Wonder if the times are really changing? On the first day of 2012 a very prominent self-professed corporate Scientologist in good standing has overtly announced a clear division within the ranks.
Former Captain Flag Service Organization Debbie Cook, who avows to abide by the disconnect policy as administered and adjudicated by David Miscavige, has announced to fellow corporate Scientologists that as far as certain policy violations go, enough is enough.
In a skilled use of the Public Relations series, Debbie characterizes abuses in a euphemistic manner so that corporate Scientologists might read and think about the gaping holes in the side of the corporate Scientology ship. Note the Monique-Yiglingesque disavowal of the outside world having any role in correcting the beast; for many this letter will be somewhat safe to read. For the unvarnished truth of what Debbie Cook experienced, please see:
The Final Purges Part I
The Final Purges Part II
The Final Purges Part III
This latest development will have no radical, immediate results. However, many corporate minds that have been well-steeled against truth will be penetrated and begin to ponder what is really going on. The letter represents the current well-withheld thoughts of a number of other prominent corporate Scientologists. Look for some of them to make some noise in early 2012.
This year has begun with a most interesting, if predictable, development.
Prepare to deliver.
Debbie Cook’s email:
Dear Friend,
I am emailing you as a friend and fellow Scientologist. As we enter a new
year, it is hoped that 2012 can be a year of great dissemination and a year
of real progress up The Bridge for all Scientologists.
Although I am not in the Sea Org right now, I served in the Sea Org at Flag
for 29 years. 17 of those years were as Captain FSO. I am a trained auditor
and C/S as well as an OEC, FEBC and DSEC.
I am completely dedicated to the technology of Dianetics and Scientology and
the works of LRH. I have seen some of the most stunning and miraculous
results in the application of LRH technology and I absolutely know it is
worth fighting to keep it pure and unadulterated.
My husband and I are in good standing and we are not connected with anyone
who is not in good standing. We have steadfastly refused to speak to any
media, even though many have contacted us.
But I do have some very serious concerns about out-KSW that I see permeating
the Scientology religion.
I have the utmost respect for the thousands of dedicated Scientologists and
Sea Org members. Together, we have come through everything this world could
throw at us and have some real impingement on the world around us. I am
proud of our accomplishments and I know you are too.
However there is no question that this new age of continuous fundraising is
not our finest moment.
LRH says in HCO PL 9 Jan 51, An Essay on Management,
“drop no curtains between the organization and the public about anything.”
-LRH
Based on this policy I am communicating to you about some situations that we
need to do something about within our religion, within our group.
Actions that are either not covered in policy or directly violate LRH policy
and tech include the extreme over-regging and fund-raising activities that
have become so much a part of nearly every Sea Org org and Class V org as
well as every “OT Committee”. This fundraising is not covered anywhere in
LRH policy.
Hardworking Sea Org members and the dedicated staff of orgs around the world
aren’t choosing to do these actions. Nor are the OTs. I am sure they would
be more than happy if they could just get on with direct dissemination of
Scientology as they have done for so many years.
But the truth is that this is being driven from the very highest echelons
within the Scientology structure and clearly there is a lot of pressure to
make targets that are being set.
The IAS: The IAS was created unbeknownst to LRH in 1984 by Marc Yager and
David Miscavige. This was supposed to be based on LRH policies on the
subject of membership and the HASI, however the IAS is nothing like the
membership system described by LRH which only has two memberships and is
covered in HCO PL 22 March 1965 “Current Promotion and Org Program Summary,
Membership Rundown” and states:
“There are two memberships…”- LRH
LRH lists there the INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP and gives its cost at 10
pounds sterling or $30 US. He also lists a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP which is
priced at $75 US. There are no other memberships or statuses approved or
known to LRH.
Furthermore, membership monies are supposed to go directly to the org where
the membership is signed up, and the money used for dissemination by that
org, in that area. This is covered in HCOPL 1 Sept 1965R Membership
Policies.
“It all goes into the HCO Book Account in the area where the membership is
brought and is not part of the organization’s weekly gross income.
Membership monies go to dissemination”.- LRH
Currently membership monies are held as Int reserves and have grown to well
in excess of a billion dollars. Only a tiny fraction has ever been spent, in
violation of the policy above. Only the interest earned from the holdings
have been used very sparingly to fund projects through grants. In fact many
of the activities you see at IAS events are not actually funded by the IAS,
but rather by the Scientologists involved.
Think about it, how many ads disseminating Scientology, Dianetics or any Scn
affiliated programs have you seen on TV? Heard on the radio? Seen in
newspapers? I haven’t seen one in the 4 years I have lived in San Antonio,
Texas, the 7th largest city in the US. How many have you seen?
Donating anything more than a lifetime membership to the IAS is not based on
LRH policy. The article “What Your Donations Buy” (The Auditor, The Monthly
Journal of Scientology No. 51, 1970) is clearly talking about how the church
uses your donations for Dianetics and Scientology services. Next time you
are asked to donate outside of services, realize that you are engaged in
fundraising and ask to see something in writing from L. Ron Hubbard that
this is something he expects from you as a Scientologist.
New Org Buildings: LRH also never directed the purchase of opulent buildings
or the posh renovations or furnishings for every org.
In fact, if you read HCO PL 12 March 75 Issue II, “The Ideal Org”, which is
what this program has been called, and nowhere in it will you find 20
million dollar buildings or even any reference to the poshness of org
premises at all as part of LRH’s description of an “Ideal Org”. Instead, an
Ideal Org was one that delivered and moved people up The Bridge – something
that is not part of this “Ideal Org” program.
LRH says in the PL that an Ideal Org:
“would be clean and attractive enough not to repel its public” – LRH.
This is all it says about the state of the building.
As a result of this off-policy alteration of the Ideal Org PL, we have the
majority of top OTs, now deemed “OT Ambassadors”, heavily engaged in
fund-raising activities that include “bingo”, “pirate dinners”, “knitting
classes”, “hay rides”, and many other activities strictly revolving around
raising funds for the required multi-millions of dollars to fund their
“Ideal Org”. As part of this, people around every org are now asked to
donate to their local “Ideal Org” instead of their own services or their own
Bridge.
LRH says in HCO PL Org Ethics and Tech:
“GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS FROM SCIENTOLOGY in your org. Baby-sitting or
raffle tickets and such nonsense.”-LRH
Yet these distractions are rampant as they are being used as fund-raisers to
get money for the huge quotas being issued to fund the “Ideal Org”.
“If the org slumps… don’t engage in ‘fund-raising’ or ‘selling postcards’
or borrowing money. Just make more income with Scientology.
It’s a sign of very poor management to seek extraordinary solutions for
finance outside Scientology. It has always failed.”
“For orgs as for pcs, ‘Solve It With Scientology’.
“Every time I myself have sought to solve financial or personnel in other
ways than Scientology I have lost out. So I can tell you from experience
that org solvency lies in more Scientology, not patented combs or
fund-raising barbeques.”
HCO PL 24 February 1964, Issue II, Org Programming, (OEC Vol. 7, p. 930)
The point is that Scientologists and OT’s need to be training, auditing and
disseminating to raw public- not regging each other or holding internal
fundraisers.
Out Tech: Over the last few years we have seen literally hundreds and
hundreds of people who were validated as clear using the CCRD as developed
by LRH now being told they are not Clear. This included hundreds of OTs who
were then put onto NED as a “handling”. LRH clearly forbid any Dianetics to
be run on OTs in HCOB “Dianetics Forbidden on OTs”. This is out tech. This
entire technical “handling” was directed personally by COB RTC and was done
on thousands of OTs. But it was based not on an LRH HCO Bulletin, but rather
based on a single C/S instruction where LRH C/Sed one pre-OT who had not
achieved the state of clear but was mid OT III and not making it. LRH
directed a solo handling that the pre-OT was to do to get himself to achieve
the state of Clear. This LRH C/S taken out of context was then used to
implement a technical handling that was in direct violation of an LRH HCOB.
This and other “technical handlings” done on Solo NOTs auditors created
great expense and hardship on Solo NOTs auditors around the world as they
were made to do these handlings to continue on the level.
Then there are the “fast grades at Flag” that no other org has. How can it
be that Flag has been delivering grades differently to the rest of the world
for the last 3 years? Whatever the problem is, the fact is that having “fast
Grades” at Flag creates a hidden data line and is a HIGH CRIME and the
subject of an entire policy letter called HCOPL “TECH DEGRADES” which LRH
has placed at the start of every Scientology course.
More recently the fad seems to be that nearly everyone needs to “re-do their
Purif and do a long objectives program”, including many OTs mid Solo NOTs.
There is nothing wrong with doing objectives, but it is a clear violation of
HCOB ‘MIXING RUNDOWNS AND REPAIRS” to have a person mid a rundown or OT
level be taken off it and placed on an objectives program.
Solo NOTs auditors are also being made to get their objectives from a Class
IX auditor at great expense as they are not being allowed to co-audit.
Flag has made many millions of dollars on the above listed out tech
handlings because OTs mid Solo NOTs are forced to get these out-tech actions
to be able to get back onto and stay on the level and complete it. Not to
mention the spiritual effects of the out tech that this has on each OT.
I myself was subject to these out tech “handlings”, including extensive FPRD
mid Solo NOTs. It took its toll in many ways, including physical situations
I am still dealing with today. So I have some reality of the hardship
caused.
LRH Command Structure: LRH left us with a complex and balanced command
structure, with our orgs led by the Office of ED International. This office
was considered so important that LRH created a special management group
called the Watch Dog Committee whose only purpose was to see that this
office and the other needed layers of management existed. LRH ED 339R speaks
of this extensively as the protection for our Church. But these people are
missing. And not just some. As of just a few years ago there were no members
of the office of ED Int on post, not to mention top execs throughout the
International Management structure.
You may have also wondered… where is Heber, the President of the Church?
What about Ray Mitthoff, Senior C/S International, the one that LRH
personally turned over the upper OT Levels to? How about Norman Starkey,
LRH’s Trustee? What happened to Guillaume – Executive Director
International? And Marc Yeager, the WDC Chairman? What happened to the other
International Management executives that you have seen at events over the
years?
The truth is that I spent weeks working in the empty International
Management building at Int. Empty because everyone had been removed from
post. When I first went up lines I was briefed extensively by David
Miscavige about how bad all of them were and how they had done many things
that were all very discreditable. This seemed to “explain” the fact that the
entirety of the Watchdog Committee no longer existed. The entirety of the
Executive Strata, which consisted of ED International and 11 other top
International executives that were the top executives in their particular
fields, no longer existed. That the Commodore’s Messenger Org International
no longer existed. All of these key command structures of Scientology
International, put there by LRH, had been removed.
There were hundreds and hundreds of unanswered letters and requests for help
from org staff, written based on LRH ED 339R where LRH says that staff can
write to these top executives in the Exec Strata for help. But this is not
possible if all these execs have been removed and no one is there to help
them or to get evaluations and programming done to expand Scientology.
Well, after that I got to spend some quality time with Heber, Ray Mithoff,
Norman Starkey, Guillaume, as well as the entirety of International
Management at the time, who were all off post and doing very long and harsh
ethics programs. These have gone on for years and to the only result of that
they are still off post. There is no denying that these top executives have
all gradually disappeared from the scene. You don’t see them at the big
events anymore or on the ship at Maiden Voyage.
David Miscavige has now become the “leader” of the Scientology religion. Yet
what LRH left behind was a huge structure to properly manage all aspects of
the Scientology religion. He put a complete and brilliant organizational
structure there, not one individual. There never was supposed to be a
“leader” other than LRH himself as the goal maker for our group.
There is a situation here and even if you have not been to the International
Management Base you should be able to see that over regging and frequent
tech changes are not OK and you have a responsibility to do something to
Keep Scientology Working. You should be able to find and read the
references on membership in OEC Volume 6. Find and read the HCO PL entitled
“The Ideal Org” (Data Series 40). Find and read the references on org
buildings, including HCO PL 24 Aug 65 II, Cleanliness of Quarters and Staff,
Improve our Image. Also, HCO PL 17 June 69, The Org Image.
If you don’t want to make waves or put yourself in danger of being taken off
the level or denied eligibility, then there are some simple things you can
do. First and foremost, withdraw your support from off policy actions. Stop
donating to anything other than your own services and actual Bridge
progress. Simply demand to see an LRH reference that says you are required
to make other such donations. No one will be able to produce any references
because there aren’t any.
Stop supporting any of the activities that are being done to forward
off-policy fund-raising in your area.
LRH says what he expects of a Scientologist – that is what he expects you to
do. In fact he put it in HCOB 10 June 1960 Issue I, Keeping Scientology
Working Series 33, WHAT WE EXPECT OF A SCIENTOLOGIST. Read it and follow it.
The other thing you can do is to send this email to as many others as you
can, even if you do it anonymously.
Please keep this email among us, the Scientologists. The media have no place
in this. You may wonder why I have not written a KR and gone about my
business. The answer is, I have. But there is no longer anyone to send that
KR to.
But you can and should write reports and bring off-policy to the attention
of local org executives and local Sea org members.
We are a strong and powerful group and we can affect a change. We have
weathered many storms. I am sorry that I am the one telling you, but a new
storm is upon us. It’s waves are already in the media and the world around
us.
The truth is that as a Scientologist you are more able, more perceptive and
have a higher integrity. Scientology is supposed to allow you to “think for
yourself” and never compromise your own integrity. And most certainly LRH
held every Scientologist responsible to KEEP SCIENTOLOGY WORKING.
I am not trying to do anything other than affect a change in serious off
policy actions occurring. My husband and I have most of our family and many
many good friends who are Scientologists. I have not been real interested in
sticking my neck out like this.
However, I also know that I dedicated my entire adult life to supporting LRH
and the application of LRH technology and if I ever had to look LRH in the
eye I wouldn’t be able to say I did everything I could to Keep Scientology
Working if I didn’t do something about it now.
We all have a stake in this. It is simply not possible to read the LRH
references and not see the alterations and violations that are currently
occurring.
You have a very simple obligation to LRH. Don’t participate in anything off
policy, and let others know they should not either. If every person who
reads this email does nothing more than step back from off-policy actions we
would have changed direction. If we took all that energy and directed it
into auditing, training and raw public dissemination, we would be winning.
And that is what I wish for you and all of us as we ring in this new year.
ARC,
Debbie Cook
See Village Voice Coverage: Tony Ortega’s take
Moving On Up a Little Higher 