Citizen Complaint Section V - The "Ecclesiastical" Structure Of The Scientology-Network

(Martin Ottmann)

V - The "Ecclesiastical" Structure Of The Scientology-Network

In the official representations to the IRS in 1993 [Exh. No. 53, Excerpt], it was stated by Scientology that the new mother church "Church of Scientology International" (CSI) and its current management system was established in 1981 and 1982 to align

"the legal structure with the ecclesiastical structure by the establishment of several new organizations to place functions that belong at different levels of the hierarchy in separate organizations and to separate organizations holding ecclesiastical management functions from organizations directly ministering religious services."

Today the Church of Scientology comprises a vast network of different corporations, individual entities, associations and companies, located in various countries. All of them are connected through the network's "ecclesiastical" hierarchy or "command channels." Every organized activity within the network is a) regulated by a huge amount of internal policies, b) accounted for by daily and weekly statistical management and c) controlled by the different levels of the upper hierarchy.

This level of micro-management reaches even down to the individual public member/"parishioner," whose "progress on the Bridge to total Freedom" is measured and stored in a computer data bank at Scientology's international headquarters in Los Angeles [Exh. No. 54, Excerpt].

In its application to the IRS the Church of Scientology provided a rough sketch of the mentioned "ecclesiastical" structure [Exh. No. 55, Excerpt]. Internally this structure of management is called "Command Channels" and these "Channels" are described in an internal booklet of the same name [Exh. No. 56, Excerpt], which was published by the "Church of Scientology International" in 1988.

Because of the complexity of Scientology's organizational network I will focus my description on those organizations and entities that are connected with the criminal activities of the four reported corporations.

The top of the hierarchy -- Religious Technology Center

At the hierarchical top of Scientology's network stands the "Religious Technology Center" (RTC), the corporation, which has regulatory power over the policy and activities of all subordinate organizations.

RTC is led by the "Chairman of the Board (of Directors)" David Miscavige, who has this position since 1987, after he had moved from the same position at the for-profit corporation "Author Services, Inc." (ASI) to RTC.

Below the "Chairman of the Board" exists the position of "Inspector General RTC," currently held by Mark Rathbun, who heads the "Deputy Inspector General Network" [Exh. No. 57, Excerpt]. That network spans from RTC headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs to all of the "Advanced Organizations" in Los Angeles, Clearwater, East Grinstead, Copenhagen and Sidney, where RTC maintains offices.

In an internal newsletter, "Keeping Scientology News," RTC stated the following about the purpose and duties of the "Inspector General Network" [Exh. No. 58, Excerpt]:

"These Deputy Inspector Generals head the entire IG Network, which locates and handles internal and external infiltration and suppression, legally protects and safeguards the trademarks and technology of the religion of Scientology, and sees that management, orgs and missions and their application of tech and policy remain standard and true to LRH's writings."

RTC has the power, and it has done so, to enter at will and at any moment into any Scientology organization, inspect any files, change any local policy and remove any personnel. Through an internal communication system RTC receives at least on a steady basis reports from the activities around the world through the "mother church," CSI or directly, upon RTC's request, from the other organizations.

As an example of RTC's internal executive power I refer to an internal letter from December 6th, 1989 that was sent by RTC to a public member of Scientology [Exh. No. 59]. The then "Inspector General for Administration RTC" Marc Yager announced an investigation into an alleged misuse of credit cards at the "Advanced Organization Los Angeles" (AOLA), an entity that is part of the corporation "Church of Scientology Western United States" (CSWUS) and officially completely separate from RTC.

While RTC has a dominant role over the "mother church," CSI and its subordinate organizations, the relationship to the "Church of Spiritual Technology" (CST) is unclear. While the agreement with L. Ron Hubbard on May 10th, 1982 [Exh. No. 24] granted CST a corporative authority over RTC with respect to Scientology's trademarks and service marks, there is no sign that CST ever executed any internal, "ecclesiastical" authority over RTC. In fact, a tax court noted in its opinion in a tax case that involved CST in 1992 (Church of Spiritual Technology vs. United States, No. 581-88T, United Claims Court, 29 June 1992):

"CST claims that it does not and will not monitor RTC's use of the religious marks and technology. CST explains that there is no need to do so because any unorthodox use would be immediately obvious. Regardless of how it arrived at the conclusion, however, the point is that one of its obligations is to prevent misuse of the marks and technology. CST's present confidence in RTC has no significance. If CST ignored that element of its charter, one of the assumptions built into LRH's gift would be missing. Monitoring for a misuse by RTC is a form of ongoing oversight. The decision to exercise the option is an ecclesiastical one which would not be readily susceptible to judicial review."

That observation by the court suggests that CST is in fact just another organization that is "ecclesiastically" subordinate to RTC, which would make its apparent "blind corporative" confidence into the activities of RTC comprehensible.

RTC, CSI and all the other management units and "Advanced Organizations" are solely composed of members of the "Sea Organization," a para-military, naval-like organization whose members have signed billion-year staff contracts [Exh. No 60], who wear military uniforms [Exh. No. 61, Excerpt] and who have titles like "Commanding Officer," "Warrant Officer," etc. The Sea Organization has been described to the IRS by Scientology as a "religious order," neither incorporated nor even an "unincorporated association," which originally had been formed in 1967 by L. Ron Hubbard [Exh. No. 62].

The "Mother Church" -- Church of Scientology International

CSI consists of a mishmash of individual corporations and unincorporated entities that are held together by contracts and, more importantly, by the internal policies and the command channels that direct their activities.

Specifically CSI consists of the following principal organizations:

"Watchdog Committee" (WDC), an entity, is the highest management organization within CSI. Excluding RTC, it has the final say over all financial and personnel matters within the "Command Channels" of Scientology. In the "Command Channels" booklet its purpose is meagerly described as "establishing management units [Exh. No. 63, Excerpt]."

WDC is headed by the WDC Chairman, currently Marc Yager, who at the same time holds the position of "Commanding Officer" of the "Commodore's Messenger Organization International" (CMO Int.), another entity that acts as the enforcement and internal investigation unit on behalf of WDC within the Scientology network. CMO International also comprises the office of the "Senior Case Supervisor International" (C/S Int.), a technical supervision unit, the "LRH Personal Public Relations Office International" (LRH PPRO) and the "International Finance Office" [Exh. No. 64], an office that supervises through its "Finance network" all financial matters of the various organizations.

"Golden Era Productions" is another CSI-entity that is located at Gilman Hot Springs. It is the organization that is responsible for the production of Scientology films, audiotapes and E-meters and conducts worldwide marketing campaigns for Dianetics and Scientology.

The "International Network of Computer Organized Management" (INCOMM) hosts the internal communications system and computer data banks. It safeguards all reports that are received by the Scientology management from the other organizations, as stated by CSI in a memorandum to the IRS in 1993 [Exh. No. 65]. Per an internal Sea Org-publication the Commanding Officer of INCOMM has been Kathy Lemmer in 1999 [Exh. No. 66, Excerpt].

Hierarchically below WDC exists the entity "Senior Executive Strata," which is composed of the "International Management Executive Committee" (IMEC) and its staff. IMEC is considered as the strategic management unit within CSI that does the over-all planning, evaluation and directing of Scientology organizations worldwide, as described in the "Command Channels"-booklet [Exh. No. 67, Excerpt]. IMEC is led by the "Executive Director International." Currently and since 1982 this position is held by Guillaume Lesèvre [Exh. No. 68, Excerpt].

The next lower management unit is the "Flag Command Bureaux" (FCB) [Exh. No. 69, Excerpt] which is primarily located on within the Hollywood Guarantee Building on 6331 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. FCB includes

- the supervising authority "Flag Network Coordination Committee" (FNCC):

a committee that is composed of the heads of the different management units within the FCB under the guidance of a "Commanding Officer FCB." The FNCC meets daily and coordinates the activities of the networks within the FCB [Exh. No. 70, Excerpt].

- three separate networks:

a) the "LRH Communicator Network" (LRH Comm.), an internal investigation network, that holds 3 other networks, designed for the "preservation and application of standard tech and admin(istration)" within the lower organizations of the Scientology network,

b) the "Finance Network" (a lower extension of the International Finance Network) which micromanages the dealings of the non-management organizations,

c) the "Office of Special Affairs International" (OSA Int.), the unit which supervises and controls Scientology's intelligence apparatus on a worldwide basis;

- four separate management units:

a) "Flag Bureaux" (FB), an entity that directly manages the "Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization" (FSO) in Clearwater, the "Church of Scientology Flag Ship Service Organization" (FSSO) in Netherlands Antilles, the "Celebrity Centre International" (CC Int.) in Los Angeles, the organization "I HELP," which licenses "Field Auditors" and finally the "Flag Liaison Offices" (FLOs), "continental" management units that direct the lower organizations and missions on their specific "Scientology-continent,"

b) "Scientology Missions International" (SMI), a Californian non-profit corporation that controls and directs the "continental" SMI-offices and licenses the individual "Missions," smaller or "beginner" organizations of the Scientology-network,

c) "World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International" (WISE Int.), a Californian non-profit corporation that controls and directs the "continental" WISE-offices and licenses independent Scientology businesses that use and sell the "LRH administrative technology,"

d) "Association for Better Living and Education International" (ABLE Int.), a Californian non-profit corporation that controls and directs the "continental" ABLE-offices and directs two other non-profit corporations "Narconon International" and "Applied Scholastics International," two organizations that propagate Scientology's anti-drug and literacy programs;

- two corporations:

a) "Bridge Publications, Inc." (BPI), a non-profit corporation from Los Angeles, California which is Scientology's publication's organization for marketing its books and magazines within the United States and Canada,

b) "New Era Publications International ApS" (New Era), a for-profit corporation from Copenhagen, Denmark that operates through numerous affiliated organizations in countries that are not covered by BPI's operations, mostly the non-English speaking countries;

"Continental Liaison Offices"

The Church of Scientology has divided up their worldwide operations into different "Scientology-continents." Each continent and its individual organizations are managed through so-called "Continental Liaison Offices" (CLOs) and "Operation Transport Liaison Offices" (OTLs) [Exh. No. 71, Excerpt]. The individual CLOs and OTLs are often unincorporated units that are integrated in a local Scientology-corporation of that country or area.

The CLOs have the same organizational structure like the FCB at Los Angeles with the difference that the continental management units manage the subordinate organizations directly and are solely responsible for their respective "continent."

The CLO Europe, for example, is structured as follows: It contains the "Flag Liaison Office" (FLO), the counterpart of the FB in the FCB, which manages the "Advanced Organizations" (AOs) and "Class V Organizations" in Denmark, Germany, France, etc. CLO Europe also contains the three networks of OSA Europe, the European LRH Comm and the European Finance network. Additionally it contains the offices of SMI Europe, WISE Europe, ABLE Europe and the Continental Publications Liaison Office Europe.

For the purpose of this affidavit, three CLOs and one OTL need to be mentioned here:

- "CLO Western United States" which is integrated within the CSWUS-corporation in Los Angeles, California;

- "CLO United Kingdom" which is integrated within the corporation "Church of Scientology Religious Education College, Inc." in East Grinstead, England;

- "CLO Europe" which is integrated within the "Church of Scientology Advanced Organization Saint Hill Europe" in Copenhagen, Denmark;

- "OTL Russia" which is incorporated as the non-profit association "Hubbard Humanitarian Center" in Moscow, Russia. "Class V Organizations" and "Missions"

The Class V Organizations and Missions are at the lower end of the Scientology command channel. The Class V organizations offer Scientology services up to the level of "Clear," whereby the Missions primarily sell beginner courses. Both types of organizations are required to send their longtime public members to the next higher service organizations, in the case of a Class V organization to the nearest Advanced Organization, and in the case of a mission to the local Class V organization. This is to create a steady flow of public members towards the higher organizations and an ever-increasing income for Scientology. This forwarding of customers, or "parishioners," to higher organizations is controlled by the management and by Scientology's biggest service organization, the Flag Service Organization, through a so-called "Bridge Control Division."

"Groups," "Field Staff Members" and "Field Auditors"

In the highly structured network of Scientology even the activities of individual members are controlled and directed by the management.

"Field Auditors" are public members who offer Scientology auditing in their own practice. Field Auditors are licensed and managed through the "International Hubbard Ecclesiastical League of Pastors" (I HELP) in Los Angeles.

"Field Staff Members" (FSMs) are public members of Scientology who sell services to other public members on behalf of the service organizations and receive 10 % of the paid service in return. Some FSMs work on a full-time basis for several organizations. The organizations control and direct them through their "Field Control Division."

"Groups" are mostly Dianetics-groups that advertise "Dianetics-auditing" or try to get people interested in Scientology and get them to start services in the local Class V Organization or Mission.

The name "Scientology"® is trademarked to the Scientology organized crime syndicate. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the dangers of the Scientology criminal enterprise are members of or representitives of the Scientology organization.

The use of any trademarks which may appear within this web page conforms to U. S. Title 15, section 1125, subsection (c). The use of any quoted text which may appear within this web page conforms to U. S. Code Title 17 "Fair Use" dictates. If you don't agree, send e-mail to Fred Rice with a specific complaint -- with my thanks.

Trademark usage at the Martin Ottmann Documents web site

Return to the Martin Ottmann Documents main Index page.
Click HERE for more information about the Scientology crime syndicate