Office of Special Affairs

{{Infobox organization

|image =

|size = 200px

|caption =

|name = Office of Special Affairs

|formation = 1966

|type =

|status = Non-profit

|purpose = Legal affairs and public relations

|headquarters = Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, United States

|leader_title = Chairman of the Board RTC

|leader_name = David Miscavige

|parent_organization = Church of Scientology

|remarks =

}}

The Office of Special Affairs (OSA), formerly the Guardian's Office (GO), is a department of the Church of Scientology International. According to the Church, the OSA is responsible for directing legal affairs, public relations, pursuing investigations, publicizing the Church's "social betterment works," and "oversee[ing its] social reform programs". Some observers outside the Church have characterized the department as an intelligence agency, comparing it variously to the CIA or the KGB.{{Cite web |title=Understanding Scientology / Chapter 12: OSA (Office of Special Affairs) -- The Secret CIA of Scientology |url=https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us-12.html |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.cs.cmu.edu}}{{Cite web |title=Scientology's Intelligence Service |url=http://lermanet.com/cisar/books/trn1053.html |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Lermanet}}{{Cite web |title=Scientology's KGB: Inside the Office of Special Affairs - UK Indymedia |url=https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/403011.html?style=screen |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.indymedia.org.uk}} The department has targeted critics of the Church with dead agent operations and character assassination.{{Cite web |date=1999-06-09 |title=Scientologists pay for libel |url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jun/09/claredyer |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{cite news | first=Joel | last=Sappell |author2=Welkos, Robert W. | url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-scientology062990x-story.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508011048/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-scientology062990x,1,5622544,full.story?coll=la-news-comment | url-status=live | archive-date=2009-05-08 | title=On the Offensive Against an Array of Suspected Foes | work=Los Angeles Times | page=A1:1 | date=1990-06-29 | access-date=2006-08-02}} Additional convenience link at {{cite web |url=https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/la90/la90-6a.html |title=? }}

OSA is the successor to the now-defunct Guardian's Office,{{cite book

| last = Davis

| first = Derek

|author2=Barry Hankins

| title = New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America

| publisher = Baylor University Press

| year = 2003

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/newreligiousmove00davi/page/n52 44], 48, 49, 189

| url =https://archive.org/details/newreligiousmove00davi

| url-access = limited

| isbn = 0-918954-92-4 }}

which was responsible for Operation Snow White and Operation Freakout. OSA is in Department 20 (Department of Special Affairs) in the Scientology organizational chart, same as the Guardian's Office was. The most recently known Commanding Officer for OSA International is Linda Hamel,{{cite web |last1=Ortega |first1=Tony |title=How Scientology's 1970s infiltration scandal led to the creation of its IAS slush fund |url=https://tonyortega.org/2015/07/09/how-scientologys-snow-white-program-led-to-the-creation-of-its-ias-slush-fund/ |website=The Underground Bunker |access-date=11 March 2024}} succeeding Mike Rinder, who left the Church of Scientology and became a fierce critic of the organization, appearing as a co-host on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.{{cite news|last=Cook |first=John |title=Scientology - Cult Friction: After an embarrassing string of high-profile defection and leaked videos, Scientology is under attack from a faceless cabal of online activists. Has America's most controversial religion finally met its match? |work=Radar Online |publisher=Radar Magazine |date=March 17, 2008 |url=http://radarmagazine.com/from-the-magazine/2008/03/scientology_anonymous_protests_tom_cruise_01.php |access-date=2008-03-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107112517/http://radarmagazine.com/from-the-magazine/2008/03/scientology_anonymous_protests_tom_cruise_01.php |archive-date=January 7, 2009 }}

OSA Network

File:Guaranty Building, Hollywood, California.JPG

File:OSA Struktur.JPG

At local Scientology organizations, directors of the departments for Special Affairs, Legal, and Public Affairs are all staff members from OSA and report directly to OSA superiors instead of local church executives.{{Cite web|title=Solutions to Social Issues: Education, Crime and Drug Abuse|url=https://www.scientology.org/WORLD/WORLDENG/corp/csi4.htm|website=Scientology|date=2009-09-21|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921032745/https://www.scientology.org/WORLD/WORLDENG/corp/csi4.htm|archive-date=2009-09-21|access-date=}} OSA members sent to local churches are known as Directors of Special Affairs, or DSAs. Members of the Office of Special Affairs are drawn from the Sea Org.{{cite book

| last = Ebner

| first = Mark

| author-link = Mark Ebner

| author2 = Andrew Breitbart

| author2-link = Andrew Breitbart

| title = Hollywood, Interrupted

| publisher = John Wiley and Sons

| year = 2004

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/hollywoodinterru00brei/page/125 125–138]

| isbn = 0-471-45051-0

}}

The headquarters of OSA are currently located on the top floor of the Hollywood Guaranty Building on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.{{cite news |last1=Tobin |first1=Thomas C. |title=What Happened in Vegas |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2009/11/02/what-happened-in-vegas/ |access-date=26 May 2024 |work=The Tampa Bay Times |publisher=Times Publishing Company |date=November 2, 2009}}

= Volunteers =

In addition to regular staff, some church members also act as volunteer collaborators for the office, which cuts down on expenses for hiring private investigators and doing legal research.{{Cite web |last=Ortega |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Ortega |date=September 9, 2001 |title=Sympathy for the Devil |url=https://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/tory/20010927-newtimesla.html |work=New Times LA}}{{Cite web |date=2011-09-10 |title=OSA 101 {{!}} Tory Christman's Official Blog |url=http://www.markbunker.com/tory/osa-101-part-1/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910025916/http://www.markbunker.com/tory/osa-101-part-1/ |archive-date=September 10, 2011 }} Some volunteers participate under the notion that they receive special "ethics protection".{{Cite web |title=An Ex-Scientology Office of Special affairs Volunteer - Pattie Pieniadz, starts telling her story |url=http://lermanet.com/patti-pieniadz/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Lermanet}} In one case a volunteer who read critical information about Scientology on the internet was led to believe that he would be unable to continue receiving services unless he performed a series of investigations for OSA.

{{Cite web |title=Gerry Armstrong--Scientology's 1023 Submission (Bates Nos. 152016-152073) |url=http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/cult/irs/csi-prod-1993-11-04-152016-152073.html |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.gerryarmstrong.org}}

History

The Guardian's Office was established in 1966, and its initial mission was to protect the interests of the Church of Scientology,{{cite book

| last = Propp

| first = Steven H.

| title = Utopia on the 6th Floor: Work, Death, & Taxes-Part 2

| publisher = iUniverse

| year = 2004

| isbn = 0-595-33737-6

| page = 512 }}

and gather information on agencies and individuals deemed enemies of the organization. The Guardian's Office was also charged with internal monitoring of current Scientologists, in particular heretics and notable defectors.{{cite book

| last = Kaslow

| first = Florence Whiteman

|author2=Marvin B. Sussman

| title = Cults and the Family

| publisher = Haworth Press

| year = 1982

| isbn = 0-917724-55-0

| page = 185}}

L. Ron Hubbard put his wife Mary Sue Hubbard in charge of the Guardian's Office,{{cite book

| last = Streissguth

| first = Thomas

| title = Charismatic Cult Leaders

| publisher = The Oliver Press, Inc.

| year = 1995

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/charismaticcultl00stre/page/74 74–78]

| url = https://archive.org/details/charismaticcultl00stre/page/74

| isbn = 1-881508-18-8

}}

and it was initially headquartered at Saint Hill Manor, in England. The Guardian's Office functioned effectively as an Intelligence Bureau of the Church of Scientology, and planted members in key positions within federal government agencies, in order to obtain confidential material.{{cite book

| last = O'Mahony

| first = Paul

| title = Criminal Justice in Ireland

| publisher = Institute of Public Administration

| year = 2002

| pages = 38, 39

| isbn = 1-902448-71-5}}

Most branches of the Church of Scientology soon had at least one member from the Guardian's Office on its staff, and the Guardian's Office itself had its own secret Intelligence Bureau at the top of its organizational structure. The Guardian's Office was disbanded in 1983, and the bulk of its previous functions were then assigned to the Office of Special Affairs.

Methods

Garry Scarff has said that he used to be an OSA operative. He has made a number of statements about the inner workings of OSA, many of which are disputed by the Church. In a sworn deposition taken between July and August 1993 and submitted in Church of Scientology International vs. Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz, Scarff testified, "...I was directed, one, to go to Chicago, Illinois and to murder Cynthia Kisser, Cynthia Kisser being the Executive Director of the Cult Awareness Network, by a staged car accident." Kisser was not killed, and Scarff said: "I could not bring myself to harm or kill anybody."{{cite web|title=Deposition of Gary Scarff in Church of Scientology International vs. Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz |url=http://bogie.home.xs4all.nl/dunkle_seite/scarff.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722095431/http://bogie.home.xs4all.nl/dunkle_seite/scarff.html|archive-date=22 July 2012}}

Tory Christman, a former volunteer for OSA has stated that the organization hired private investigators, fabricated criminal charges and harassed their targets, including at their place of employment, as well as their family members.Christman, Tory [http://www.torymagoo.org/trapwork.htm How the OSA trap really works] March 2001

Bonnie Woods, a former member who began counselling people involved with Scientology and their families, became a target along with her husband in 1993 when the Church of Scientology started a leaflet operation denouncing her as a "hate campaigner" with demonstrators outside their home and around East Grinstead in England. She and her family were followed by a private investigator, and a creditor of theirs was located and provided free legal assistance to sue them into bankruptcy. After a long battle of libel suits, in 1999 the church agreed to issue an apology[http://www.escapeint.org/legal/apology.htm Apology to Bonnie Woods from the Church of Scientology and other defendants, 8 June 1999] and pay £55,000 damages and £100,000 costs to the Woods.{{cite news|title=Stars' cult pays out £155,000 over hate campaign|author= Richard Palmer|newspaper=The Express|date= 8 June 1999}}{{cite news |title=Sect pays £55,000 to 'hate ' victim |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0502633836/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=ce3aebb6 |first=Susie |last=Steiner |date=June 9, 1999 |newspaper=The Times |page=4 |access-date=September 11, 2023}}

Nancy Many was a high-level GO operative during Operation Freakout, and in a 2013 television interview for Dangerous Persuasions on the Discovery Channel, described intimate details of the operation to harass Paulette Cooper, including her own personal involvement. In the documentary she also explicitly confirmed the existence of "The Messianic Program", a GO interrogation program designed specifically to test the subjects reaction to the teaching that L. Ron Hubbard was "on level with Jesus and Buddha". This program was only ever administered to trusted GO agents by their superiors, and never to outside Scientologists, indicating its extremely classified nature.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13ahb6 |title=Nancy Many: My Eternal Contract |work=Discovery Channel |date=23 January 2013}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024}}

Among the targets of OSA operations are Free Zone groups.{{cite web |work=FreeZone Association of Germany |url=http://www.scientologie.de/english/timetrack/1984.htm#1984,%2019.5. |title=Chronology of the Scientology Movement, 1984 |access-date=April 21, 2006 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211955/http://www.scientologie.de/english/timetrack/1984.htm#1984,%2019.5. |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|website=ronsorg.nl|url=http://www.ronsorg.nl/history/1990thA.htm|title=History of Scientology - Timetrack of the 1990s|access-date=April 21, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518160542/http://www.ronsorg.nl/history/1990thA.htm|archive-date=May 18, 2006|url-status=dead}}

References

External links

[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us-12.html OSA (Office of Special Affairs) -- The Secret CIA of Scientology] from Understanding Scientology by Margery Wakefield
[http://www.xenu.net/archive/go/go.htm Scientology's Secret Service: Inside Scientology's Intelligence Agencies (xenu.net)]
[http://www.xenu.net/archive/go/osahist.htm Scientology's Secret Service: The Office of Special Affairs (1983 to present) (xenu.net)]
[http://www.xenu.net/archive/go/man_just.htm Hubbard Communications Office "Manual of Justice"]
[http://www.escapeint.org/book/book_on-line.htm Deceived; One woman's stand against the Church of Scientology], Bonnie Woods, London: Published by Hodder & Houghton. 2001. {{ISBN|0-340-78567-5}}
[http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/cult/osa-int-ed-508r.html Office of Special Affairs investigator training]

Category:Scientology organizations

Category:Scientology-related controversies

Category:Intelligence agencies

Category:Hemet, California

Category:Scientology in Riverside County, California

fr:Scientologie#Office des affaires spéciales