some time in the hills in back of Soerabaja after the Japanese had occupied it. Q. Now, Soerabaja was where, sir? A. That is a port on the north part of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Q. So you understood from Captain Hubbard that he had been in Java fighting the Japanese and was hit by machine gun fire? A. Not quite as you put it. He had been landed, so he told me, in Java from a destroyer named the Edsel and had made his way across the land to Soerabaja, and that is when the place was occupied. When the Japanese came in, he took off into the hills and lived up in the jun- gle for some time until he made an escape from there. Q. So you believed Captain Hubbard at the time? A. Certainly, I had no reason not to. Q. Did he tell you exactly where he was hit by the machine gun fire? A. In the back, in the area of the kidneys, I believe on the right side. V. And did he tell you how long he remained hiding in the hills with these machine gun wounds before he was removed from the combat area? A. I know that he told me he had made his escape eventually to Australia. I don't know just when it was. He apparently - he and an- other chap - sailed a life raft, I believe, to near Australia where they were picked up by a British or Australian destroyer. 244 THE ADVENTURES OF THE COMMODORE Q. And that would have been late 1941, early 1942? A. I would imagine it would have to have been early `42 because it would take some time from December 7. Flynn proceeded to show naval documents, one stating that Hub- bard was ordered to Australia on November 24, 1941; and that he left on December 8, 1941, from the United States. Captain Moulton noted that if Hubbard had been in intelligence, the document may have been spurious. "An intelligence officer, as far as I know, has all sorts of spurious letters stating where he is sent, when he got there."' Another document was shown to him dated 14 February 1942, by the United States Naval Attach, Melbourne, Australia (the 14th of February would have been roughly one month to six weeks after he was "shot in the back by a Japanese machine gun"). Captain Moulton, like so many others, had been completely taken in by Hubbard. Flynn read part of it aloud: The subject officer arrived in Brisbane via SS President Polk. He re- ported to me that he was ordered to Manila for duty and asked for per- mission to leave the SS President Polk until a vessel offering a more direct route to his destination was available. I authorized him to re- main in Brisbane for future transportation to his destination. By assum- ing unauthorized authority and attempting to perform duties for which he has no qualifications, he became the source of much trouble. [Em- phasis added] On February 11, 1942, I sent him dispatch orders to report to the commanding officer USS Chaumont for passage to the United States, and upon arrival report to the commandant 12th Naval District for fu- ture assignment. This officer is not satisfactory for independent duty assignment. He is garrulous and tries to give impressions of his impor- tance. He also seems to think that he has unusual ability in most lines. These characteristics indicate that he will require close supervision for satisfactory performance of any intelligence duty. *This is the essence of the Church's "sheepdipping" argument. They have an "ex- pert" who claims that the "Armstrong" documents relating to Hubbard's military history were falsely placed there because Hubbard was in counter-intelligence. In fact, Hubbard spent le