"Oppression can only survive through silence."
Carmen de Monteflores

"To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good… - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Topic Links:

Scientology's Secret Service - The Guardian's Office / the Office of Special Affairs

OSA Network Orders

OSA = GO
by Vaughn Young

OSA / GO
GAS - OT Committees

OSA / GO Documents from Greece

Michael Pattinson - A "New OT 8" Tells his story

A Class 12 reports whats really going on at "Flag"

Ida Camburn's Story

Scientology's 'Study Tech'

The Lisa Clause
as seen in
Harper's Magazine
November 2003

Gary Weber's Story

Bugging of Auditing Rooms

Terminology FAQ Definitions for Scientology Lingo by ex-member Martin Hunt

Use of PC File data against it's enemies:
The Scientology Matrix

Conspiracy for Silence The use of Gag Agreements as the cost of doing business

1982 Clearwater Commission hearings 1000 pages of SWORN testimony by many ex-members, including L Ron Hubbard's son, Ron

Report from the day Hubbard invoked Religious Cloaking

Persecution of Ex-Members

Some of the Sources from which Hubbard molded Scientology

Hubbard the master Stage Hypnotist - What do kangaroos and body thetans have in common?

Why I dont trust Scientologists

What a Scientologist faces who wants to leave The Scientology Matrix

Scientology's Real Secret - the E-meter

Scientology's Army of Private Investigators

Major News Articles

Son of Scientology - An interview with Ron Dewolfe

Time Magazine

LA Times 6 Part Series

Pulitzer Prize Winnning 14 Part series in the St. Petersburg Times

Washington Post

New York Times

Wall Street Journal

Offlines.Org
A site by now ex-member Charlotte Kates

Warrior's Archive
Page by a co-worker I knew when I was 'in' scientology

The Very Strange Death of L Ron Hubbard the King of CONs

Through the Door:
Ex-member Interviews

Movies that help understand Scientology:
The Truman Show 1998
The Sleuth 1972
Selfosophy
Episode from Fox's Millenium Series

Understanding OSA and the Guardians Office:
Cape Fear the 1962 version
The Spanish Prisoner

Arnie Lerma explains how you can help expose Scientology

Hubbard and Scientology use fake war hero claims to lure new members
Read
Ron the War Zero

"Sect Courses Resemble Science Fiction" by Rich Leiby

Sign a Petition to United States Department of Justice demanding an investigation into Scientology
CLICK HERE

Write your Legislators and tell them what you think of Scientology!

MORE by
Dan Garvin:
Campaign to derail the Julie Christofferson trial

On Leaving Scientology

Dan's brother "disconnects"

THE NEW REGIME TAKEOVER
FROM MY OBSERVATION & EXPERIENCE IN THE CoS
By Mike Goldstein
Part 1 Backing Off the Lines.
Part 2 Grassroots Evaluation
Part 3 John Galusha & The Book One Course
Part 4 Getting Book One off the ground
Part 5 Shifting into High Gear
Part 6 Launching Internationally
Part 7Flag's Betrayal
Part 8: Book One Congress
Part 9 Flag Screws Up/We Step In
Part 10 Revolution Begins Too Late
Part 11 Taking Over the Missions
Part 12 Tying Up Loose Ends
Part 13 My Flag Ethics Cycle
Part 14 My First Declare
Part 15 Undeclared
Part 16 Findings & Recommendations
Part 17 Leaving the CoS
Part 18 Epilogue

Leaving the CoS from a position in upper management can be quite a
"culture shock". For the people I've known who've done it,
re-integration into the world can take years. Leaving the CoS was
different for me. Backing off the lines slowly, there was no shock in
the transition.

After having spent 4 years in Sea Org upper management, in 1975 I
left the Flagship. My wife and I went back to my hometown of Denver.
While there we decided to stay and have a family. We got approval
from Mary Sue Hubbard to be posted in Denver, where I started and ran
the CoS of Colorado. After growing that org into one of the largest
in the world, I had one of my many "run ins" with the Guardians
Office, removed from my post as CO (Commanding Officer) of the org and
comm eved in LA. Even though I was exonerated, in 1978, I ended up in
Clearwater posted as Sea Org Chief, managing all the Sea Org units
around the world.

While in Flag management, I voiced serious disagreement with
Flag's management of orgs, as well as the treatment of Sea Org family
units. Having worked closely with Hubbard on the ship, I thought if I
could reach him, these "outnesses" could be resolved. Unfortunately,
he was unavailable. I was "busted" for not being a "team player", as
I continually refused to be involved with the crazy and unethical
orders and programs. I figured that I would just "tough things out".
Then my wife became pregnant with our second child. Since my
two-year-old daughter was already miserable there, my wife and I
decided not to bring up another child in that insanity. So as not to
be declared, we went through the painful process of "routing out" of
the Sea Org and returned to Denver as "freeloaders". I ended up in
1979 working for my father, managing his business.

That same year, 1979, a mission was sent from what was now upper
management (known as SU/Special Unit or WDC/Watchdog Committee) to
find me. I was informed that my evaluations of Flag management had
turned out to be correct, and was asked if I would return to
Clearwater. Turning down that offer, I was then told that my removal
from the CO Denver post was a mistake and that the org's stats had
crashed since my leaving. The mission wanted to know if I would go
back on post as CO Denver. Having a life and job in Denver now, I
proposed going back in the org in the evenings to get the stats back
up into the ranges that they were in when I left. After agreeing to
that, I gave the mission my conditions.

The first condition was that I must be left alone by all management
to do whatever I saw fit, giving me complete autonomous power with
regards to the org. Secondly, there would be additional conditions
once I fulfilled my part of the bargain and got the stats back up.
(1) My freeloader debt would be cancelled, leaving me a public person,
and (2) that auditing was to be set up for me at AOLA through OT 7.
My proposal was forwarded by the mission to upper management and
approved by Hubbard. Over the next many months, I fulfilled my end of
the bargain, and all my conditions were then honored. So, by 1980, I
found myself out of the Sea Org with no freeloader debt and just a
public person again.

Later that year, in May of 1980, I received a phone call at my job
from Dianna Hubbard. As if the call itself wasn't enough of a shock,
she then told me the purpose of her call. Apparently, there were big
problems with upper management now. People trying to initiate
positive changes were systematically being "shot". From our
conversation, as well as the follow-up material that she sent to me, I
got the idea that there were big changes occurring in upper management
that was going to make things much more suppressive than ever before.
Dianna was extremely concerned. I also got the distinct sense that
she was no longer in touch with her father.

Dianna went on to say that maybe the only effective retaliation
would have to be done from her post, overseeing "distribution" in the
CoS. Management only seemed interested in those things that were
already in place and the public already on lines. She wanted my help
in this endeavor. She felt she could trust me, not only because of my
previous accomplishments, but also due to the fact that I worked
closely with both her parents. Not believing that anything
effective could be done from Flag, I told her that my work must be
done from the field.

If a strong, grassroots movement could be established, we would be
in a power position, able to effect changes in current management. To
begin with, I'd do an evaluation and come up with a program to
accomplish our goals. She'd then have to fly to Denver to see my
proposals. If approved, it would be her job to run "air cover" for
me, protecting me from management and the Guardians Office. But I
would work alone with autonomy. She agreed to the above and I started
my evaluation. Within a month I had completed the evaluation and
basic program.

Part 5 - Grassroots Evaluation

I won't get into all the details of my evaluation of the grassroots
movement. I will provide a synopsis of what I came up with though.

In 1973, Hubbard felt that there was a strong need for a new
marketing initiative to get his technical developments, or
"properties" (as he referred to them) exploited. He put me in charge
of this and designed a special post for me called "LRH Properties
Chief". In an hour long, taped briefing, he laid out his ideas for
the position. The one idea that he was the most hot on was an idea
for a grassroots movement. The idea took the form of something he
called the "Volunteer Ministers Program".

Basically, we were to recruit volunteer ministers to take the tech
out to the general public. This program was to be run OUTSIDE any
influence of the orgs, and these ministers would only take their cues
from a hierarchy outside Flag management. The only tech materials
used by these volunteer ministers would come from a handbook designed,
specifically for them. Hubbard was so hot on this idea that he would
say to me, "we need this like the desert needs rain".

I liked the idea of a grassroots movement outside the existing
management and orgs, but thought the volunteer minister idea was
somewhat hooky. But since Hubbard was so hot on the idea, we
proceeded with it. The program never really got off the ground, and
was eventually scrapped. All that remained was the handbook, which
just became another book to sell in the Scientology bookstore, and
some mini courses, which just became more services sold in Division
6s.

In my evaluation, I realized that Hubbard's idea of a grassroots
movement was very legitimate, but that his vehicle for accomplishing
this was weak. Additionally, why build a new vehicle when you already
have one that worked. In other words, Hubbard already had had a
successful grassroots movement, once, in the early 1950s, after Book
One, Dianetics was published. At that time, Dianetic counseling
groups started popping up on their own, people started auditing each
other, and pretty soon there was quite a movement occurring. This
movement continued until the advent of the organization, with more
"advanced" services and training being offered. The organization was
only interested in using the Dianetics book to get people "in the
door" for services, and its technical value was relegated to
"background data" on tech courses. Book One application was
discouraged and soon became non-existent, thus ending the grassroots
movement of the time.

With the above in mind, my program called for the formation of a
company, outside the CoS, delivering a correspondence course designed
to train fully competent Book One auditors. Being totally separate
from the CoS, the purpose of this company would be to simply get
people auditing with only Book One application and re-create a similar
grassroots movement to the one that occurred in the early 1950s. The
concept was simple, yet powerful. Create a geometric progression of
people auditing others, the others getting trained and auditing more
people, and so on. Eventually, the CoS would be very dependent on
this company for its new, qualified prospects, which would give us a
strong platform for management reform. Additionally, we would dodge
any competition problems with the CoS, as we would be doing something
that they weren't.

When I completed the evaluation and basic program, Dianna flew to
Denver and I met her at the airport. She read and approved the
program, then got back on a plane and went back to Clearwater. I was
now ready to get started on, what would prove to be a very interesting
adventure.

Part 3 John Galusha & The Book One Course

It was now the summer of 1980, and I had Dianna Hubbard's approval
on my program. As a "special project under Dianna", I now had an
acceptable identity with the CoS. Someone could ask, "What the hell
is that Mike Goldstein doing?" And someone else could say, "Oh, he's
working on a special project for Dianna Hubbard", and that would be
acceptable. Also, if there were any problems, Dianna had agreed to
run additional "air cover" for me. With the above in place, I could
now proceed with getting my Book One program off the ground.

The first step was having a Book One correspondence course that
actually produced COMPETENT Book One auditors. The entire program
hinged on this initial step. I had some familiarity with auditing
Book One. My introduction to the subject of Scientology was getting
Book One auditing from some guy, reading the book and auditing other
people. But I wasn't that competent and certainly didn't feel able to
produce the kind of course needed. The only existing course on Book
One was an extension course delivered by Pubs. But this was just a
mini-type-course designed with the purpose of getting new people who
had purchased the Dianetics book, on lines in the CoS. I called
Dianna for assistance.

Dianna thought there had been the kind of course I was looking for,
and that it was delivered in Washington DC in the 1950s. While she
looked through the archives at Flag, an old friend of mine, who was
running the DC org, was looking in DC's archives. No such course was
found. The only thing that was discovered, was the name of the man
who may have delivered this course, John Galusha. I had heard of
this man. He was sort of a legend in Scientology. He had been
Hubbard's main technical person throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
He had even been Hubbard's research auditor, assisting in the
development of Scientology. He had an unbelievable list of
accomplishments. Many had tried to enlist John's assistance with
various projects for the past 16 years, but he was never interested.
Furthermore, he lived in Colorado!

I got John's phone number from the local org. I called him and he
agreed to see me. When I went to his home, I also met John's wife,
Millie, another legend in Scientology. She had once been Lyndon
Johnson's secretary before he was President. In the 1950s she became
Hubbard's secretary in Washington DC, being the first "HCO (Hubbard
Communication Office)" in the world. She had also had an interesting
personal connection with Hubbard, where they did photography together
and co-audited. I was pretty excited about meeting these two "old
timers".

I sat on their couch going over my history and my entire evaluation
and program. I jabbered on for over an hour. John sat stoic,
listening to what I was saying but making no comment. When I was
done, John told me that he hadn't been interested in doing anything
with the organization of Scientology for years, but that he was
interested now in helping me. However, he informed me that that
course that Dianna had referred to, was just an extension course like
the one being delivered at Pubs, with the sole purpose of getting
people on lines. Additionally, a course like I wanted had never
existed. When he saw my spirits drop, he went on to stay that he
could easily produce a course that would accomplish the purpose of
training competent Book One auditors.

John's first introduction to Dianetics was in 1950, when he bought
the book after reading the ad for it in Amazing Science Fiction. He
read the book a couple of times, started auditing people, and soon had
a very successful practice. He knew the book very well. In fact, he
knew the entire book by heart!

John told me to come back in a week and he'd have the course ready
and said goodbye. I returned the following week to be handed a few
tiny, spiral notebooks. In these notebooks, written in pencil, were
several hundred questions numbered consecutively. He said that he'd
written these up during his lunch hour the past week. It didn't look
like a course, but he said that's just what I wanted. Not knowing
what to say, I just thanked him and left. As I walked to my car I
realized something kind of strange. The questions in the notebook had
been clearly written, but there were no erasures!

As I mentioned above, I had some familiarity with Book One, but I
couldn't answer the majority of the questions. I thought that maybe
this man was "out to lunch", but since this "course" was all I had, I
typed up the questions, verbatim, organizing them into lessons,
thereby giving some format to the course. I handed this course to my
wife and asked her to look at it and give me her opinion. Having been
one of the first Class 8 auditors, Qual Sec at AOSH DK and at Flag,
she had read the Dianetics book hundreds of times, being word cleared
on the book and word clearing others on it. I figured she could give
me a valuable assessment of this course.

As she read through the questions she kept grabbing a Dianetics
book, leafing through the pages. After about an hour, she had
finished. Looking at me in amazement, she asked where I had gotten
this course. She went on to say that she could only answer about half
the questions and had to look in the book to confirm that the
information being asked for in questions was even there. Her review
ended with saying that she'd never seen such an incredible course.
With a big sigh, I knew I had a winner. John later added a practical
auditing section to the course, and we now had the vehicle for
training competent Book One auditors.

Part 4 Getting Book One off the Ground

I now had a correspondence course to train competent Book One
auditors, an integral component in accomplishing the goals of my
program. But more importantly, I had discovered a partner in John
Galusha. Little did I realize at the time that this collaboration
would continue for the next 16 years, resulting in innovations far
beyond our Book One initiative and involvement with the CoS. From
the outset, we just clicked. We would find that with the two of us
working together, our collective accomplishments would surpass any
expectations we had previously held. Indeed, our partnership yielded
advancements that would not have been possible working individually,
or even with an entire staff underneath us.

On September 1, 1980, our company, Survival Services International,
opened for business. A friend let us use his office in the evenings.
I went to the local orgs and missions enlisting their support. I told
them that I was running a special, field project under Dianna Hubbard
and asked them for the names and phone numbers of any people on their
lines who these organizations felt were of no use to them. In other
words, I was looking for the people who had no money for auditing and
who were complete failures as students. I then starting contacting
these public individuals, setting up interviews to be held in our
"office".

I designed a "briefing" that covered the pertinent points of my
evaluation, John's valuable insights, and most importantly, the value
of becoming a competent Book One auditor. The majority of these
people bought the course, which I sold for $350, and started training
with John, who supervised the course. People could come to our office
at night to study their lessons or send them in by mail.

Most of these public people would not bring their non-Scientology
friends into the org or missions for fear that their friends might be
mishandled. I addressed their fears and got them to bring their
friends into our office where we held little "events" each night. In
these events, I would give a short talk, then turn the floor over to
John. He would talk to the group and then ask for volunteers to come
up and do a session. He'd audit the volunteers in front of the rest
of the audience. Most sessions were spectacular. And it wasn't just
John's auditing, which was fantastic. It was his charisma. Audiences
responded to him in an incredible fashion.

In the Scientology events with "new people", I had always noticed
that there were at least a few hecklers in the audience. Over the
next couple of years, John and I would perform numerous events in many
cities throughout the US and Canada. At some of these events, there
were a couple of hundred people attending. NEVER did anyone heckle
John.

The small, initial events done at our office in the evenings
produced great results. We'd get people on the correspondence course,
pcs for our students, and pick up pcs of our own who paid $50 per
hour. The "duds" we got from the org and missions turned out to be
quite the jewels. They not only did well on the course, but also
became confident and competent auditors. Due to the success with
these org and mission "rejects", we soon were getting other
Scientologists on the course, including org and mission staff. Within
a month we moved into our own office, rented some furniture, and had a
going concern.

At Christmas of 1980, I went to Connecticut with my wife and kids
to visit my wife's family who lived there. While on this vacation, I
went into the local Scientology mission. It was thriving under a man
named Peter Pinchot. I briefed Peter on what I was doing and he got
very excited. A month or so later, I returned to Connecticut with
John and did a large event, modeled after our successful office event.
Peter jumped on the "Book One bandwagon". He, his staff and many of
his public people got on to the correspondence course. Later, Peter
designed a weekend seminar on Book One which he delivered to people to
get them excited about Book One and then sold them our correspondence
course.

A few months into 1981, we had expanding operations in Denver and
Connecticut. However, now that we were expanding, we started getting
noticed and then scrutinized by the Guardians Office WW (Worldwide).
I knew it was only a matter of time before the GO would start coming
after me. We needed to get bigger, faster; in order to curb GO WW
attacks. If I could launch my program internationally with enough
momentum, it would be hard for even the GO to stop us.

Part 6 of 25 Launching Internationally

After arriving in Clearwater in 1981, I tried to interest the Flag
staff in management and the service org in my Book One program. My
initial attempts at this failed. But when some Division 6 personnel
told me that they were already wasting their time trying to get Flag
pcs interested in doing mini-courses, an idea started to develop of
how I might accomplish my purpose.

I was also a Flag pc now receiving my NOTs auditing. During the
time I wasn't in session, I started dialogs with the other Flag pcs in
the lounge, by the pool, in the restaurants, and anywhere else I could
find these people. Any time I had between sessions was spent briefing
these Flag public on Book One.

Just as the Scientologists in Denver and Connecticut had responded,
these Flag pcs got excited about my program. I began selling our Book
One correspondence course and starting people on their first lessons.
Soon the lounge was filled with people doing the course between their
Flag auditing sessions. While Div 6 was unsuccessfully pushing their
mini-courses, John and I were training Book One auditors.

When some Flag pcs started sending case success stories to the Flag
CS, raving about the wins they were getting on our Book One course, I
really started getting a lot of attention. Everyone in the service
org, especially those in Division 6, now wanted to know what I was
doing.

Those staff in Div 6 now wanted to get involved with Book One. I
briefed them and now they listened intently. I suggested a launch of
Book One on their upcoming May 9th event at Flag. Unfortunately I
could not attend as I had already planned a large event in Denver on
May 9th. Peter Pinchot was my first choice to oversee Flag's Book One
event, but Peter also had a May 9th event scheduled in Connecticut.

Finally, Peter agreed to come to Flag the weekend before May 9th to
perform the successful actions he had done in Connecticut. He would
deliver his Book One seminar to Div 6 staff and the local Clearwater
Scientology public. After the completion of the weekend seminar he
would stress the importance of becoming competent at auditing Book One
and pass out my written briefing, encouraging the students to start on
our correspondence course. Additionally, Peter would train the Div 6
personnel to do what he had done. Flag would then bring people from
all over the world to Clearwater on May 9th for a repeat performance
of Peter's weekend. Those people would go back to their respective
areas and perform the same seminar and event, thus launching my Book
One movement internationally.

The staff in Div 6 were excited and agreed to my plan. As
arranged, Peter went to Clearwater the weekend before May 9th and
delivered his seminar and put on his event. His performance was a
huge success. The ball was rolling and all was on schedule. The plan
for taking my program to an international level would soon be
realized.

On May 9th I put on my event in Denver, Peter had his in
Connecticut, and Flag performed theirs in Clearwater. The following
week a field Scientologist in Clearwater contacted me. She had
attended both performances at Flag, the one delivered by Peter and the
one delivered by Flag the following weekend. However, there was quite
a difference in Flag's performance. They did deliver Peter's Book One
seminar but there was no mention of my program or of our
correspondence course, and my briefing was not passed out to the
attendees. Furthermore, Flag took full credit for the seminar and
launching the Book One movement! This woman was very confused, and as
she also informed me, so were other field Scientologists who had
attended both events.

Needless to say, I was incensed by Flag's betrayal. I felt that
they had not only betrayed me, they had also betrayed Scientology. I
immediately called Diana to alert her to what was occurring, but she
already knew. I was additionally disheartened to discover that there
was a distinct change in Diana's demeanor. While I was at Flag she
was delighted with our progress and success. Now she was sullen about
the whole thing. She said that it was too bad what Flag had done but
that there was nothing she could do about it. She went on to say that
I just had to make the best of things and that at the very least, I'd
get some of the people who had attended Peter's performance on to our
correspondence course.

From her communication, I could easily deduce that the pressure
from above was now coming down on Diana, and that she was buckling. I
realized that she was no longer able to fully support or run air cover
for me. I was pretty much on my own.

THE NEW REGIME TAKEOVER
FROM MY OBSERVATION & EXPERIENCE IN THE CoS

Part 7 of 25 – Flag's Betrayal & The Aftermath

It's 1981 and I'm back from Flag. Flag has taken over and distorted the Book One movement for their own purposes. Diana's folding under the pressure from above, and she is less able to support me. As if this wasn't bad enough, the Guardians Office is starting to come after me.

A GO (Guardians Office) person from the local org came to my office with a written order that was marked "A Priority", that had been sent to her from GO WW (Worldwide). The order said to shut me down immediately, with no questions asked. Standing in my office, exuding the usual GO air of superiority, the woman insisted that I comply with the order. I didn't know if GO WW had originated this attack or if they were prompted from somewhere else. What I did know though, was that this local GO person was just a lackey.

Without replying to her command, I walked to my telephone and called Diana hoping that she still might be able to help me. I told Diana what was happening and she asked me to hand the phone to the GO woman. Handing the phone to the woman I said, "Diana Hubbard wants to speak with you." All of the sudden, the woman's air of superiority fell away, replaced by a look of shock. She took the phone and timidly said hello. After intently listening for a few minutes, she handed me back the phone to hang up. I didn't know what Diana had said to the woman, but now she was very nice to me, saying that she would have to contact GO WW. She then proceeded to leave my office.

Later I was contacted again by the same woman who now had new orders from GO WW. She now explained WW's concern. My company, Survival Services International, was incorporated as a profit making company. Since I was delivering a Dianetics service, they felt the non-profit status of the CoS was threatened. However, GO WW was willing now to compromise their position of shutting me down since I was involved with a special project under Diana. Their first condition was that I had to go to the local GO's lawyers, at my expense, to have them explain to me how my present corporate status was endangering the CoS. Once I understood their position, I would have to change my corporation into a Dianetics Counseling Group under the CoS.

I went to the meeting, attended by local GO staff and several GO lawyers. The GO woman asked her lawyers to explain to me how my current corporation was jeopardizing the non-profit status of the CoS.

After the lawyers conferred for a few minutes, the head lawyer said that they could see no way in which my company's current status would threaten the CofS's non-profit status any more than it already was. The local GO staff was visibly taken aback and immediately ended the meeting. Outside the lawyer's office the GO staff told me that these lawyers obviously didn't understand the GO WW viewpoint, and that I must proceed with changing my corporation.

I now saw that maybe there was a different intention behind the GO wanting me to re-incorporate under the CoS. If I continued to operate under my present status, then the CoS couldn't control me in the future. But, I realized that if I didn't go along with their wishes, I probably wouldn't remain a Scientologist in good standing. Feeling like I was between a rock and a hard place, I reluctantly

I had my lawyer, under protest, draw up the papers. However, I didn't file the documents, because GO WW wanted me first to send the docs to them for their approval. Thank God for the CoS bureaucracy! I sent the docs to WW but they were probably lost in route or sat in someone's in-basket. Subsequently, the docs were never sent back to me, and I wasn't going to follow up on them! Thus, the documents were never filed and Survival Services remained intact.

Meanwhile, the CoS was launching their supposed Book One movement. The differences were that their purposes were not to train competent Book One auditors or create a grassroots movement. Their interest was in the money and stats that their program would produce.

I contacted Flag Div 6 to confront them on their betrayal. The person who had been in charge of that division was no longer on her post. This person had supported my program, and her absence was suspicious. One of the two people in charge of Flag's Book One program tried to explain to me the reasoning behind their actions. Primarily, the reasoning was that Flag could not let the field know that someone else had originated the Book One movement. According to them, this would "undermine Flag as a big brother". As if this reason wasn't silly enough, the next was even more ridiculous.

If things had proceeded with me running the Book One movement as I had planned, then an enormous amount of people would purchase our correspondence course. When I asked the question of why that would be a bad thing, I was told that I would make a lot of money. I responded by saying, "So what! The CoS will make thousands of times more from the flow of people that come from my efforts." The Div 6 person's response to that was that Sea Org members on Flag only made about $17 per week and that it wasn't fair that I should make so much. Shaking my head in disbelief, I realized that reasoning with these people was a waste of time.

The end of 1981 was approaching and I felt like the overall success of my program was looking very dim. However, I had made some good contacts while in Clearwater. I did get some people from different parts of the world started on our correspondence course. Several of the people in Clearwater who had attended Peter Pinchot's seminar and presentation also went on to the course. I had also met a man from Switzerland who later came to Denver for training from John and me. After his training, the man set up an office for us in Europe. He translated our course into German and delivered to people in Europe.

One of the best contacts I made at Flag was a man who published a magazine that went out to all the missions in the US and Canada. He supported what I was doing and published ads and articles for me. People in the missions who had read my articles started contacting Flag with concerns about the competency of auditors trained by the Flag Book One seminar. Flag just lied to them, assuring them that the Flag seminar DID make fully competent Book One auditors and that there was no cause for worry. Meanwhile, Flag Div 6 told their staff that I was dangerous. An ally sent me a copy of a dispatch from one of the top people in the Flag Div 6 regarding what I was doing. In that dispatch, it was actually stated; "It's suppressive to make competent Book One auditors".

Part 8 – The Book One Congress

With their Book One activity in high gear, Flag was going to orgs and missions all over the world delivering their weekend seminar. They avoided Colorado because of my strong foothold there, which consisted of a huge number of staff and public either having completed or in the process of completing our correspondence course. But people in my area were now interested in a live, seminar-type training activity with Book One.

John Galusha and I designed our own Book One seminar, which was modeled after the old Congresses delivered in the 1950s that John had supervised for Hubbard. The seminar that Flag was delivering was the seminar Peter Pinchot had designed with the sole purpose of interesting people in Book One. We wanted to make our seminar a much more effective training vehicle. We called our seminar the Book One Congress and we delivered it over two, consecutive weekends.

The first weekend was dedicated to theory and drilling, with a training routine much superior to previous Book One seminars. Additionally, students were trained on how to procure their own pcs. The students' assignment for the following week was to line up people to bring to the second weekend. The students, under our supervision, then audited the volunteers. Just like the old Congresses, students were lined up in chairs with their pcs in chairs across from them. If a student ran into trouble, he/she would put their hand behind their back. A supervisor (normally there were three or four) would come over, the student would take a session break, find out from the supervisor how to handle the problem, and then take his/her pc back into session.

The Congresses started small, delivered in our offices. Later we moved to a local hotel. On the second weekend of that Congress we had over fifty student attendees auditing over one hundred pcs.

These Congresses were fabulous, attended by students new to Book One auditing, people on our correspondence course, and graduates of the course. Additionally, there were large numbers of pcs brought to the second weekend. All of these pcs were interviewed by Survival Services staff after finishing their auditing. Many of them after the Congress continued with more auditing or signed up for training.

CoS management and Flag never commented on the obvious success of our Congresses. They only concentrated on what they considered to be problems created by our efforts. Two unpleasant incidents with the CoS come to mind as a result of our Congress delivery. The first of these incidents was over a photograph that we used in the promotion of the Book One Congress.

As I mentioned in Part 3 of this series, John Galusha's wife, Millie, was Hubbard's secretary in Washington, DC in the 1950s. She and Hubbard used to dabble in photography. Millie had retained many pictures that Hubbard had taken of her, as well as many photos she had taken of him. Looking though these photographs, I found a picture of Hubbard and John at the 1958 or 1959 Congress in DC. I used this photograph in our Book One Congress advertising. The CoS was upset with the use of an unauthorized picture of Hubbard. But it was a really cool photo, with Hubbard dressed in his famous Congress outfit that he is seen wearing in certain Scientology lecture films.

The second incident was caused by an event that was viewed by the CoS as a more serious offense. During a hotel Congress, several students who could not afford auditing in the CoS, decided to co-audit each other. Observing the great wins that these students were achieving, other student attendees wanted similar results. Some of the other students who were interested in co-auditing had already declared to Clear. Being Clear, the only auditing that they were suppose to do was delivered at a higher org in LA or at Flag. Disappointed, they would say, "I wish I could co-audit on Book One! But I can't, I'm Clear". Finally, the thought occurred to one of these students that if he wanted Book One, he must not be Clear. This cogitation gave him the bright idea of going to the local org to undeclare.

Coming back to the Congress, the student was excited that he had undeclared from the state of Clear and now was able to co-audit Book One. Other Clears followed suit and soon, there were several Clears showing up at the org examiner saying, "I'm not really Clear", with their needles floating. Next thing I knew, AOLA was writing me up for, "invalidating the state of Clear"!

Aside from these minor episodes with the CoS, our Congresses were extremely successful. Unfortunately, we were never able to deliver the Book One Congress anywhere other than Denver. If it had been incorporated into a Book One movement internationally, along with our correspondence course, the subsequent operation of the CoS may have turned out quite differently.

Part 9 – Flag Screws Up/We Step In

Flag rode the wave of Book One enthusiasm as long as they could. In time, the enthusiasm started to wane and a lull in activity ensued. The Book One auditors trained by Flag ran into problems, they weren't getting good results with their pcs and as a result started giving up on auditing. These problems were occurring because the auditors weren't competent. Flag's solution for these difficulties was to create an advanced Book One seminar. However, their new seminar still didn't make the auditors competent. The only thing the advanced seminar produced was more money and stats for Flag.

This crash was fairly predictable. In my initial evaluation, I discovered that one of the main reasons why Book One auditors in the early 1950s had quit so easily was that they weren't capable. This is why I had stressed the importance of making competent Book One auditors.

In response to the deteriorating interest and activity with Book One, I wrote a second briefing to field Scientologists. In this briefing, I discussed the pertinent findings of my initial evaluation and compared these to what was currently happening with Book One in the field.

The person in charge of mission management in the western United States read this second briefing as well as other articles about Book One that I had written. Concerned with the crash of activity in missions, he contacted me for assistance. After we spoke, he published both my briefings in an information letter that was sent to missions in the western US. Soon I was getting calls for assistance from missions, as well as orgs, throughout the US and Canada, bypassing Flag altogether.

In response to the calls for help, I set up events in these missions and orgs. Over the next several months, John and I delivered weekend events throughout the US and Canada. We modeled these events after the successful evening events at Survival Services in Denver.

The org or mission would pay for our airfares and set up accommodations for our stay in their city. They would set up a place for the event to be delivered and get their staff and public to attend. Additionally, the org or mission would line up volunteers to be audited by John, on stage, in front of the audience. After I was introduced, I would get up and give a short talk and then turn the floor over to John. John would talk for a while and then bring up volunteers to audit in front of the crowd.

After the event, we would have a separate meeting with the org or mission's staff and the Book One auditors who had been trained by Flag. In most cases, watching John's sessions had highly impressed the Book One auditors. They would ask questions about what John had been doing with the volunteers to get such spectacular results. When John informed them that everything he had done was in the Dianetics book, people would question this by saying that they hadn't learned that in Flag's seminar or advanced seminar. John would then refer them to page and paragraph in Dianetics where the answer to their question could be found. Realizing that they had achieved questionable results with Flag's seminars, many Book One auditors were incensed and wanted to know how they could learn to audit like John.

The upshot of our event and meeting was that we started many people on our correspondence course. We also received great support from the missions and orgs where we performed our events. Some mission holders even paid for their entire staff to do our course.

Things were progressing well again with my Book One movement. I even got Diana to come and speak at events in LA and Seattle. When people at the Clearwater mission wanted us to do an event there, Flag agreed to have the event at the Fort Harrison. We performed our event in the lounge at Flag with some of the service org staff and top Flag auditors attending.

I remember two interesting incidents that occurred in the meeting that took place after the event. The first incident occurred with the Flag auditors. They had never seen anyone audit with such ease and competence as John and wanted to know where he had learned these techniques.

The second incident occurred with the administrative staff from the Flag service org. From discussions going on in the meeting, they discovered that John had had many successful auditing practices over the years. Since successful auditing practices were something they had rarely witnessed, they wanted John to tell them what his successful promotion actions were. John's answer seemed to mystify them. He said, "I don't know anything about promotion. In every practice, I started by finding people I could audit, whether I charged them or not. I delivered the best service I could. Soon those clients brought me others who I could charge. And soon after that, I had more than I could handle."

Later, the CO (Commanding Officer) at Flag invited me to come back to Clearwater for a special meeting. He told me that Flag wanted my input on getting Book One going internationally and that I was crucial to this effort. I thought that this was maybe a turning point in my relationship with Flag management.

Most of the attendees at the meeting were Sea Org members. The only people besides me who were not Sea Org were a couple who had left the Sea Org years before. Once the meeting began, I quickly discovered that Flag was not interested in Book One application. They were only interested in Dianetics book sales in the 1970s. I had run a successful campaign selling Dianetics books while running the CoS of Colorado and the couple was in charge of Pubs US at the time.

As the meeting progressed, it became apparent that Flag was not even interested in discovering successful actions to sell Dianetics books. Their only interest was a public relations coup to get Dianetics at the top of the Best Sellers List.

Feeling that this trip was a waste of my time, I went to the CO's office after the meeting to speak with him. He and I use to be friends. I knew him from when I was in the Sea Org working in LA and on the ship. I told him that I didn't think getting Dianetics on the Best Sellers List was as important as selling the book, and that selling the book was not as important as getting the book applied. I went over my Book One program and explained the progress that had been made.

After listening to what I had to say, he told me that his only interest was in following the orders and programs of upper management. He also informed me that if I really wanted to do something, I could give my correspondence course to the CoS. At that, I thanked him for his hospitality and went home to Denver.

I finally was reconciled to the idea that involving myself with Flag or Flag management was a losing proposition. I decided to put all my attention on working with the field, the missions, the orgs, and some FOLO WUS staff who were supportive of my program.

Part 10 Revolution Begins Too Late

Our efforts to rejuvenate Book One activity after the Flag seminars were keeping us quite busy. We filled our weekends performing events throughout the US and Canada, as well delivering our Book One Congress in Denver. At the end of 1981 and the beginning of 1982, Flag and upper management were relatively quiet. We pretty much went where we wanted and did what we pleased.

Increasing activities in the Scientology field were also taking place. Scientologists were designing and delivering their own seminars. Mission holders were initiating successful programs and then exporting these programs to other missions.

Missions started standing up to Flag and management, demanding that their grievances be heard. I attended a meeting in Clearwater that was initiated by top mission holders, including Peter Pinchot. The meeting between mission holders and Flag management was a heated debate to resolve Flag interference in mission operations. A revolution was taking place and it was very exciting. Meanwhile, significant events and changes were occurring in the CoS.

You might remember in the earlier parts of this series where I mentioned the systematic elimination of all autonomous networks. All of the autonomous networks that were controlled by the Sea Org had already been incorporated along a single line of command. This left one more autonomous network still intact: the Guardians Office network. Being the most entrenched of any network, the GO would not go quietly. Additionally, the GO controlled and protected the mission network.

It is interesting to also note that the money of the CoS was in three major places: (1) Sea Org reserves, which were already controlled by upper management, (2) Accounts controlled by the Guardians Office, and (3) Mission/franchise accounts. Orgs had a financial policy that dictated their income could be spent the week it was made. But missions had a different financial policy, which was designed by GO Finance. A mission could only spend designated income paid for a service when a service was actually started. For example, if someone paid for 200 hours of auditing, the mission could only spend the money for each 12-½ hour intensive as it was begun. Therefore, there were huge reserves in mission accounts that represented service not yet started.

Complete power and control of all the money would only come to the New Regime with the elimination of the GO and control of the missions.

Coincidentally, a GO missionaire was caught stealing documents in a US government office. People in the government went after the CoS. People in upper management said that this criminal action was only perpetrated by a select few in the CoS, those running the Guardians Office. All the top people of the GO, including Mary Sue Hubbard, were handed over for prosecution. This decimated the GO, which was then re-formed under upper management as the Office of Special Affairs. The last autonomous network was now gone. I strongly suspected this whole thing was a set-up. It just seemed too perfect.

With the Guardians Office out of the way, the mission network was left alone and unprotected. But simply taking over the missions would not be easy. These missions were franchises, individually held corporations under the franchise holders. But some interesting events had been taking place with regards to missions that would drastically change the CoS.

Part 11 – Taking Over the Missions

With the Guardians Office out of the picture, the missions were ripe for the picking. But they couldn't be taken over by walking in and demanding the mission holder give up his mission.

A mission somewhere in the northwestern part of the US was sued by one of the parishioners. The case got lots of press coverage. CoS management began creating fear in the mission holders by telling them that SPs were going after missions. The mission holders were also told that by being incorporated individually as they were, the missions were not strong enough on their own to survive these attacks. However, management proposed a solution: To re-incorporate all the missions under one corporation called Scientology Missions International. This would provide a legal umbrella for every mission. If the SPs came after one they would have to fight the entire corporation.

It's interesting to note where the idea for Scientology Missions International, SMI, originated. When Hubbard was still active on the lines, he had noticed that there were a lot of wealthy Scientologists who had already been regged for all the services that the CoS had to offer them. Since these wealthy people still had lots of money, Hubbard devised a way of getting more out of them.

His idea was to form a corporation called Scientology Missions International. The CoS regs the wealthy Scientologists to purchase a new mission for a huge sum of money. What they would be purchasing is the right to open a mission and a starter package of books, tapes, promo, etc. It would be an easy sale as the buyer would be contributing to the expansion of Scientology and could even use the purchase as a tax write-off. The CoS then finds someone who wants to run a mission and couples him with the wealthy person. The financier would be the mission holder and the other person would be the ED (Executive Director).

In Hubbard's program, SMI was not to affect existing missions or existing mission holders who wanted to open new missions on their own. The sole purpose was to get money out of wealthy Scientologists. Hubbard explained this program in a taped conference with one of his staff. He went on to explain that if the mission failed, they still had the money. If it succeeded, then that was an added bonus.

Several of the scams perpetrated by the New Regime were an alteration of some earlier program of Hubbard's. As I mentioned in Part 5 of this series, either Miscaviage or Broeker's influence was clear on certain activities of the New Regime, as one of them had been witness to the initiation of a similar program of Hubbard's. The origination of SMI was described in a Hubbard taped conference. SMI was later used as an umbrella corporation for all the missions. The staff member that Hubbard had been briefing in his taped conference was David Miscaviage.

Through fear and pressure, mission holders put their missions under SMI. (As there were no more serious attacks, I suspected the incident in the northwestern US mission to be a set-up.) Now the missions were legally under the control of the CoS (now the New Regime, known as the RTC). Once the change occurred, they implemented heavy-handed tactics with the missions.

Missions were told that they were dilettantes, that they were off-purpose and off-policy. A new arm of the RTC called the Finance Police, headed by a Finance Dictator, was set up to deal with mission "offences". The origination of the post of dictator can also be traced back to Hubbard.

In 1973 on the Flagship, Hubbard did an evaluation and created a program to address a diminishing money flow to Flag and Sea Org reserves. His plan for this emergency was to design a temporary post of FBO (Flag Banking Officer) Dictator and appointed me to the position. I was given full authority in finance matters, worldwide, until the emergency was resolved. I resolved it and the post was disbanded. One of the people working under me at the time was Pat Broeker.

In 1982 the RTC created a new dictator with finance police to do his bidding. Dressed in black uniforms, these finance police were sent to missions to find and handle offences (as defined, of course, by the RTC). There were plenty offences found in the missions and the missions were billed at an exorbitant rate. The fat bank accounts of the missions were quickly drained and the money was added to the RTC coffers.

The final blow to the missions was delivered at the mission holder's conference in LA. This conference was very different from the one previously held on Flag. This time there was no interest in mission holders' grievences. Mission holders either fully went along with the RTC demands or were immediately expelled. If a mission holder complained, he was declared on the spot.

The Scientology missions were finally under the control of the New Regime.

Part 12 Tying Up Loose Ends

It was 1982 and the new regime, the RTC, was in power with control of all the money. They now started tying up all the loose ends. Their attention was on handling or getting rid of anyone who was not fully on board with the RTC.

One primary target for RTC attention was the upper management personnel at Special Unit. Anyone questioning the New Regime's authority or demonstrating counter intention was labeled "anti-management". People not with the program were assigned to a re-vamped RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force) with heavier-then-usual mental and physical abuse.

Many of the most capable people deemed "anti-management" were expelled or given almost impossible tasks in order to get back into the good graces of the New Regime. Some of these people were sent on garrison (long standing) missions to orgs. Their only hope of redemption was to get the org's stats into almost impossible ranges. They couldn't come back to management or receive training or auditing until they had fulfilled their mission, which could take years. Once again, as was done in Part 11 of this series, it is interesting to see where this idea originated.

In 1971, top Sea Org execs in LA concocted a scheme to get the gross income up. Through crush sell they got the Scientology public to pay for their bridges. When a person didn't have the money to pay for services, SO regs would have the person write, what was called a "postulate check". Either a checking account check or counter check was written for the amount being regged. By writing such a check without the funds to cover it, a person was making a postulate that the money would be there! These checks were then counted on the Gross Income stat and turned into the FBO (Finance Banking Office) for deposit.

Not only did this scheme greatly upset the Scientology field, but it led to financial disaster as well, as most of these postulate checks didn't get covered and then bounced. I know quite a bit about this scheme and period of Scientology history as my first real assignment in the SO was to collect the bounced checks. With Gross Income stats out the roof, Flag management thought these execs were heroes. When Flag discovered what was really going on, all these top execs were removed from their posts and recalled to Flag.

Hubbard's handling of these execs was to send them all as a command team to the Boston Org. They were given incredible targets to meet before they could be back in good standing. Pat Broeker, who was assigned to the FBO network on Flag, requested and approved to be sent to Boston Org with the command team where he was posted as the FBO Boston. Once again, Broeker's influence is obvious on a later RTC tactic.

In keeping with their quest to tie up the loose ends, the RTC turned their attention to Scientologists in the field doing any sort of program or activity independently. People that fit into this category included those delivering their own seminars and people selling books they wrote, even if those books had previously been sold in Scientology bookstores for years. Basically, anyone who was making money by delivering any kind of Scientology service or publication that was not now authorized by the RTC was a target. These so-called renegades were being rounded up and ordered to Clearwater for ethics handling. I, of course, fit into this category.

Part 13 – My Flag Ethics Cycle

Well into 1982, the New Regime (RTC) was now fully in control of the CoS. All previously autonomous networks including the Guardians Office had been reformed into one command line under the RTC. Special Unit had been whipped into line and the missions had been castrated. The RTC was putting their attention on anyone in the Scientology field who was acting independently.

I got a call from the ethics officer at FOLO WUS. I was told that the RTC had a stack of knowledge reports stating that I'd been distributing/delivering confidential material to the field, and I was ordered to Flag in Clearwater for ethics handling. Incensed by the lies and obvious ploy to get me to drop what I was doing and report to Flag, I decided to call an old friend for assistance.

Pat Broeker's ex-wife, Frannie, and I had worked closely together while I was in the FBO network. Frannie had been my senior for a while when she was CS-F (Commodore's staff for finance) and we had become close friends. Currently, she was holding the top post at Author's Services, high up in the ranks of the RTC. I had never known her to buckle under pressure from above and she had been close to Hubbard on the ship, as I had been. Having once supported my efforts with Book One, she had given me a confidential phone number to reach her. I figured that she was the only person who could help me with this personal attack from the RTC.

I called her and told her what was going on and asked her for assistance. I was taken aback by her uncharacteristic coldness and robotic response. She told me that she could make this ethics cycle go away if I would re-join the Sea Org and come back to the fold. I could even run Book One in North America if I wanted, but I had to do it as a Sea Org member. When I informed her that I wouldn't come back to the SO, she told me that in that case, there was nothing that she could do to help me. That was the last time I spoke to Frannie.

I decided to go to Flag, but that I wasn't going alone. I asked John Galusha to accompany me and he agreed. I was extremely upset by my current circumstances and wanted someone with me on this trip who would keep me sane. Just being in his presence had a calming affect on me. None of the present insanity seemed to affect John. Additionally, during all the time we had worked together on the Book One program no one had ever attacked John. It was as if the man was outside this whole crazy game and invisible to attackers.

When we arrived at Flag it felt as if I was entering a den of insanity. I was just one of many people there for ethics handling. People were frantically routing on to KSW (Keeping Scientology Working) courses. Outside the Flag ethics office there was a long line of people that circled around the building. I was told that I had to get in line to see an ethics officer. Nervous and upset, I stayed in line most of the day. John stayed with me, calmly reading a book. People coming out of the ethics office looked harried and disoriented. Finally, it was my turn to see an ethics officer. In the office there were maybe two or three ethics officers busily haranguing people.

I sat down across from the first available ethics officer and introduced myself. He responded by saying, "So you're Mike Goldstein". I asked him about the apparent knowledge reports that said I was distributing confidential material to the field. He couldn't produce any of these reports but said that there was good reason why I was there. When I informed him that I was working on a special project under Diana Hubbard he said that the RTC had no indication or proof that I had ever worked with her. I was told that I was in big trouble and that he had to gather more information on my situation. He then ended the interview and I was told to report back later to see him. With his cold, superior and robotic attitude, I could see that this person was not interested in anything I had to say and had already made up his mind (or had had it made up for him) about me.

After leaving the ethics office, I ran into Diana who looked extremely upset and frazzled. I told her why I was there and what the ethics officer had said about there being no proof that I had ever worked with her. She said that there was nothing that she could do and just walked on.

Devastated, I went with John back to our room. Over the past year there were times when I really felt I needed a session and soloing on NOTs didn't produce the desired results. In desperation, I would go to John and he would audit me using old creative processes that he had helped Hubbard research in the 1950s. These sessions had always helped, and I certainly could use some help now. I could only remember one other time in my life when I was this upset. I asked John for a session and he wholeheartedly agreed.

One half-hour later, I had had the most effective session in my entire career as a Scientologist. The result of the session was something I could have previously never imagined. I not only moved out of my upset, but also felt I'd moved out of this whole crazy game.

Later, on my way back to the ethics office, I felt as if I was walking through a war zone, with people all around me embroiled in battle. But none of this seemed to have anything to do with me. It was as if the others were being shot and falling like flies while I was invisible and bullets were passing harmlessly through my body. I was in a state that I imagined John was in all the time.

Unscathed by my surroundings, I patiently waited in line again to see the ethics officer. Finally I was meeting with the ethics officer that I'd seen earlier, but this time I felt no malice for him, or for anyone for that matter. I really don't remember what he said to me or I said to him, but he acted differently than he had in our previous meeting. Kindness and interest in what I had to say replaced his earlier heartless demeanor. The upshot of the meeting was that not only did he believe my ethics handling should be cancelled, but also that the CoS should support my efforts! Acting as if he was just hearing about my Book One program for the first time, he excitedly scheduled another meeting outside the ethics office. The purpose of this meeting would be to brief him on my project.

The rest of my trip on Flag was very pleasant. I just walked around talking with people. I even ran into Heber Jentzsch who asked me what I was doing. After telling him, he expressed a strong interest in setting up an event for John and me.

I left Flag completely exhonerated from any out-ethics.

Part 14 – My First Declare

After arriving back in Denver from my Flag ethics cycle, I felt very thankful to John for the session he'd given me at Flag. I remained in the wonderful state I'd achieved for a week or two. Then I received another call from the ethics officer at FOLO WUS.

Apparently, the RTC was dumbfounded to discover that I had left Flag without even a slap on the wrist. They had cancelled the findings of my Flag ethics handling and had busted the ethics officer with whom I had worked on Flag. This FOLO WUS ethics officer informed me that I must now report to LA for another ethics cycle, and once again, I was told that they had a stack of knowledge reports on me. Feeling enough was enough, I began questioning this man on the validity of his orders. But with each of my questions and policy references, he would only respond by saying that I must come out to LA immediately. I ended this one way conversation by saying that his order was illegal and that per policy, I would write him an Orders Query Of and express-mail this out to him within 24 hours.

I wrote a long and detailed Orders Query Of that fully demonstrated how my order to report to LA was both illegal and off-policy. One of the points of the query was that I'd never received copies of any knowledge reports, and per policy, copies should have been sent to me. Another example of the order's illegality was that if they wanted me to come out for an ethics cycle, they would have to specify the nature of the cycle (i.e. Board of Investigation, Comm Ev, etc.) and what the charges were. Additionally, if I were to come to LA without information about the charges, I wouldn't be able to gather refutable evidence or prepare a competent defense. I express-mailed the query within the time frame that I had promised.

Even though the ethics officer had made an issue of my reporting to LA quickly, he didn't respond to my query in a timely fashion. Some time passed and I received a call from the local org. They said that I had a telex from FOLO WUS but wouldn't read it to me over the phone. I was told that I had to come into the org to get it. Thinking the telex was an answer to my query, I rushed over.

When I arrived I was told to go upstairs to one of the offices. After I had entered the room, someone shut the door behind me. The org ethics officer, her assistant and a couple of other people were in the office. The ethics officer handed me the telex. It was from the ethics officer at FOLO WUS, but it wasn't addressed to me, it was addressed to someone at the org. It read, "Get Goldstein on a plane now, any way you have to". This was the straw that broke the camel's back. No answer to my query or communication to me had been made. Just an order to the local org to get me on a plane.

The four people just stood around while I read the telex, waiting for my response. Only a few times in my life had I been as angry as I was at that moment. I went over and sat on the edge of the desk and addressed the people in the room. I calmly, but coldly told them that it appeared that they had a direct order to get me on a plane. I told them that I guessed they would have to try to comply with the order if they didn't want to get into trouble. Then I got to my feet and said that I wasn't going to LA, that I was going to walk out of this office and building, and asked them to please try to stop me. I had really hoped that they would try to stop me, as I wanted to take my anger out on somebody. As I proceeded to the door they all moved out of my way, letting me pass with no incident. It was probably for the best that they didn't try to stop me. If they had, I would later have felt badly about the harm I most certainly would have inflicted.

The next morning my doorbell ran. It was the org ethics officer's assistant. Without speaking he handed me a goldenrod issue and ran away. It was an ethics order from FOLO WUS declaring me a suppressive. The order was filled with all sorts of vile lies. For example, one such lie was that I was providing confidential material to the field. Later that morning, I went to my office where I found copies of the declare order scotch-taped all over the outside door.

I decided to query the declare order. I ended up writing a tome, responding to each charge in the declare order with data and policy references, and going over the entire ethics scenario in detail. I made numerous copies of my query and sent them to all appropriate parties at FOLO WUS, Flag, and upper management.

Weeks went by but there was no response to my query. During this time I did get a couple of clandestine phone calls from Diana. She didn't say much and what she did say was not very coherent. She seemed rushed and harried.

Because of the situation, business was pretty bad. Also, I didn't feel like doing much with Book One. I closed the office and moved my operation into the basement of my home. I took the file cabinet with all the correspondence course student files over to John's house. When I did get student lessons in the mail, I just forwarded them to John for grading. All we were now doing with Survival Services was delivering to students doing their course. I started another business to pay my bills.

During this time, I suddenly became very popular in the Denver area. According to my declare order nobody was suppose to talk to me, but staff and public from the org and missions called and came to see me all the time, concerned with how I was doing. I got invited to more parties by Scientologists in the area than I'd ever been invited to previously. People responded to orders from the local org's ethics officer not to communicate with me by telling her to shove it.

After some time had passed, I got a phone call from someone saying that he was on a mission in Denver from the Office of Special Affairs. I asked if this was in response to my query and he confirmed that it was, saying that he and his partner wanted to come over and see me right away.

When they arrived at my home, I invited them down to my basement where I had the desks and chairs from my office set up. They sat down and immediately demanded that I give them the names of all Scientologists in the area who were in communication with me. The lead missionaire had lied when he had said that they were here in response to my query. Actually, their mission was to put a stop to people communicating with me. I told them that they had to be crazy to ask me for names. What were they going to do when I didn't give them the names, re-declare me? I was pretty outraged. When they got up to leave, I stood in front of the basement stairs and asked how they expected to leave, alive. I told them that all I would have to tell the police was that two weird people in strange uniforms came to my house and tried to assault me.

After I saw that they had lost their composure and were both sufficiently frightened, I let them leave. The lead missionaire had been so scared and nervous that he actually left a copy of their mission orders on my desk! The mission orders spelled out each action they were suppose to take. Knowing what they were suppose to do, I called and warned everyone who they were coming to see. People expecting their arrival and knowing what they were going to be saying and doing, were prepared for the missionaires' visits. The missionaires soon discovered that they didn't need a list of names, as the majority of the Scientologists in Denver refused to comply with the declare order and were very adamant about their refusal.

With their mission in shambles, they showed up at a party where I was the special guest. They walked over and politely asked if they could talk with me. Saying that the declare order, and their mission were probably wrong, they would now be returning to LA. After that, everyone, including the two of them, had a good time. After the party, I drove them to the airport.

I wasn't to hear anything new from the CoS or RTC for a while.

Part 15 – Undeclared

It was 1983, and some time had passed since the Office of Special Affairs mission had come and gone. Being declared really wasn't so bad. Most of the Scientologists in Denver were still in communication with me. Old friends from the Sea Org, who had also been declared by the RTC, were contacting me and welcoming me to the club. I was making a living outside of Scientology. And best of all, I was not embroiled in the CoS insanity. Being declared was, in a way, kind of therapeutic.

I received a phone call from an old friend from the ship. He was in Denver with another friend of mine from the Apollo. He informed me that they were here on a special garrison (long-term) mission from the RTC. When I asked what the hell the RTC wanted now, he told me that my bogus declare had been canceled and that one of the primary targets on their mission orders was to contact me. He requested that I come over to their motel so that they could please brief me on their mission. Curious about what they had to say, and excited about seeing old friends, I agreed.

Our meeting was pleasant, and at first, we just chatted about old friends and old times. Then they got down to the business of briefing me on their mission. They told me that LRH had a warm spot in his heart for this area, as evidenced in his book, Battlefield Earth, which took place in Colorado. He wanted a huge expansion of Scientology to occur here and wanted my help, as I had been so instrumental in previous expansion in this area.

The RTC's primary intention for contacting me was unmistakably apparent. Their previous mission to get Scientologists to disconnect from me was a complete failure. Canceling my declare and getting me on board with this mission would make local Scientologists' support for their endeavor much easier.

I really had no interest in assisting the RTC but believed I had some leverage in these circumstances. I informed the missionaires that before I would even consider helping them, certain conditions that I required would have to be met.

Simply canceling my declare would not make up for the damage caused by the publication and widespread distribution of a slanderous declare order. I wanted to be Comm Eved in Denver. The Comm Ev would specifically address the accusations listed in the declare order. I wanted local, unbiased and non-RTC people appointed to the committee. Finally, I wanted the committee's findings and recommendations, and the cancellation of my declare published and broadly distributed, as the declare order had been.

The missionaires didn't see any reason why my conditions would be a problem and said they would contact their mission ops (operations) to get the ball rolling on my requests. They said that they would be in touch, and then I left.

Driving home I pondered on why these two people were in Denver. Obviously, that baloney about LRH having a warm spot for Colorado was just a PR target on their mission orders. But why these two people? They were old crew from the Apollo, and had held high posts in the Sea Org. Why would they be on a garrison mission in Denver?

On my trips to Clearwater, I had never seen either one of these two people there. Therefore, they must have been posted at Special Unit. A light went off in my head! They were probably part of that silly RTC action that I went over in Part 12 of this series. They must have been labeled "anti-management" and their only chance at redemption was to come to Denver and create a great expansion of Scientology. I was certain that the RTC would not like for this information to get out to Scientologists in the area. Therefore, I had an even a greater leverage with these people.

The next day I went into the Denver org and met with the missionaires. As I started to explain my theory about their coming to Colorado, they both got expressions of surprise on their faces and nervously looked at each other. Then one of them quickly got up and shut the door so that no one else could hear our conversation, while the other questioned me on how I had received this information. Unwilling to tell them how I knew, I just said that I had my sources.

They practically begged me not to reveal the true nature of their circumstances. I told them simply and with finality that that depended on the RTC. I then immediately asked about my requests, and they said that they were waiting to hear back from mission ops. I then told them to let me know, and left them in a state of moderate shock.

A couple of days later, they contacted me saying that my requests had been approved. The RTC would be writing up the Comm Ev and local Scientologists would be selected for the committee. The missionaires would let me know when proceedings would begin.

A short while later, my Comm Ev was convened.

Part 16 Findings & Recommendations

The RTC had approved my request for and written up my Comm Ev. I was satisfied that the accusations put forth in my declare order were therein being addressed. The local people assigned to the committee were not really friends or allies, but they were unbiased, so I felt that the Comm Ev would be conducted fairly.

At first, the committee was rather cold and suspicious. As things proceeded and they began seeing the truth of my situation, they warmed up to me. The Comm Ev didn't take very long. When we were done, I thought that it had gone quite well and believed that the committee's findings would be a truthful representation of what had occurred.

With the Comm Ev's completion, the committee's findings were sent to the Convening Authority, the RTC, for approval, publication and distribution. A short time later, I got a call from the org saying that the published findings and recommendations had arrived. I went over and was given a copy of the write-up. As I read the committee's findings I was very satisfied. I had been exonerated of all false accusations. What's more, the report truthfully depicted injustices and highlighted my accomplishments. Then I read the recommendations that were laid out by the RTC.

Recommendations are suppose to align with a committee's findings. For example, if the findings were that the person was guilty of high crimes, then the recommendations might be suitable punishment and correction. If the findings were that the person was innocent and had been treated unjustly, then the recommendations might include re-instatement of the innocent party and investigation of the parties responsible for the injustice.

In the case of my Comm Ev, the RTC's recommendations were completely non sequitur and out of alignment with the findings of the committee. Basically, I was instructed to go to work in the Denver Org Division 6 to help the present RTC mission in the org, and to hand over my correspondence course materials to the Div 6 for their use. I took my copy of the findings and recommendations and left the org without talking to anyone.

What had occurred was fairly predictable, but at least I had accomplished what I had set out to do. The findings had been published and distributed in response to the false declare order. And any thinking person could see the RTC's unjust actions and that the recommendations were completely inappropriate.

After reading the write-up, a field auditor who had been shut down by the RTC for doing first dynamic ethics handling on people gave me a call. He told me that he had just come back from Santa Barbara where he had received auditing from David Mayo. He was very satisfied with the results he'd obtained, and recommended that I make the trip. This person's call was timely, as I was at a point where I was finally willing to leave the CoS. I had remained in the CoS as long as I had because I had believed in the validity of the technology and had thought I could correct the organization. Now I felt my goals of correcting management were no longer possible.

David Mayo, having left the Sea Org some months prior, had just set up an independent center in Santa Barbara and was delivering services to Scientologists who had left CoS. I called David and we had a nice chat. We were friends, but I hadn't seen him since we were both on the Apollo. After talking to him and finding out what he was doing, I scheduled some time to go out and get some auditing at his establishment.

I received excellent service with David's group, and for the first time I became aware of the volume of Scientologists who were leaving the CoS. In the entire past history of Scientology, never had such a mass exodus occurred. And the people leaving were not just public Scientologists dissatisfied with their services and treatment in the organization. Large numbers of highly trained technical and administrative people, many of whom had worked closely with Hubbard, were also departing.

The mistreatment of independent thought by the RTC, as described in Part 10 of this series, had not crushed the revolution. RTC actions had only delayed it and forced it out of the CoS and into the field. I was now witnessing the beginning of what was to be called the "independent movement" or "free zone". I remember hearing an appropriate analogy: People are leaving a sinking ship, and only the rats will remain.

While in Santa Barbara, I talked with David to see if he might be interested in my coming aboard to take on a position of interesting people never involved with Scientology in his services. But David was too busy with what he was doing, and only interested in delivering to the people leaving the CoS. It was his operation and he could, of course, do what he wanted. I thanked him for his good service and returned home.

Part 17 – Leaving the CoS

After returning from my trip to Santa Barbara, the person who had told me about Mayo gave me a call. He was an opinion leader in the Denver field. He was having a meeting at his home with many other local Scientologists to discuss the independent movement and wanted me to attend.

Most of the people attending the meeting were public who were sick of the high prices and heavy ethics in the CoS. The host was telling them about the activities occurring outside the CoS, focusing on the delivery being done at Mayo's. Since most of these people respected my opinion, I was asked to speak to the audience.

I told the group of my experiences and expressed my viewpoint about what was going on. I told them that I was leaving the CoS and that I'd just been out to Mayo's for auditing. I told them that the service I had received was better than the service I'd received in Clearwater, and recommended Mayo as a viable alternative to the CoS.

When I finished my talk I started to sit down, but I was stopped by an angry crowd. They wanted to know why they had to go to Santa Barbara for service when I could open a center in Denver. Up until now, the idea hadn't occurred to me. I told them this and that I'd have to think about it. As I was leaving the meeting, the idea of opening an independent center started to appeal to me.

While I was out at Mayo's, the missionaires at the org had been trying to contact me. I found that I had several messages on my answering machine from them, saying that they wanted to see me. I went over to the org and met with the lead missionaire.

He said that he was wondering when I was going to start working in the Div 6 there. I tried to explain about the RTC's recommendations being inconsistent with the committee's findings, but he just didn't get what I was trying to say. He tried to tell me how wonderful it would be to work in the org Div 6, especially since we didn't have to mess with those damned missions anymore. When I asked that he elaborate, he went on to say that the missions had just been dilettante units that had now been turned into something much better, mini-orgs.

Disgusted with what he had said, I told him that the missions were the best source of public the orgs had ever had, and now the RTC had destroyed them out of greed and avarice. I went on to say that he was just a puppet, mouthing RTC justifications for their crimes. Then I told him that I'd been out at David Mayo's getting auditing and that it was a breath of fresh air. Dumbfounded, all he could say was "You shouldn't have done that". I just shook my head, said goodbye, and left.

It only took a couple of days before I got another phone call. This time it was from another RTC mission that had just arrived in Denver. Obviously, the RTC had been informed of my conversation with the missionaire at the org and had sent another mission to specifically deal with this "situation". This new mission was operating out of a motel near the local org, and wanted me to come over and see them. My wife was afraid and didn't want me to go. I assured her that I would be fine and not to worry. I wanted to confront these people one more time.

This time there were three missionaires there to handle me. They wanted to make me realize the mistake I'd made by going to Mayo, and get me to give up the "destructive" path I was on. I sat in a chair while the three of them stood around me like cops grilling a suspect. Actually, I kind of enjoyed all the drama.

I had hoped that these missionaires would be old-time Sea Org members with some history and experience under their belts. Instead, I discovered that they were pretty raw and really didn't have much of a clue about anything. I would have been surprised if any of them had been in the Sea Org for more than a year.

As the session went on, it was the three of them that started to get very unconformable. I was nice, but I was giving them data that was completely new to them and contradicted what they had been told. Seven hours later they were almost basket cases. There was nothing else they could say. I had lost track of time and thought that I should call me wife. Almost hysterical, she was relieved that I was all right. I told her I'd be home directly.

Departing, I told the missionaires that I was leaving the CoS and setting up a center in Denver. But figuring I'd make a last attempt at affecting changes in management, I told them that I wouldn't do anything for a least three days. In that time, I was willing to first sit down with Pat Broeker to discuss things. Amazed, I discovered that they didn't even know who Pat Broeker was! I told them that he was their senior and one of the people running the CoS. Telling them that they should just relay my message to their mission ops, I then went home.

I got no further communication from the RTC about this last mission or my offer to meet with Broeker. My life as a member of the CoS was now over. But, I was about to start a new chapter in my life, embarking on an exciting and new adventure.

Part 18 – Epilogue

The New Regime Takeover series is now complete. I realize that I only used eighteen parts in this write-up, even though I had first anticipated using twenty-five. The remaining, unused parts may be appended to the existing series in an effort to respond to any questions.

In this series, I have attempted, through my observation and experience, to describe the takeover of the CoS by the new regime. I first became aware of a change in the CoS's power structure in 1980, when I was first contacted in the field by Diana Hubbard. I provided a brief part of my previous history in the CoS as a background, but the majority of my personal experience in this series begins in 1980. The story continues into 1983, when the takeover was complete and I left the CoS.

While writing and publishing this write-up, I have received many communications from readers trying to figure out my current viewpoint and opinions from what they have read so far. This would be difficult, as I have tried to write this series from the viewpoint I was in at the time these events were happening, over twenty years ago. I believe that doing this has given the story a more realistic flavor.

Due to the many questions and interest of readers, I will be writing another series that begins where this write-up leaves off. This new series will commence after I left the CoS and continue until the present. Not wanting to get ahead of myself, I have chosen not to respond to certain postings at the site where my series first appeared, as my responses would have portrayed later points of view. I'm certain that people will find it much more interesting to observe the change in viewpoint with the progressing events and history.

In the upcoming series, I will look at the history of the independent field or free zone, as well as the CoS's response to this activity, while I operated an independent center in Colorado. Readers will observe the distinct shift in viewpoint that occurred in the independent field after only two years in existence.

When leaving the fold, most Scientologists still believed in the total validity of the technology, where the only imperfections arose from the management and organization of the CoS. In a free environment, the blinders came off, and an emphatic change occurred in the previously enforced ideas about Hubbard's monopoly on mental and spiritual research and advancement.

Readers will get a rare glimpse at the early days and formation of the Scientology Bridge from the eyes of the man who assisted Hubbard in his research of the subject. You will see how a flawed philosophy and incorrect evaluation of technical problems led Hubbard to develop a system that had its' workability, but was fraught with inconsistencies and limitations.

Out of this turbulent past and evolution of independent thought, a new subject, Idenics, was born. Not being a rehash of Dianetics or Scientology, Idenics would be a fresh, new approach to come out of the arena of self-improvement and therapy. The development and impact of this methodology will be discussed within the context of this new series of writings.

Whether you have participated and witnessed events during the period of time discussed, or whether you are just questioning your existing circumstances, I hope you will find this upcoming series interesting, and perhaps, even enlightening.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the late, John Galusha, my friend and partner of 16 years, without whose help and insight, this series and the upcoming series would not have been written.

Mike Goldstein

8/16/04

"In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." George Orwell

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