Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (46 page)

22.
 
Exhibit
500-4L, in CSC v. Armstrong, read into the record, vol.12, pp.1946f.

23.
 
Sentencing
memorandum in USA v. Kember, District Court, Washington, DC, criminal case no.
78-401, p.25.

24.
 
ibid
.

25.
 
St Petersburg Times
“Scientology”, p.9.

26.
 
ibid
,
p.9.

27.
 
as
23, p.27.

28.
 
as 25, p.12; Clearwater
Sun 4 November 1979.

29.
 
as
25, p.9.

30.
 
copy;
also see 23 p.22.

31.
 
as
23, p.23.

32.
 
as
25, p.14.

33.
 
ibid
,
p.12

34.
 
Author’s
interview with former B-1 executive, Brian Rubinek, 1986. Rubinek later
admitted that he had been reporting back to the cult throughout the author’s
eleven hours of interviews, over three days. However, in deposition testimony
(in a case involving Frank ‘Sarge’ Gerbode), Rubinek admitted that he had
largely told the truth. In this case, his statement is supported by the Kember
Sentencing memorandum.

35.
 
as
23, p.20.

36.
 
ibid
,
p.26.

37.
 
ibid
,
pp.27-8.

38.
 
 Jon
Zegel, tape 2, 1983; author’s correspondence with Diane ‘DeDe’
Voegeding-Riesdorf – former Chairman of the Watchdog Committee and Commanding
Officer CMO.

39.
 
as
25, p.9; also 23, p.25.

40.
 
as
25, p.7.

41.
 
Jon
Zegel tape 2, 1983.

42.
 
as
25, p.13; author interview with former Hubbard security guard.

43.
 
as
25, p.13.

44.
 
as
25, p.27.

Chapter twenty-five

“B and E stands for Breaking and Entering
... It is a crime, a felony, and is almost never used in intelligence gathering
for the obvious reason that someone will ... call the police and an
investigation will ensue.”

—Guardian’s
Office
Branch 1 Director’s Hat
¹

Michael Meisner took his first Scientology course in 1970.
He was so impressed that he left college before taking his finals to become a
full-time staff Scientologist. In May 1973, he was recruited by the Guardian’s
Office, and assigned to the Intelligence Bureau, shortly to be renamed the
Information Bureau.
²

From July to October 1973, Meisner was in Los Angeles
learning the complicated internal procedures followed in all Scientology
organizations, and other procedures peculiar to the Guardian’s Office. He was
indoctrinated in Information Bureau techniques. He was taught how to conduct
covert investigations, how to recruit undercover agents and place them in
“enemy” organizations, as well as techniques of surveillance.

This was nothing new. The GO had been placing “plants” in
organizations perceived to be hostile for some years. From 1969 the GO had
infiltrated the Better Business Bureau and various mental health organizations
including, in 1972, the American Medical Association.
³
The pattern
was well established.

In November, Meisner became Director of Branch 2 (B-2) in
Washington, DC. Branch 2 dealt with internal security. It monitored Scientology
itself, looking for infiltrators, and weeding out anyone who was a “potential
trouble source.” Independent, or “Squirrel” Scientology groups were also the
province of B-2, which would do anything in its power to destroy such groups.
⁴
At about the time Meisner was posted, Guardian Jane Kember wrote to tell
Henning Heldt, her deputy in the United States, that the GO had “illegally
obtained” documents relating to Interpol. She now ordered Heldt to acquire Ron
Hubbard’s file from the Interpol Bureau in Washington.

Meisner rose quickly through the ranks. In January 1974, he
was promoted by Kember to Assistant Guardian for Information in Washington, DC.
From this position he oversaw both Branch 1 and Branch 2.

In her letter to Heldt, the Guardian had said the GO Legal
Bureau had made Freedom of Information Act requests for certain documents, but
as “the Legal route is at best lengthy,” B-1 should steal them. Meisner was
given the job. Some Scientologists claim he was a government agent provocateur,
who instigated the use of illegal tactics. As we’ve seen, infiltration and the
theft of files was well underway before Meisner began his incredibly successful
career. Meisner’s orders came from the Guardian, and the theft of government
files was an extension of the program written by Hubbard himself in New York in
1973. He had called it Operation Snow-White.
⁵
In 1974, Kenneth
Urquhart, who was “L. Ron Hubbard Personal Communicator” at the time, overheard
a conversation between Ron and Mary Sue about an agent working in the IRS in
Washington.
⁶

Meisner initiated a “project” to obtain all Interpol files
relating to Hubbard and Scientology which called for the Interpol National
Bureau to be infiltrated by a Guardian’s Office agent. The project was approved
by Meisner’s direct senior, Duke Snider, and Meisner assigned it to his B-1
Director, Mitchell Hermann. No immediate action was taken.

In the late summer of 1974, Cindy Raymond, who was the GO Collections
Officer US, ordered Meisner to recruit a Scientologist to infiltrate the
Internal Revenue Service. Prospective candidates were interviewed, but no-one
with the right psychological make-up was found. In September, Raymond sent her
own choice, Gerald Wolfe, to Washington.

It took Wolfe, codenamed Silver, a while to find a job as
there was an employment freeze at the IRS. He started work as a clerk-typist on
November 18, 1974.

Shortly before Silver started his job, GO agent Don Alverzo
flew to Washington from Los Angeles. On the afternoon of October 30, following
a briefing by Alverzo, Meisner and Hermann walked into the the main IRS building
looking for the Chief Counsel’s Office. The Scientologists had heard from their
lawyers that there would be a meeting to discuss Scientology litigation there
on November 1.

On the appointed day, Alverzo and Hermann went into the
Chief Counsel’s Office before the meeting, and installed an electronic bug.
They taped the proceedings via a car FM receiver. Then Hermann went back into
the office (on the fourth floor), and retrieved the bug.

At first, Silver did not do well on his IRS mission. In
fact, he did not do anything. After a month, Meisner decided to coax him by
showing just how easy it was. Meisner and Hermann went into the IRS building on
a week day at four in the afternoon. They waited for the building to empty out,
and then at about seven went into the offices of the Exempt Organization
Division of the IRS, and stole a file on Scientology. The file was photocopied
and Hermann returned it the next day.

At the end of December, three weeks after Meisner’s little
mission, the Silver lode opened up. He was asked to steal and photocopy files
from the office of IRS official Barbara Bird. Meisner reviewed the copies, and
sent an edited version to his superiors.

In January 1975, Meisner was also supervising an agent in
the US Coast Guard, Sharon Thomas, and another in the Drug Enforcement
Administration, Nancy Douglas. Thomas was placed in the Coast Guard in
compliance with Kember’s Guardian’s Order 1344. Later, Thomas and Meisner also
performed the fake hit-and-run accident for Mayor Cazares.

In May 1975, Meisner received a copy of Project Horn from
its author, Gregory Willardson. Willardson was B-1 Director US. “Project Horn”
was meant to create a cover story whereby stolen documents could be publicly
released, without revealing the identity of the thieves. Meisner’s team were to
steal documents which did not relate to Scientology. They were also to steal
IRS stationery, so that a fictitious disgruntled ex-employee of the IRS could
release these documents to the organizations and individuals they concerned.

The Church of Scientology would also ostensibly receive
letters from this “former IRS employee,” along with a wealth of documents,
which would help in their fight against the immoral steps the IRS had taken
against them.

Having banished his initial hesitance completely, Silver
stole, copied and replaced a
ten foot stack
of documents from the IRS;
by May 1975 about 30,000 pages.

Jane Kember’s Guardian’s Order 1361, ordered the theft of
documents from the Tax Division of the United States Justice Department. Meisner
set to work in April 1975.

The Guardian’s Office Legal Bureau told Meisner that
attorneys Harold Larsen and Stanley Krysa had represented the government in
litigation against Scientology in Hawaii and Florida. Meisner ordered Silver to
go into their offices, in the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, and
steal all files relating to Scientology.

On three successive Saturdays in May 1975, Silver went into
the Star Building, to the offices of the Tax Division. He used his IRS
identification card. He stole and copied 12 files relating to litigation
against the Church.

He passed the copies to Meisner at their usual rendezvous,
Lums restaurant in Arlington, Virginia. As usual, Meisner wrote a synopsis of
the material, and sent this to his seniors. The Controller, Mary Sue Hubbard,
was among those informed of the thefts from the IRS. A letter in her hand
approving the strategy was later used in evidence against her.

On June 11, 1975, Meisner wrote “Project Beetle Clean-up,”
the purpose of which was to obtain copies of all the Washington IRS files on
the Hubbards and Scientology. This included files held in both the Intelligence
Division and the Office of International Operations of the Internal Revenue
Service. The project was approved by Meisner’s senior, Willardson.

Silver set to work immediately. The IRS was about to begin a
major audit of the Church of Scientology of California - the then “mother
church.” During this audit, between two and three million pages of material
would be reviewed. Heading the audit was Lewis Hubbard of the IRS Chief
Counsel’s Office. So Silver broke into Hubbard’s office and made copies of
everything he could find, even his daily jottings. Now the Guardian’s Office
knew the IRS strategy, and which of the Church’s many weaknesses it would have
to defend.

In July, Cindy Raymond told Meisner that the Church had
brought a Freedom of Information Act suit against the Internal Revenue Service,
charging that the IRS had failed to give proper access to files on Scientology.
Meisner was ordered to obtain documents from the office of Charles Zuravin, the
IRS attorney who would be defending the Freedom of Information case.

The Church created a pattern, bringing suits against
agencies, then penetrating their attorneys’ offices to see how the agencies
proposed to defend themselves. In the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suits,
these attorneys had access to the very files which the Scientologists were suing
to obtain. Eventually, the Scientologists stole far more material than they
were ostensibly trying to gain through legal action.

Silver added Zuravin’s office to those he was monitoring.
Zuravin was amassing documents relating to Scientology from IRS offices
throughout the United States, so he could prepare an FOIA index. These
documents represented the dealings of the IRS with the Church over 20 years.
Zuravin’s task was awesome. He had to prepare a Vaughn Index (listing every
document potentially subject to an FOIA request). Zuravin also had to explain
IRS reasons for non-disclosure for each document the IRS had refused to
release.

The IRS was doing the GO’s work for it. All Silver had to do
was copy the documents as they came in, and the GO would have every scrap of
information from the IRS files, indexed at IRS expense, with the added bonus of
the list of IRS reasons for non-disclosure.

In September 1975, Guardian Jane Kember issued
“commendations” (yet another military term used in Scientology) to those who
had worked on Guardian’s Order 1361; those who had committed the criminal acts
of burglary and theft for the good of the cause.
⁷

In October, attorney Zuravin completed his index. Every
document was numbered, giving the GO an excellent reference work. The index was
handed over to Scientology attorneys. Within days it had been edited, so Silver
would only steal the “exempted” documents, not wasting his time on those
already obtained through FOIA requests.

Silver went to Zuravin’s office, and in a single weekend
stole some 3,000 pages of documents. Even this haul did not net all of the denied
documents. At the end of November 1975, before Silver had completed his work,
Zuravin’s office, and that of Lewis Hubbard, were placed within a “red seal,”
or high security area, inside the main IRS building. From this point the doors
were locked at all times. Zuravin’s papers were moved into a locked file room.

At the beginning of December, Meisner flew to Los Angeles
for a conference with his superiors. He was shown the newly issued “Guardian’s
Program Order 158 - Early Warning System,” which the Guardian had approved.
This program had come into being as a direct result of a Hubbard order. Its
stated purpose was to “maintain an Alerting EARLY WARNING SYSTEM throughout the
GO Network so that any situation concerning governments or courts by reason of
suits is known in adequate time to take defensive actions to suddenly raise the
level on LRH personal security very high.”

The GO were to anticipate any law suit against, or subpoena
on the Hubbards “from a government agency or individual litigation or from any
source whatever.”