Gerald Armstrong :

Scientology is the cult of total espionage

Scientology is the cult of total espionage

Unofficial translation of a Russian language article in ANN March 2, 2007
http://www.annews.ru/news/detail.php?ID=81312

March 2, 2007, Moscow (ANN).

Scientology expends millions of dollars to hide behind a cover as a humanitarian or human rights organization. The cult spends even more money on its destructive activities in flagrant violation of human rights, Gerald Armstrong, former associate of cult founder Ron Hubbard, told ANN in an exclusive interview.

Gerald, what did you do in Scientology and why are you living in Canada today instead of the USA ?

I was in Scientology and worked with Hubbard for 12 and a half years : I was in the legal department, in the public affairs department and intelligence. During my last two years in the organization I conducted research to write a new version of Hubbard's biography. While assembling the archive from his personal documents I had a revelation that literally staggered me. Hubbard lied about virtually every aspect of his life: about his education, family, military accomplishments and about allegedly curing himself with the aid of Dianetics.

For me it became increasingly clear that after all this time in Scientology I had not attained anything that Scientology had promised. I never became more capable or more powerful, never became more intelligent. I had at least enough intelligence to get out of Scientology. I had to flee even to say that I wanted to leave. Otherwise I would have just been locked up and subjected to endless checks because I knew too much. They weren't letting me out of there alive. Right after my escape a private detective hired by Scientology attacked me: I was hit with a car, terrorized on the highway, my wife and I were spied on, my family and neighbors were intimidated. Life has been like this for 23 years. During that time I've been brought to court six times. Now I am in a seventh court case with the organization.

Scientology has dumped literally mountains of "black propaganda" on the public about me. They want me to pay them $10 million. By manipulating the court system in the USA they have obtained a judgment that prohibits me from even saying the word "Scientology." Every time I publicly say the word "Scientology" I am supposed to pay them $50,000. Since Scientology calls itself a religion, this would be akin to a person having to pay $50,000 every time he says the word "God" or "Christ" or "Christianity."

What is the essence of Scientology activities ?

It is necessary to understand the Scientology view of the world. This worldview is formulated and put into practice by using the extreme methods of Scientology founder Ron Hubbard.

The ideal form of organization for Scientologists is a dictatorship under full control of the leader. As with all totalitarian organizations or systems the Scientological worldview is the sole hope for humanity's survival. Scientology says that all other teachings, ideas, religions and health systems throughout the history of mankind were failures. Scientology states that only its system can raise adherents up to superhuman levels of ability and power, can raise their IQ to superhuman levels, and even raise the dead. According to the Scientology worldview, mankind is in a trap, and Hubbard revealed the only way to get out of it.

How does Scientology relate to people outside the organization ?

The Scientology worldview divides people into two groups : Scientologists and wogs ("wog" is an English invective for an Oriental man and is near in meaning to the English "nigger" or Russian "churka.") Sciento- logists are taught that their progress in Scientology is possible only because they are superior in all aspects.

Hubbard and Scientology teach that in the wog world there are only two types of people, good and bad. According to the Scientology worldview, the bad people who are really dangerous are 2.5% of the planet's population. Scientology calls this 2.5% "suppressive persons" or SPs. All the people who are connected to SPs are called "potential trouble sources," or PTS. They are also bad and destructive because they are connected with SPs.

The "Suppressive Persons" doctrine is central to the Scientology worldview. SPs allegedly are the cause of all disease, all accidents and all the bad conditions that exist in the world, and they should be deprived of human rights.

"Suppressive persons" are people who Scientology considers its enemies. Hubbard called this hostile relation- ship with SPs "fair game." He issued a special directive regarding SPs in which he determined that such "fair game :" "Any Scientologist, without fear of discipline (from Scientology) may deprive SPs of property and harm them by any means. They can be deceived, sued, lied to and physically destroyed."

For decades "fair game" has been condemned by courts and government bodies, and severely criticized in the media. Scientology says it did away with "fair game" nearly 30 years ago, but, nevertheless "fair game" remains a Scientology policy and practice that they apply to SPs until this day.

The totalitarian sect does not use "fair game" on murderers, rapists, mobsters, terrorists or dictators. The people whom the leaders of Scientology declare SPs are simply critics of the practices of the Scientology organization: lies and fraud, antisocial and criminal activities. The people Scientologists uses "fair game" against are doctors, psychologists, priests, teachers, journalists and many others.

Doesn't Scientology make its adepts better, smarter, more able, stronger or more moral ?

What Scientology says and promises, its whole technology, is a fraud. Scientology squeezes vast sums of money from people through fraud or extortion. In fact, Hubbard was not a scientist nor did he conduct any scientific research. He was a charlatan who claimed he had academic titles that he had never received.

Because the SP doctrine is misanthropic and even criminal (since it directs Scientologists to enter into criminal conspiracy against SPs) the Scientologists must implement this doctrine secretly, using legal cover. Scientology's war against SPs is, to a large extent, a secret war.

Scientology does everything possible to conceal its aggressive intentions and actions against good people, but a study of Scientology's own documents and the history of its aggression makes its dark business obvious. The way Hubbard chose to most effectively conduct a campaign against opponents is much more serious than a simple war of words. This war was and continues to be a war of espionage and special operations.

An intelligence service that understands the business attempts to mask its activities. Scientology, for example, at this time is trying to disguise itself as a humanitarian or human rights organization. The cult has already spent millions of dollars to create this cover. This is a tragicomic masquerade, however, a type of black humor, because Scientology quite shamelessly and ruthlessly violates human rights. While the organization has spent millions to create this humanitarian-rights cover, it has spent even more money on its destructive activities, in flagrant violation of the same human rights it constantly says it is protecting.

The Scientology anti-drug program Narconon program, Criminon, the Scientology education program, and the Scientology "volunteer ministers" (the ones who were in Beslan) are all nothing more than front organizations whose main function is providing cover and creating additional opportunities in Scientology's secret war against "suppressive persons."

Why do you say that Scientology is a cult of total espionage ?

The term "total espionage" comes from the title of a book by Curt Reiss Total Espionage, which was published in 1941. This is a book Hubbard had Scientologists study when training in intelligence procedures. Intelligence activity is pervasive and dominant within the Scientology organization as well as in its relations to the external world. Because of this it is correct to call Scientology a cult or "religion" of total espionage.

Scientology has its own spy network, and also hires external private detectives and other professionals. The cult uses the standard means of intelligence services for obtaining information from the public domain and acquiring it from legitimate sources, and unlawful methods, such as illegal infiltration, burglary, theft and extortion. Scientology has departments for security and counter-intelligence, as well as departments for public affairs and a network of covert agents. The cult also tries to collect information on people from all levels of society, from the highest political leaders, industrialists, the entertainment industry, doctors, and down to the most ordinary people.

In 1977, 150 FBI agents raided the offices of Scientology's intelligence service in Los Angeles and Washington. They obtained overwhelming evidence that Scientology agents had infiltrated more than a hundred American government agencies and federal offices and stole documents. Eleven Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, were arrested in the case and sentenced to prison terms.

In 1991, the head of the FBI in Los Angeles, who took part in the 1977 raid, said in an interview with Time Magazine: "In my opinion, Scientology has one of the most effective intelligence agencies in the U.S.A, and could even compete with the FBI."

After the events of 1977, Scientology only expanded its spy network and espionage activities.

At its core, Scientology has all the attributes of a national intelligence service. However, what makes it the cult of total espionage is the participation of all Scientologists in the common report system. The amount of information that Scientology collects through its informants and through dozens of other intelligence channels is simply staggering.

One of the most important components of Scientology is "auditing," which is its special psychotherapy. Organization members are connected to the so-called electrometer, which is used as a type of lie detector. During auditing Scientologists give up all their innermost secrets about themselves and about their past, and all this is recorded on paper, as well as audio and videotapes. Scientologists tell everything about their sexual history, everything illegal they've done and anything they're ashamed of, all their own secrets and the secrets of their family as well as of everyone they know.

All the collected material goes to Scientology management and the Scientology intelligence service for use in their work, including the control of the Scientologists who divulged their secrets. The brutal irony is that the Scientologists pay huge sums of money to give the organization their secrets, which will then be used to further repress them and extort even more money from them.

Scientologists are also routinely subjected to even more violent and dangerous interrogations called "security checks" or "sec checks." These also are electronically monitored and supervised. The Scientologists may be kept in the room for long hours, during which time they must be connected to the electrometer. They are not even allowed to go to the bathroom, and many interrogators may shout at them and demand they answer questions.

Who is now leading the Scientologists ?

David Miscavige leads Scientology. He is completely and legally responsible for what it does in the capacity of a hate group and criminal society that violates human rights. Miscavige heads the total espionage network and conducts the covert war against SPs. He controls Scientology and manages it through a web of corporations, associations, organizations, and officers extremely dedicated to Scientology. The corporate structure is the product of a conspiracy of dark and greedy Scientology leaders and some smart but intelligent but corrupt lawyers.

Miscavige, in setting up the corporate connections, calls himself the chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center (RTC). To avoid legal responsibility for Scientology's many failures, for the numerous violations of law, and for Scientologists' crimes in their war against SPs, RTC has declared itself autonomous. In fact, RTC manages the entire church empire and the spy network.

Is there actually a "concentration camp" inside the sect ?

It is called the "Rehabilitation Project Force," or RPF for short. It is the Scientology prison system. People are held there for an indefinite amount of time. I myself was in this psychological gulag twice, 25 months alto- gether, both times on Hubbard's personal order. The first time was because I had a disagreement with his wife's secretary. The second time was because Hubbard thought I had joked about the movies he made.

The purpose of the RPF is to break the human will. Up to this point, as long as the organization believes that the person has his own will, you will be ruthlessly crushed. People who are put in the RPF are not allowed to walk, they are supposed to run, they are not allowed to talk to others, just speaking to answer questions, and they have to perform the dirtiest, arduous, exhausting work. The work day is at least 12 hours, followed by endless auditing. This amounts to slave labor within the Scientology organization. Those confined in the RPF are fed scraps from the dining room (and Scientologists are not fed too well) and sleep in the most unfit conditions. There is a reduced number of hours of sleep.

If a person objected to being in the RPF, and tries to escape, he is put into the so-called RPF's RPF (i.e., a gulag within a gulag) where there is even more work, more humiliation, more violence, and where people are under guard around the clock. A sociologist of religion from Canada, Professor Steven Kent, wrote a paper on the Rehabilitation Project Force. He says that this is an undeniable violation of the most basic of human rights, yet this is an organization with its own gulag that the United States protects and promotes worldwide.

What do you say about the activities of Scientologists in Russia ?

Scientology is a 100% American cancer, because in Russia the orders come from the USA, and the infor- mation collected by the Scientologist spies moves from Russia to the USA. If a Russian group was officially created to study the Scientology organization, it would, I expect, be able to engage in a dialog about Scien- tology with the United States at the highest level. And when people at the highest level begin to criticize Scientology, then its war against "suppressive persons" will finally be over.

Interview by Protopriest Alexander Novopashin, Director of the Cathedral of his Holiness Prince Alexander Nevsky in Novosibirsk, Head of the Novosibirsk Center of Religious Studies, ANN expert analyst.

Note by Gerry Amstrong

As always happens, something is lost or altered in a translation, and even more is lost or altered in a back translation to the original language. The article that appeared in Russian in ANNews March 2, 2007, for example, attributes to me a statement concerning the Rehabilitation Project Force or RPF that people con- fined in the RPF "are fed scraps from the dining room." The actual policy concerning meals set by Scientology cult founder L. Ron Hubbard that was enforced in the RPF was that members eat after the regular Sea Org crew members had eaten whatever was left over. The following two excerpts from sworn declarations I wrote and executed provide accurate information concerning my RPF knowledge and experiences.

Hubbard created the RPF on board the ship in January 1974.

It was essentially a prison to which crew who were considered non-producers, security risks, or just wanted to leave the Sea Org, were assigned. Hubbard's RPF policies established the conditions.

RPF members were segregated and not allowed to communicate to anyone else. They had their own spaces and were not allowed in normal crew areas of the ship. They ate after normal crew had eaten, and only whatever was left over from the crew meal. Their berthing was the worst on board, in a roach-infested, filthy and unventilated cargo hold. They wore black boilersuits, even in the hottest weather.

They were required to run everwhere. Discipline was harsh and bizarre, with running laps of the ship assigned for the slightest infraction like failing to address a senior with "Sir." Work was hard and the schedule rigid with seven hours sleep time from lights out to lights on, short meal breaks, no liberties and no free time. They followed a prescribed program of sec checks and ethics penalties. It took months for RPFers to get through the program, to graduate back into crew status.

Hubbard used the RPF as threat to enforce obedience on the ship and throughout the Sea Org. He threa- tened me with assignment a number of times. The RPF was a degrading experience and the possibility of assignment terrifying. When one young woman ordered into the RPF took the assigment too lightly, Hubbard created the RPF's RPF and assigned her to it, an even more degrading experience, cut off even from the RPF, kept under guard, forced to clean the ship's bilges, and allowed even less sleep.

http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/legal/affi-1986-03-19.html  

20. In 1974, Hubbard created the "Rehabilitation Project Force" ("RPF"), a guarded labor detail or camp, where Sea Org personnel were summarily ordered for indefinite periods for any infraction or on any whim. Hubbard's published criteria, any one of which could result in assignment to the RPF were: 1. an "R/Ser;" 2. a "low OCA non-producer;" 3. a "repeated stat crasher;" or, 4. an "overt product maker." An "R/Ser" is a person on whom an auditor observes a "Rock Slam," a particular needle movement on the E-meter, during auditing or sec checking. An R/S meant that the person had an "evil intention" toward Hubbard or Scientology.

21. The "OCA," or "Oxford Capacity Analysis," is a "personality test" that Scientology uses as a recruitment device to draw people into the organization, and as a measurement of people's personality "improvement" as they progress on their "auditing programs." A "low OCA" is a test score with one or more points below an arbitrary line. A "stat crasher" is a person deemed to be responsible for a statistic dropping in an area, or project or on an organization post. All of Scientology is operated and controlled by a system of "statistics" or "stat management." Every person and post is "statistized" and must report stats daily and weekly.

"Downstats" are punished, whereas "upstats" can to a degree protect a person from punishment. An "overt product maker" is a person whose work contains errors, whose production is deemed unacceptable for some reason, or requires correction or repair.

22. People ordered to the RPF were subjected to a number of punitive and degrading conditions that included segregation from the "crew," restriction from crew areas, wearing black boiler suits, reduction in "pay" to one-quarter the base amount, not speaking to a crew member unless spoken to, having to run everywhere, doing hard manual labor and all the dirtiest work, getting a maximum of seven hours sleep, and eating after the crew whatever was left over. RPFers had to audit each other through a long auditing program that contained many hours of sec checking, and which could last for months or even years. RPFers had no free time, got no days off, and could not read newspapers or magazines, listen to radio, or watch TV. RPFers could not make telephone calls unless such were specifically ordered and monitored, and Ethics personnel read all mail RPFers received, and read and censored all mail RPFers sent out from the RPF.

23. Scientology claims that assignment to the RPF is voluntary, or even a privilege, but that is not true. Anyone who asked to leave instead of doing the RPF program was assigned to the "RPF's RPF," an even more degrading and punitive experience, where the person was guarded at all times, allowed only six hours sleep, docked all pay, had to eat after the RPF had eaten whatever they left, and did the filthiest of the dirty work. The RPF's RPF member could not leave, and in fact no Sea Org member could leave, until he had been intensely sec checked and had signed a list of his "crimes" that had been "culled" from his auditing files. Also before the person could leave, all his personal belongings were searched and he was stripped of any Scientology materials, even if he had personally purchased them.

24. The RPF and the RPF's RPF operated as a forced labor and reindoctrination camp and as a system and procedure to break the will of anyone thought to be "out ethics" or "counter intention" to Hubbard or his organization and activities. It was a shocking, degrading experience to be ordered to the RPF, and the threat of RPF assignment was used to keep non-RPF crew in line and producing. I was threatened several times with RPF assignment during my SO years, and assigned twice for a total of twenty-five months.

25. Hubbard and Scientology taught that the need for the severe "Ethics" penalties and conditions such as the RPF was because for the "technology" to work it was first necessary to "get in ethics." Hubbard and Scientology taught that since the "tech" was mankind's only hope for survival, it was necessary that the people using and delivering that "tech" be highly disciplined and ethical. Hubbard and Scientology taught that: "The purpose of ethics is to remove counter intentions from the environment. And having accomplished that the purpose becomes to remove other intentionedness from the environment."

In other words, anyone or anything that was "counter intention" to Scientology's intentions or activities, and anyone with an intention that differed from the organization's intentions was unethical and was to be removed from the environment. Hubbard laid down Scientology's intentions by order and as policy, and his intentions were forwarded and opposition removed down through the organizational hierarchy.

http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/legal/a8/complaint-rpt-doj-2004...

© Gerry Armstrong
http://www.gerryarmstrong.org

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