I’ve written this declaration to authenticate the accompanying set of L. Ron Hubbard’s communications from 1979 relating to the setup of Scientology Missions International. (SMI) http://www.smi.org/ I’ve also defined or explained some of his terms, acronyms or other statements to clarify the documents for people not familiar with the matters they concern or with Scientology’s structure and operations. These documents evidence Hubbard’s control of Scientology during a period he and the cult were claiming he was not in control, and they show his avarice, his irreligiousness, his abusiveness, and his disdain for the rich Scientologists who would be suckered into buying his SMI “starter packages,” for which, of course, he would personally grab a whopping royalty. Hubbard also divulges the “only reason” he was organizing SMI: to escape legal liability.

Declaration of Gerry Armstrong

I, Gerry Armstrong declare:

1.  Appended hereto as Exhibits A through E is a true and correct copy of a set of documents relating to Scientology Missions International (”SMI”) that originated in 1979 from Scientology director L. Ron Hubbard (”LRH”). “Missions” in this context refers to Scientology “franchises,” defined by LRH as “a group granted the privilege of delivering elementary Scn [Scientology] and Dn [Dianetics] services.” I first saw these documents (”SMI documents”) in January 1980 in the Senior L. Ron Hubbard Personal Public Relations Officer Bureau (”LRH Snr PPRO Bu”), which was then located in the former pro shop in the Massacre Canyon Inn at the Scientology base at Gilman Hot Springs (”GHS”) in Southern California. Laurel Sullivan was then the LRH Snr PPRO, and I was her junior, newly on post in the LRH Snr PPRO Bu as the L. Ron Hubbard Biography Researcher (”LRH Researcher”).

2.  In January 1980, Ms. Sullivan was also working on the formation stages of Mission Corporate Category Sortout (”MCCS”), a Sea Organization (”SO”) Mission ordered by LRH. “Mission” in this context refers to a specific assignment or task that SO “Missionaires” are “briefed,” “fired” and “operated” to execute. MCCS’s purpose was to reorganize Scientology’s corporate structure so that LRH could continue to run the organization while being shielded from legal responsibility. When the mission fired, Ms. Sullivan was the lead Missionaire, and went by the title MCCS In Charge (”MCCS I/C”). Within a few days of firing, she had me assigned to the mission as MCCS Second (”MCCS 2nd“), a position I stayed on for several months into mid-1980. I read and studied the SMI documents when briefing for MCCS, and possessed them throughout my time on the mission. David Miscavige (”DM”), then posted as Action Chief in the Commodore’s Messenger Organization International (”CMO Int”), directed MCCS and operated its Missionaires. LRH was the Commodore, the head of the SO, and the CMO were SO members for his personal use and for enforcing compliance with his orders. DM is now the head of the SO and runs Scientology around the world.

3.  Sue Mithoff, another SO member at the GHS base, was, under LRH and the CMO, directly responsible for the creation of SMI, and worked part of the time during the January 1980 period in the same office as Ms. Sullivan and myself. MCCS was very involved in SMI’s establishment, because SMI was part of the new corporate structure for Scientology that MCCS was ordered to set up. I had several conversations with Ms. Sullivan and Ms. Mithoff during that time period concerning SMI and the SMI documents

4.  In December 1980, I married Joyce Holt, nee Brown, who was then the Commanding Officer of SMI (”CO SMI”). In that position, Ms. Holt also possessed copies of the SMI documents, and we talked about them several times until December 1981, the period we were together in the SO. We also communicated about these documents many times over several years after we left the SO and Scientology.

5.  Throughout 1980 and 1981 on my LRH Biography Researcher post in the Snr PPRO Bu, I also possessed copies of the SMI documents in the archive I assembled of LRH’s personal documents and other materials relating to his life. The SMI documents provided insight into, among other things, LRH’s character, his language, how he ran Scientology, and what he was focusing on at this key time in his history, just before he fled to his final hiding place.

6.  In October 1980, LRH’s attorney at the time Alan Wertheimer, who was also retained as the lead attorney on MCCS, arranged a contract between Scientology and Omar V. Garrison for Mr. Garrison to write an authorized biography of LRH. From then until I left the SO and Scientology in December 1981, I was Mr. Garrison’s LRH biography research assistant within the SO, and provided him with thousands of pages of LRH’s personal documents and related materials, including the SMI documents.

7. Beginning in 1982, right after I left the SO and Scientology, the organization initiated a campaign of Fair Game against me that continues to this day, and is now commonly known as the Scientology v. Armstrong war. In December 1986, I was coerced into signing a contract Scientology concocted, which the organization represented was going to end its war on me, and in fact end its Fair Game campaigns against everyone else as well. Pursuant to this contract, I delivered to Scientology the documentary evidence I had accumulated since leaving. The contract, however, was itself an act of Fair Game and Scientology continued to Fair Game me without letup.  In 1990, Scientology threats to me and to other Fair Game victims forced me to defend us in court and in the public opinion realm, and I began to collect from many sources documents that related to LRH and Scientology fraud, abuses and criminality, and which I believed I would need in the organization’s war on us. During that period, I obtained a number of documents from my former wife Joyce, including the SMI documents appended hereto.

8.  Exhibit A hereto is a true and correct copy of a 5-page dispatch dated September 10, (1979) from LRH to Sue Mithoff. “MOWW” is “Mission Office World Wide,” the section of the Guardian’s Office (”GO”) based at St. Hill Manor in East Grinstead in Sussex, U.K. that at that time controlled and managed all Scientology franchises, or missions, around the world. SMI was to be a new entity in the SO that would control and manage a new set or network of missions, completely separate from the then existing GO-controlled MOWW mission network. In July 1977, the FBI had conducted massive raids on GO Intelligence Bureau offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and seized a tremendous amount of evidence of Scientology espionage and other criminal activities. By 1979, 11 of the GO’s intelligence personnel, including LRH’s wife Mary Sue Hubbard (”MSH”), had been charged with crimes against the US Federal Government, and LRH was named as unindicted co-conspirator. LRH controlled and ran both the GO and the SO, but following the FBI raids and the indictments of the GO-11, he started a process to scapegoat the GO, and move its functions and powers under SO control. The establishment of SMI in the SO and creating a new network of Scientology missions or franchises under the SO was one of the first major actions in this process, which culminated in the SO’s complete takeover of the GO in 1981 and then its renaming as the “Office of Special Affairs” (”OSA”)

9.  An “eval” or “evaluation,” is a formulaic procedure invented by LRH for Scientology “evaluators” to analyze relevant data relating to a “situation” and create a set of program steps or “targets” to be carried out to accomplish the correction or handling of the situation. This September 10, 1979 dispatch shows that an SO evaluator sent an eval dealing with the set up of SMI to LRH for approval and LRH rejected the eval.

10.  “MU’s” that LRH mentions on page 2 of this dispatch is an abbreviation for “misunderstoods” or “misunderstood words.” MU’s are a very important concept in the Scientology system, meaning an error in comprehending a word, symbol or concept. LRH claimed in Scientology “scriptures” that all criminality, illness and caved-in conditions trace back to MUs; although he also claimed in other scriptures that evil-intentioned “Suppressive Persons” caused these things, and also that “psychs” or psychiatrists caused them. He also made “going past an MU” a “crime” in Scientology, punishable in the organization’s “ethics” or “justice” system as an act of “treason.”

11.  “Lichenstein” is Liechtenstein, the location LRH approved for SMI’s bank accounts.

12.  “Legal WW” was the Legal Bureau at World Wide, the GO headquarters located at St. Hill, then headed by the Deputy Guardian for Legal WW (”DGL WW”) Charles Parselle. Mr. Parselle’s immediate senior, the Guardian WW was then Jane Kember. Ms. Kember’s immediate senior was MSH, the Controller, and MSH’s senior was LRH, who was over the GO, the SO and all of Scientology. The GO then contained five main Bureaux: Legal, Public Relations, Intelligence, Finance and Social Coordination, which operated Scientology’s front groups such as Narconon, Criminon and Citizens Commission on Human Rights. The SO had no legal bureau or office in the 1970’s; thus, even though SMI was to be an SO entity, the GO Legal Bu was responsible for SMI franchise contracts and SMI’s other legal requirements.

13.  “Spotlight” that LRH refers to on page 3 of this dispatch is The Spotlight, a weekly US newspaper, which he received through a subscription he had his Scientology staff obtain for him. The Spotlight, which discontinued publication in 2001, called itself a populist newspaper, and was widely viewed as right-wing. Despite LRH subscribing to it and patterning SMI after the scheme of one of the paper’s advertisers, Scientology has black PRed The Spotlight as “virulently anti-semitic,” and black PRed its former publisher as “the most notorious Nazi in the world.”

14.  The “Henshal or Benshal” LRH identified as having an ad in The Spotlight that “laid out the benefits of being a church” was Reverend Kirby James Hensley, who died in 1999. The “United Church league, or some such thing” that LRH identified was the Universal Life Church, which Rev. Hensley founded and directed. In his 1950 book Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health, LRH wrote:

Dianetics leaves an individual full memory [...]

In a clear, full memory exists throughout the lifetime, with the additional bonus that he has photographic recall in color, motion, sound, etc., as well as optimum computational ability. [...]

has complete recall of everything which has ever happened to him or anything he has ever studied.

“United Churches of Florida” was a cover organization LRH ordered his Scientologist operatives to incorporate and use for Scientology’s entry into Clearwater, Florida in 1975 and the establishment of the “Flag Land Base.”

15.  The “Kristofferson suit” LRH mentions in his statement about “the only reason” he was “organizing SMI” was the case of Julie Christofferson vs. Church of Scientology of Portland, Church of Scientology Mission of Davis, Delphian Foundation, and Martin Samuels. “C of S of California” was the Church of Scientology of California, the corporation in which the SO, much of the GO and the great wealth of Scientology were then located, at least corporately and hence legally, and through which LRH ran Scientology, at least corporately and legally.

16.  “CS 6″ that LRH mentions on page 4 of this dispatch was the SO post “Commodore’s Staff Aide for Division 6,” also called “Distribution Aide.” “Division 6″ was the “Distribution Division” or “Public Division” in Scientology organizations, which LRH ordered “informs and indoctrinates the public to drive them in.” CS-6 was involved with SMI as well as MOWW because franchises or missions delivered the most elementary services and were important points for reaching into society, luring people into Scientology and indoctrinating them.

17.  Exhibit B hereto is a true and correct copy of a 3-page undated dispatch from LRH to Sue Mithoff captioned “RE: STARTER PACKAGE FOR SMI.” On the first page of the dispatch, LRH identifies 3 of his books: “DMSMH” is Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health; “FOT” is Scientology: the Fundamental of Thought; and “Original Thesis” is Dianetics the Original Thesis.

18.  On page 2 of this dispatch, the noun “hats” in this context means manuals or packs of directives or similar materials that instruct Scientologists how to perform the functions of their posts in Scientology organizations. The verb “hat” in this context means to train people to perform the functions of their Scientology posts.

19. The “Purification [sic] Rundown” (”Purif”) is a program LRH invented involving exercise, vitamins and sauna that he claimed removes toxins, drug residues and radiation from the body and is necessary to prepare people for making “case gain” from Scientology’s psychotherapy, or “auditing.” LRH claimed that Scientologists who have done the Purif will be the only hominids to survive the coming “heavy atomic fallout” of “World War III.” Scientology sells the Purif as an introductory service in its “churches” and missions, and uses it in drug rehabilitation and detoxification programs operated by front groups such as Narconon and Criminon. A “rundown” is a series of “auditing actions,” or mental or psycho-physical exercises, which Scientologists perform or have performed on them to achieve a specific claimed psychological result.

20.  “NED” is “New Era Dianetics,” a set of rundowns that LRH invented, and published in 1978, and which he claimed was a “refinement of all previous Dianetic techniques,” gave “far higher gain per hour of auditing,” and was probably 100 times faster than original Dianetics.

21.  “Department 17 activities,” which LRH says on page 3 of this dispatch a “guy trying to start up” a SMI mission “in a brand new area where Scientology is probably totally unknown or not too well thought of” would have to have, included personality and other testing, introductory lectures, playing of LRH tapes, book selling, “Sunday Services,” Personal Efficiency (”PE”) Courses that explain elementary Scientology concepts, and “co-audits” where two Scientologists practice auditing therapy on each other.

22.  The signature reference “R:djsr” at the end of this dispatch indicates that LRH dictated the dispatch, which was then typed by someone with initials DJSR. A possibility is David Rossouw, who was in the CMO, members of which at that time often typed LRH’s communications. I have not, however, been able to confirm who the typist was, and I do not recall Mr. Rossouw’s middle initial or initials. LRH often typed, or had a designated typist type, “R” for his signature, and sometimes “*,” to give him plausible deniability as the source of his communications. He also at times omitted from his written communications any initial or other indication that he was the source, although the recipients knew because of the nature, subject, language, routing, and the means of delivery of the communications by his staff such as the CMO, that he was the source.

23.  Exhibit C hereto is a true and correct copy of a 2-page undated and unaddressed dispatch from LRH captioned “DIV 6 STATS SCN INT.” “SCI INT” in this context is “Scientology International” and refers to “Class IV” or lower level “orgs” or churches, which sold and delivered lower level auditing up to Grade IV and training up to Class IV. The statistics of Scn Int lower level orgs were separate and different from the stats of “Sea Org” orgs or churches, which sold and delivered “Power Processing,” the “Clearing Course” and “OT Levels,” and auditor training above Class IV.

24.  “FSMs” are “Field Staff Members,” people that are not contracted staff members but “public Scientologists” who “select” other people for Scientology services, meaning the FSMs get those people into the organization and keep them taking courses and getting auditing. Scientology pays FSMs a “commission” for anyone they select for a service. The commission amounts change per various directives, but were standardly 15 percent of what any FSM’s “selectee” paid for auditor training, 10 percent of what a selectee paid for auditing, and 10 percent of what a selectee paid for “memberships.”

25.  “Org GI” is “gross income,” which LRH defined as “how much money an org has made for the statistic week that ends 2 p.m. on Thursdays.” All parts and personnel of the Scientology enterprise around the world run on statistics that are reported every Thursday at 2:00 p.m. “Trained and Active FSM Points” is a stat that every org reported, evidencing, and reducing to “points,” the number of approved FSMs selecting people to the org for the number of services.

26.  A “checksheet” is a list of directives and other written materials, which, along with “practical” drills, comprise a “hat” that a Scientologist studies and does to be able to perform the functions of a Scientology post. The “FSM checksheet,” which LRH states in this dispatch he “OK’ed,” is a checksheet to train non-staff Scientologists to perform the function of FSMs, that is, “selecting” people for services and getting paid commissions.

27.  The “FSM I/C on Flag” is the person “in charge” of the FSM program, then located at the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida.

28.  The “order to make Division 6 make enough money to totally support the org” is LRH’s order. Since 1966, LRH and Scientology had been claiming in legal proceedings and in the media that he had resigned all directorships of Scientology and issued no orders to anyone in the organization.  The reality was, as the SMI documents appended hereto evidence, he continued to run Scientology and to issue orders that had to be obeyed; and his claims and Scientology’s claims that he had ceased to run the organization and its personnel were willful lies.

29.  “Robin Roos” was for several years in the 1970’s “CS-2,” the Commodore’s Staff Aide for Division 2, the “Dissemination Division,” or “Dissem.” Div 2’s functions included promotion; magazines; sale of books, tapes, E-maters, insignia, etc.; and registering, or regging, people for services. Div 2’s public was generally Scientologists who had already taken some Scientology services. The division’s stats traditionally were

“bodies in the shop,” number of registrar interviews, GI, and gross book sales.

30.  An “engram” in Scientology mental “technology” means “a mental image picture which is a recording of a time of physical pain and unconsciousness.” LRH’s uses “engram” non-technically and disparagingly on page 2 of this dispatch to mean an “aberration” or “wrong datum” or “stupidity.”

31.  Exhibit D hereto is a true and correct copy of pages 16 through 22 of an undated transcript of a conversation between LRH and Marc Yager, who was at that time a CMO member and executive. It was LRH’s usual practice to have all such conversations audio-recorded, as well as orders he issued verbally, or briefings he gave to anyone, and then have the recordings transcribed. In this instance, only the part of the transcript that concerned SMI was copied and provided to Ms. Mithoff, Ms. Sullivan and others directly involved in SMI’s setup.

32.  Mr. Yager’s comment on page 16, “We found that article,” refers to the ad or article in The Spotlight newspaper from Rev. Kirby Hensley, the Universal Life Church President, whom LRH misidentified as “a Henshal or Benshal” in LRH’s September 10, 1979 dispatch to Ms. Mithoff. (Ex. A, hereto.) See paras. 13 and 14, supra.

33.  The “first dynamic appeal line” LRH identifies on page 17 of the transcript as the “primary action in SMI” refers to the personal benefits that the “rich guys” in Scientology who buy “starter packages” and set up new SMI missions will obtain. One of LRH’s and Scientology’s most important concepts, or “most fundamental breakthroughs,” in their system and cosmology is the “Dynamic Principle of Existence that drives all life forms-SURVIVE!” LRH divided all human existence and actions into 8 “dynamics,” the first being “the urge toward existence as one’s self…to survive as an individual.” Inside Scientology, people who were thought to be “first dynamic oriented” were denigrated, and those who sought to benefit financially from Scientology were viewed as criminal. The “third dynamic is group survival…the urge to survive through…or as a group,” and Scientologists were expected to be third dynamic oriented. In this conversation with Mr. Yager, however, LRH instructs that SMI missions are to be packaged to appeal to rich Scientologists’ first dynamic orientation, in ways he describes in his September 10, 1979 dispatch:

Do you realize that when this organization is put together as a Church from SMI, it will have all manner of tax benefits and everything else. It can trade, buy property etc., etc. and all of these things are tax exempt.  There is one hell of a sales pitch that can be launched back of this. In the last issue of “Spotlight” newspaper there was an ad from a Henshal or Benshal about the United Church league, or some such thing, who laid out the benefits of being a church under the heading of “the fastests growing religion in the world”.  This guy sells ordinations, and is getting away with it. What he says is true.  It has terrific, terrific advantages from a tax point of view to run a church.

34.  On page 18, the word “speeder” in LRH’s statement that SMI missions, “these other outfits act as speeder organizations,” is a transcription error. The word should actually be “feeder,” which is defined in Scientology’s Hubbard Dictionary of Administration and Management:

FEEDERS, 1. City Offices. (SO ED 327 INT) 2. all the junior entities on the bridge that are supposed to feed people up the bridge to the higher org. (HCO PL 10 Feb 72R III) 3. any smaller unit in the area of a full Scn organization. (SO ED 326 INT)

The “bridge” is what Scientology calls its exorbitant system of “grades” and “levels” for “processing” people from Homo sapiens to a claimed higher evolutionary race LRH called “Homo novis,” then to a higher being he called “Clear,” and finally to the highest being he called “Operating Thetan” or “OT,” which he said were “at cause over matter, energy, space and time.” “SO EDs” are “Sea Organization Executive Directives,” issued by the SO and containing immediate orders or programs for execution. In addition to “missions,” Scientology’s front groups such as Narconon, Criminon and Applied Scholastics are also feeder lines to feed people into Scientology and up the bridge to SO orgs.

35.  The acronym “FCDC” on page 18 of the transcript stands for “Founding Church of Scientology Washington, D.C.,” which was LRH’s Scientology headquarters in the late 1950’s.

36.  On page 20 of the transcript, an “organizational Qual action,” which LRH ordered would have to be formed to straighten out “these guys” who purchase SMI starter packages and set up new missions, means an action to “correct malfunctions.” “Qual” is Scientology’s “Qualification Division,” or “Division 5,” which was supposed to monitor the quality of other organization divisions and their products, and “correct non-standardness where it occurs.” If SMI missions “weren’t running well or right,” the SO’s “SMI management unit” would send SO Missionaires on an “organizational Qual action,” also called a “mission,” to straighten the SMI mission personnel out, and charge them a fee.

37.  The acronym “WISE” on page 21 of the transcript stands for “World Institute of Scientology Enterprises,” an SO management unit that licenses and controls businesses run by Scientologists that use LRH’s “administration technology.” WISE states that its number one purpose is “to get LRH administration technology broadly in use in every business, organization and nation on the planet.”

38.  Exhibit E hereto is a true and correct copy of a 3-page dispatch from LRH dated September 30, 1979 captioned MOWW/SMI. The word “mission” in the first sentence refers to an SO mission, a specific assignment or task that SO “Missionaires” are “briefed,” “fired” and “operated” to execute. LRH is stating that an SO mission has been fired to get personnel for the Scientology Missions International office that will manage SMI missions, which are Scientology franchises.

39.  “R Accounts” was an SO post, also called “LRH Accounts Officer,” which oversaw the collection of money for LRH personally, managed his bank accounts, and performed other duties for him involving his finances.

40.  The stated “primary purpose of a “Commodore’s Staff Aide” is to forward the actions and targets established by the Commodore and to assist him in accomplishing these.” There were Commodore’s Staff Aides posted for each of the seven standard Scientology divisions, (CS-1 through CS-7) and for a number of other areas, organizations or networks; e.g., CS-G, Commodore’s Staff Guardian, responsible for the GO, and CS-PRAC, Commodore’s Staff Aide for Public Relations Area Control.

41.  The acronym “FNCC” stands for the “Flag Network Coordination Committee,” which included the heads of several SO management bureaus, organization or networks. “Flag” in 1979 referred to the “Flag Land Base,” the SO base in Clearwater, Florida.

42.  The person that LRH said was advertising in The Spotlight, “selling ordinations and churches and giving all the advantages of having a church,” was, as identified above, Rev. Kirby Hensley. His organization, Universal Life Church, was based in Modesto, California.

43.  On page 2 of this dispatch, “Int” means “International.” “MOWW Int GI” is the total gross income of the MOWW missions around the world. “Scientology Int GI” is the gross income of Class IV orgs, or “churches,” around the world. See para. 23, supra. “Franchise GI” is the same as “Mission GI.” As part of the Scientology campaign to create a “religious image,” for the purposes of getting tax exemption for its commercial enterprise and activities, and to escape legal liability for its fraud and other crimes, what had for many years been “franchises” were renamed “missions,” and the “Franchise Office WW” was renamed the “Mission Office WW.” Here, LRH had reverted to what Scientology missions actually were, franchises.

44. “RJ 31″ that LRH mentions on page 3 of this dispatch is “Ron’s Journal 31.” Traditionally, annually, LRH put out “Ron’s Journals,” sometimes as tape recordings, and sometimes as written directives, “designed for org staffs as an intimate chat with staff members to let them in on what’s going on and what we’re planning.” RJ 31 was a printed Executive Directive, LRH ED 307 INT, entitled “RON’S JOURNAL 31 1980 - THE YEAR OF EXPANSION” and dated December 1, 1979, the day after he wrote this dispatch.

45.  On July 19, 1990, attorney Toby L. Plevin took the deposition of Scientology head David Miscavige in Bent Corydon v. Scientology, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. C 694401. I do not have a copy of the official transcript, but possess what purports to be an OCR-produced copy of the transcript. Pages 232 to 235 of the copy I have show that Ms. Plevin gave to Mr. Miscavige to examine a copy of LRH’s dispatch of November 30, 1979 (Ex. E hereto), a copy of LRH’s dispatch captioned “DIV 6 STATS SCN INT” (Ex. C hereto), and a copy of LRH’s dispatch captioned “RE: STARTER PACKAGE FOR SMI” (Ex. B hereto). I knew that at that time Mr. Corydon and Ms. Plevin possessed copies of the SMI documents (Ex. A-E hereto) because they showed them to me during some days in 1990 when I worked in Ms. Plevin’s office and testified in the Corydon v. Scientology case. The OCR-produced deposition transcript shows that Ms. Plevin asked Mr. Miscavige if he had ever seen the SMI documents she had him examine, and Mr. Miscavige testified that he had not. If the OCR-produced copy is accurate as to these facts, then it is clear to me that Mr. Miscavige was lying, since he was intimately involved in the setup of SMI, operated the MCCS mission, and had access to and possession of all of LRH’s orders and correspondence. It is understandable that Mr. Miscavige would lie in his deposition concerning his knowledge of these documents, because it has been his usual practice to lie in sworn testimony, and lying in that circumstance comports with his history and well known reputation for being a gargantuan liar.

I declare under the penalty of perjury pursuant to the laws of British Columbia, Canada and the United States that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed this 31st day of July 2008 in Chilliwack, B.C., Canada.

Gerry Armstrong July 31, 2008