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CITY OF CLEARWATER COMMISSION HEARINGS RE:  THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY

JANIE PETERSON

MR. FLYNN: The next witness is Janie Peterson.

JANIE PETERSON, a witness herein, having first been duly sworn by a Clerk for the City of Clearwater, was examined and testified as follows:

MR. LeCHER: Your name is Janie Peterson?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: All right.

Miss Peterson, I'll ask you the same standard questions I've asked all the other witnesses.

They are: Are you appearing today and testifying under oath voluntarily?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: All right.

Are you — have you been paid by anyone for your testimony, other than expenses for coming to Clearwater?

MS. PETERSON: No.

MR. LeCHER: Do you have a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: Does the Church of Scientology have a lawsuit against you?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: Has anyone suggested to you that you should state anything but the truth or has anyone suggested that you change your testimony for any reason?

MS. PETERSON: No.

MR. LeCHER: Would you like to make a statement or say something in your own words?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. Basically, I'd just like to briefly give you a rundown on my background in Scientology and then you can ask me whatever questions you want to.

I was involved in Scientology for five years, from 1975 until July of 1980. During that time period, I held three different positions in the organization. The first one was called the Director of Processing, which is in charge of all the auditing that occurs within the organization. I was then promoted to a position called Technical Secretary, which was in charge of all auditing and training that occurred within the organization. About a year later, I was promoted to the Guardian's Office, which was the last position that I held.

During that time period that I was in the Guardian's Office, was the time period when the Hartwells and LaVenda Van Schaick and another lady who was involved in Clearwater, Tonja Burden — this was during the time period when they were all leaving the Church and were having various problems.

MR. LeCHER: You were the head auditor?

MS. PETERSON: I beg your pardon?

MR. LeCHER: You were the head auditor?

MS. PETERSON: I was the executive over the auditing that occurred in the Las Vegas Organization.

MR. LeCHER: Who devised — I mean, who thought up auditing and who used — who improved upon it? Who devised the test? Who did the training? There must be a training manual that you must use as a teaching aid. Was that you and —

MS. PETERSON: No. Mr. Hubbard.

MR. LeCHER: Every technique used in auditing was Mr. Hubbard's?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

MR. LeCHER: He gave it to you and others, then, you carried it out?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

You weren't allowed to do anything on your own.

MR. LeCHER: All right.

I'd like to know what you did in the Guardian's Office vis a vis these other people that you have mentioned.

MS. PETERSON: I beg your pardon?

MR. LeCHER: What did you do in the Guardian's Office with respect to these other people that you have mentioned?

MS. PETERSON: Well, we were — Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell left Scientology very upset. They were — had received a bill from the head office — and I'm not sure — exactly sure where — and they were — they were having some sort of an upset. Mrs. Hartwell's daughter was Executive Director of the organization at that time.

They — what's called a mission was sent out to the organization from the United States Guardian's Office — I might point out right here that all of the Guardian's Offices are run exactly the same. They all are run by the United States Guardian's Office, which is in Los Angeles. All orders and all procedures that come into any Guardian's Office come from the United States Guardian's Office. They operate the standard policy. There's no difference between the one here and the one in Las Vegas or Utah or wherever.

And the Hartwells were — were subject — subjected to this mission that came up from Los Angeles. They were — they had several meetings with a man by the name of Alan Hubbard, who was taping their conversations, although the Hartwells were not aware of that.

Mr. Hartwell's auditing information — copies of the auditing information were made and circulated all over the United States and out of the country. They also went to the Worldwide Guardian's Office, which is in England.

At one point, his auditing information was — excuse me. It was being used against him, in other words. He was also accused of trying to extort Church money from the Church. This was based on mainly hours of taped testimony that had been taken and edited down to a very small cassette tape.

On Tonja Burden, her auditing information was sent in to — it was sent here — or to Las Vegas from the Guardian's Office here in Clearwater, confidential auditing information that she had given. It was accompanied with an order to the Public Relations person in Las Vegas to take to the Review Journal, which is a newspaper, in an attempt to discredit her to show that she was this bad person, supposedly, based on this information.

On Mrs. Van Schaick — she already spoke about the program that was written up called Shake and Bake.

Basically, this — all programs that were written up were given names. That just happened to be the name of that one. And the purpose of the program was to — in fact, it was either the first or second step listed on the program. The wording was: "Plant seeds of doubt in her mind concerning her attorney, Michael Flynn, and in her husband's mind regarding her character."

I really don't have — on that particular area, unless you have some questions.

MR. LeCHER: No. I'm just — I just find it that you were the one —

MS. PETERSON: Oh, yes.

MR. LeCHER: — that audited some of the witnesses who were brought before this Commission. And —

MS. PETERSON: That I audited them?

MR. LeCHER: Well, that you were the — pardon me, you were in the Guardian's Office that did some dirty tricks with the Hartwells and others that —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

Also, on the Shake and Bake program, a man by the name of Barry Clingler was sent to Boston to attempt to what they call handle her, in other words, to get her to be quiet, to disassociate herself from her attorney, to drop the lawsuit, and to keep her mouth shut, basically. He was sent because he was a friend — had used to be a friend of hers. Also, Pam Bevin, who she already testified was her auditor, was sent because it was felt that she would respond to Pam Bevin where she might not respond to anyone else.

MR. LeCHER: When you used these — what you learned through auditing about a person, an individual like Hartwell for one, and others that you have mentioned, you concised it down and gave it to the press, did the press use these — use this, normally? Or did they check it out and find out who you were, who the Guardians were, and become suspect?

MS. PETERSON: Well, an instance on Tonja Burden, the press did not use it, in fact — well, did not use it. I don't know if it was used in Clearwater; in other words, I do know that it was not used in Las Vegas.

MR. LeCHER: But, specifically, did the press — or generally speaking, not mentioning Clearwater or any other — did they use this information that you gathered through auditing against an individual as a filler for a slow day or whatever reasons they used them?

If the press didn't use it, then, why — who did you give it to?

MS. PETERSON: Who did we give it to?

MR. LeCHER: This information. Their spouse, their loved ones, or — I think Mr. Hartwell said his information, confidential information, ended up in the newspapers.

Apparently, the Guardian's Office gave that information to the newspaper.

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: Was that commonplace that newspapers would use information supplied to them by the Guardian's Office by the newspaper?

MS. PETERSON: I — I really — I don't know on a general basis. It was only done a few times while I was in the Guardian's Office.

MR. LeCHER: So, you don't know if the newspapers generally do this?

MS. PETERSON: Yeah. I really don't know.

MR. LeCHER: We have an outline here.

Would you like to go into the Fair Game and suicides, the Blown Student Doctrine, et cetera? Or would you rather us just ask you questions?

MS. PETERSON: Well, basically, on the Fair Game Policy, I was always told that the Fair Game Policy was cancelled, and I believed this to be true until I went to the Guardian's Office. And upon entering the Guardian's Office, I found that, indeed, it was not cancelled. The actual words "fair game" were not — to my knowledge, not spoken, at least when I was around, however, the practices were: inasmuch as there was a man, Mr. Walters, who had been in Scientology for some time and he was under suspect from the Guardian's Office.

He was, basically, unhappy with some of the things that were occurring and he was speaking out against them to other Scientologists. And investigations were being done, when I first went into the Guardian's Office, into Mr. Walters' background. They were looking for his so-called crimes. There's a policy by Mr. Hubbard in the Guardian's Office called "Attacking Scientology," where it says that if anyone says anything bad about Scientology, you look into their past, whether they have what is called "blood-dripping crimes." So, Mr. Walters' preclear folder, his auditing information, was to be gone through looking for that.

He was expelled and declared a Suppressive Person, and a list of people, including his wife and his stepchildren, was issued, stating that these people were called what's called Potential Trouble Sources; in other words, they were connected to Mr. Walters and either they — either had to disconnect from him or they would be also expelled from Scientology. There was a list of about thirteen or fourteen people.

He was —

MR. LeCHER: Are you talking about Mr. Walters now?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

He — there was a — oh, again, I'm referring to the Fair Game Policy. There was a man whose name was Don Cooper, who was a plant, in other words a spy, on Mr. Walters and his friends. He had a code name of Mack. He infiltrated Mr. Walters' group of friends and became very good friends with Mr. Walters and his wife — family and friends.

And Mack would call the Guardian's Office, at least once a day, with information on what Mr. Walters and his friends — this includes the Hartwells and Tonja Burden — as to what they were doing.

There was also another plant, what they call plant — they either call them plants or friends. His code name was Oscar. He later turned out to — his name was — actually, his last name was Bill Broderick. His main purpose was to spy on Tonja Burden.

At one point, they — the United States Guardian's Office was getting upset because not enough information was coming back on Miss Burden's activities. So, he was flown to Boston to Mike Flynn's office under the guise of being a disaffected, unhappy Scientologist, and he was trying to get Mr. Flynn to represent him so that he could get sort of inside, privy information as to what was going on. And at one point, it was even considered that, perhaps, he would then — after a lawsuit was filed and all that, he would then — Mr. Broderick would then drop the suit and accuse Mr. Flynn of malpractice and raise the point.

I don't know if that was ever totally decided, but it was at one point discussed.

Another — another man by the name of Russ Andrews was brought into Las Vegas from Utah, where he was established in Miss Burden's apartment building. And he was going to become friends with her and give information back to the Guardian's Office regarding Miss Burden, also. That was never —

MR. LeCHER: How old is Miss Burden at this time?

MS. PETERSON: At this time?

MR. LeCHER: Yes.

MS. PETERSON: About nineteen, twenty.

MR. LeCHER: In your outline you have "Scientology" — number three, "Scientology Policies and Practices: Potential Trouble Source, PTS, and Disconnect," if one uniformly appeared, and, number two, "policies applied to personal experience, divorce, husband — give children to husband."

Is that something that you could — that personally happened to you or is it a common policy?

MS. PETERSON: That's something that was applied to me.

At one point, when I was in the Guardian's Office, my husband wanted me to leave the Guardian's Office. He did not want me to leave Scientology; he just simply didn't want me to work so many hours and be away from my children so much. And I was sort of undecided as to whether I should do that or not. He and I began having a lot of problems over it. I — basically, I just felt that I didn't want him to push me into a decision. I wanted to make it on my own. And it was causing some problems. I was quite ill at the time. I was having stomach problems and various problems because of this pressure.

I was sent to the United States Guardian's Office in an attempt to do what they call handle it. And I was given what they call a Chaplain's Court, basically, where a so-called minister of the Church comes and gives you counseling, marriage counseling. He — his name was Paul, Paul Sheffield.

I was told at that time by Mr. Sheffield, at the very beginning of the interview, that he basically didn't care whether my husband and I stayed together. And the purpose of the counseling was to keep me on staff because I was needed very badly. He then wrote up a program of how my husband and I were supposed to handle our differences.

And I was then called into the office and one of my seniors, one of my bosses, told me that the problem between my husband and I was becoming totally out of — totally out of control, totally out of hand, and that, basically, he — what he wanted me to do and what I should do and what others had done was to divorce my husband. And since I had two small children and I was — financially, I would have been unable to support them, I should give them to my husband because he could support the children and I could leave the children all day long. And that if I did not do that, that I was letting the whole organization down and that there would be ramifications.

MR. LeCHER: What did you do?

MS. PETERSON: I left the Guardian's Office within a few weeks after that.

MR. LeCHER: Did you leave Scientology or just the Guardian's Office?

MS. PETERSON: The Guardian's Office. I left Scientology about a year later.

I still did work for the Guardian's Office; I wasn't on staff.

MR. LeCHER: Is your husband still in Scientology?

MS. PETERSON: At that time?

MR. LeCHER: At this time.

MS. PETERSON: No.

MR. LeCHER: You both then left?

MS. PETERSON: We both left at the same time.

Okay. In the Guardian's Office — there's two I'm going to point out — there are various bureaus called Information Bureau, Eagle Bureau, Public Relations Bureau, Social Coordination for various organizations.

My position was Social Coordination, which was, basically, in charge of Scientology front groups. However, it was a very small Guardian's Office and they were under what they call attack by the Hartwells and Mrs. Van Schaick and various other people. So, I carried out a lot of duties that normally I would not have done. In other words, in a large Guardian's Office, usually Social Coordination doesn't get into those activities, but because of our limited personnel and all the problems that we were having, I took on other duties.

MR. LeCHER: Okay.

You've got Scientology front groups: Apple Schools, Narcanon, ASI, Citizens' Commission for Human Rights, CCHR, Gerus Society, and the Safe Environment Fund.

These are all front groups for Scientology?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: Are these used to get new recruits or to gain respectability for the organization?

MS. PETERSON: Yeah. Basically, the purpose of the groups is to — the stated purpose is to — so that Scientology becomes indispensable to the community.

In other words, an Apple School would be set up and you will have non-staff members set up the school, however, these are dedicated Scientologists and they're usually hand-picked.

MR. LeCHER: Do you have any information if any of these five or six front groups are currently operating in Clearwater?

MS. PETERSON: I believe there's a Gerus Society. I'm not sure what all there is.

MRS. GARVEY: There's a Narcanon.

MS. PETERSON: A Narcanon.

MR. LeCHER: Okay.

Many people don't know why in Scientology you have these front groups.

What is an Apple School? Is that — that sounds like the Beatles group. I know the Beatles have a corporation called Apple, and they would use this for their own promotional material. But I — what is an Apple School? I mean, does that have anything to do with the Beatles or is it — I'm sure it doesn't, but I — and Narcanon, what is that? How effective is Narcanon in treating drug abuse?

MS. PETERSON: Well —

MR. LeCHER: In your view.

MS. PETERSON: Okay.

Apple Schools are schools that are set up by Scientology, the purpose of which is to gain respectability and to make the public aware of how normal Scientology is supposed to be.

MR. LeCHER: Can non-Scientology children attend an Apple School?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: Is that encouraged?

MS. PETERSON: Most of the time, yes, because the fees for Apple Schools are the same as most other private schools, and most of the time Scientologists don't have the money to pay it. In other words, a staff member's child certainly wouldn't go because they wouldn't have the money to pay for it.

MR. LeCHER: Do teachers in an Apple School have certification? Are they certified by the state as to educational standards and practices?

MS. PETERSON: It depends on the state; in other words, it depends what the state laws are regarding certification of teachers in private schools.

MR. LeCHER: Are you going to tell me about Narcanon?

MS. PETERSON: Narcanon is a rehabilitation drug program which is run by Scientology. My experience with it was that it was not very successful. I really don't know about any of the other — all these groups are set up and there's various programs in the Guardian's Office on how to set them up.

Also, part of the training received while you're in the Guardian's Office is that if you're asked by anyone if the Guardian's Office runs these schools, you're to tell them, "No." You're to say that you're involved with or that you help out or that they use the technology of Scientology. However, you're never to tell, outside of the Guardian's Office, that you are, in fact, running it or that the money goes into the Church of Scientology from these groups.

MR. LeCHER: Was the Church of Scientology successful in getting Narcanon in any one of — in Pinellas County or throughout the country, were they successful in getting this?

MS. PETERSON: You mean, successful in establishing it?

MR. LeCHER: In establishing it and setting up business.

MS. PETERSON: I really don't know.

MR. LeCHER: What is an ASI?

MS: PETERSON: Applied Scholastics Institute is —

MRS. GARVEY: I didn't —

MS. PETERSON: Applied Scholastics.

MR. LeCHER: What is the purpose of ASI? Why a scholastic institute?

MS. PETERSON: It — to — people that are having problems in certain areas in their studies or —

MR. LeCHER: Primarily for school children or for college-age children or for adults —

MS. PETERSON: It's primarily for school children; however, they do accept people of all ages.

MR. LeCHER: Citizens' Commission for Human Rights. What is that? Is that a civil rights group?

MS. PETERSON: It's a group that its purpose is to expose psychiatric abuses and to cause what is called black PR, which is bad public relations for psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health: to do everything necessary for — everything that's possible to get rid of psychiatry and psychiatrists.

MR. LeCHER: It has nothing to do with civil rights or human rights as we know it?

MS. PETERSON: It's only to expose —

MR. LeCHER: It's to expose —

MS. PETERSON: — psychiatric abuses.

MR. LeCHER: Nothing to do with minority rights.

Gerus Society. Is that for the elderly?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. And this is just to expose problems within — that the elderly people have.

MR. LeCHER: I have personally heard members of the Gerus Society at various talk shows around Pinellas County at various times.

MS. PETERSON: The whole purpose of — all these programs were set up particularly by Mary Sue Hubbard under the direction of Mr. Hubbard, and they were to gain good public relations for Scientology.

MR. LeCHER: The Safe Environment Fund. What is that?

MS. PETERSON: The Safe Environment Fund was a fund that was set up to collect funds and support for the convicted — or the indicted — executives of Scientology: Mary Sue Hubbard and those people.

At all times we were told that this was a big conspiracy by the government, that these — that was the reason these people were indicted, and that these people had, at no time, ever done anything wrong or not legal, that, the government had no information that was correct. We were not told that they were, indeed, guilty of the crimes or that they even later pleaded guilty to the crimes.

MR. LeCHER: Back to the Guardian's Office: Did you see the programs — you mentioned programs in the Guardian's Office. Did you see the programs in the Guardian's Office? You mentioned the word "programs."

MS. PETERSON: Oh, yes, there were many programs. Everything you do in the Guardian's Office is written — is off of the program. You don't do anything on your own.

MR. LeCHER: Did you participate in them; did you see them; and can you tell me about them?

MS. PETERSON: Well, there were so many of them, I — you know, I — everything you did, like I say, was based on program. If you were going to set up a Narcanon drug program, you worked off of the program. If you were going to go to the police station and try to get Mr. Hartwell arrested for extortion, you worked off of a program.

Everything was from a program.

MR. FLYNN: On that point, I might — I might mention that, before the hearings conclude, we will be introducing a packet of Guardian's Office programs, City of Clearwater, Florida, which is probably about two-inches thick, a copy of which will be given to each Commissioner. That was just Clearwater during a specific period of time and only the documents that we could get our hands on. There are approximately another eighty thousand documents which were destroyed before they were received, and they're all what they call Red Box Documents, which contain the most sensitive and highly secretive operations of the Guardian's Office.

MS. PETERSON: One program I remember in particular was the gross income of the Flag Land Base at the Fort Harrison dropped to about a million dollars a week or a little below, which was considered to be a heavy drop because they were most of the time making between two and three million dollars. At that time the staff members at the Fort Harrison for the following week, their diet consisted of beans and rice as a punishment for the gross decline of their income.

Somehow, this information — I'm not sure how — leaked out to the public and, I believe, the press, and a program came into our organization in Las Vegas — it's called an Information Line — on how we were supposed to handle with the press this — this fact. In other words, if the press asked us about it, we were to tell them how nutritious, beans and rice were and to also change the subject. In other words, we would say, "Beans and rice are nutritious, however, you know, the abuses of psychiatrists are really something to talk about," if you get my meaning. I mean, it was like, you know, a little bit of information, then, drop it. That was part of the public relations training.

If they asked you — if somebody asked you if the wall was blue, in other words, you might or — you might or you might not admit to that. But you would then talk about how horrible the pink wall was, in other words.

MR. LeCHER: Throw the blame on someone else?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: In your Narcanon and other programs, did you ever have any MDs or DOs or anyone on your staff that has passed the state board?

MS. PETERSON: On the staff, no. Although, you were supposed to send the addicts to a doctor if there was problems.

MR. LeCHER: How did you get credibility without anyone running these programs having an educational background to back these up, these principles up?

MS. PETERSON: Well, you know, I really don't have too much experience with other drug programs. But it was basically PR, you know. You'd go in and — you had to get all the licenses by the state and follow the rules and regulations set by the state or the city. But — and you would also assure them that, you know, a medical doctor was available and that type of thing.

Okay. Basically, a lot of these setups and the questions you're asking in that area were part of what they call B1, which is Branch 1, which is the Information and Intelligence Bureau. I was not real involved in that, I so I really don't know how exactly they would go about it.

MR. LeCHER: Just for my curiosity: When and why did you get in the Guardian's Office?

MS. PETERSON: Well, it was considered a promotion basically. And —

MR. LeCHER: Did you feel like you were a bunch of elitists, that you —

MS. PETERSON: Oh, yeah, you were told that. The requirements to get into the Guardian's Office were quite high. In other words, you had to — very intensive testing before you could get in. You had to be a true blue Scientologist, you had to have a certain IQ, you couldn't have a history of real heavy drug use or — you had to have a stable background.

MR. LeCHER: Apparently, you had to be rather bright to get into the Guardians and — why do, then, the Scientologists prefer to have their people uneducated?

MS. PETERSON: I really don't know.

MR. LeCHER: School is evil or bad, I've heard from other witnesses.

Were you trained to be a Guardian?

MS. PETERSON: Oh, very heavily.

MR. LeCHER: Can you tell me something about the training that went into becoming a Guardian?

MS. PETERSON: Okay.

As I said, when you're first — normally, you would be approached to come into the Guardians. Someone would approach you, like, the Assistant Guardian who's in charge of the Guardian's Office. And after this intensive testing, you would be accepted. And they have various training levels. You had just a general training level which would show you kind of the inside scoop on the  Guardian's Office.

One of the very first things — first of all, you were locked up and you couldn't have any windows open because of security. They were very heavy on security in the Guardian's Office.

One of the very first things that you would be taught would be shredding, what they call shredding, which, basically, was just take a piece of paper, perhaps, that you didn't want anyone else to see because of what was contained on that and put it in the shredding machine. Also, there's a procedure called vetting, and that was — when you get these various programs or orders, anything that you didn't want anybody, other than a Guardian's Office staff member to see, you would take a razor blade and cut that portion of it out.

Now, included in that would be anything that would show who the order came from. In other words, if I would receive an order from my boss, I would shred out or vet out, rather, the area that showed who the order came from, also, who the order went to. Then, you had to have a code so that you wouldn't get all these orders confused. You had your own personal code. So, you might put a little star by — if it came from one person or a little, you know — another type of mark if it came from someone else.

MR. FLYNN: For the record, Exhibit 16 is the policy, The Vetting Hat Write Up, to which the witness has just referred.

MS. PETERSON: Okay.

Anything else that might be vetted is anything that would be considered sensitive. In other words, on some of these programs of the Citizens' Commission on Human Rights, there was a couple of lines in there about obliterating psychology or psychiatrists or something. You would vet out that area so that anybody looking at it would think, "Oh, this is a really nice program just designed to help people who've been harmed." In other words, the real purpose of it would be vetted out so that it wouldn't show.

Another thing that we were trained on was how to avoid subpoenas, how to handle the press, because —

MR. LeCHER: How were you taught to handle the press?

MS. PETERSON: Always attack, never defend. Mr. Hubbard said that it was impossible to defend, so you would always attack.

That's also — there was also training on how to handle your attorneys, which was basically just to tell them what to do. And if you ran into an attorney who wouldn't do what you told him, you then would fire him and find someone else. How to handle public officials —

MR. LeCHER: How do you handle a public official?

MS. PETERSON: Well, basically, it depends on what they're after — or what you're after, really.

If they make any kind of a comment that you think is a slur on Scientology, then, you attack them.

Any public official that you were going before, an investigation would be done by the Information Bureau. Their background would be checked out very, very thoroughly. And let's say, for instance, you found out that there was something in their past that perhaps they think wouldn't be known, rather than coming right out and saying it, you would make an insinuation about it, rather than coming right out.

Another kind of training was what they call FBI Raid Drills, which you would pretend that the FBI was coming to raid your organization and you would practice on how you would take care of that. Also, whoever was in charge of the Information Bureau — whoever would answer the door, in other words and let's say the FBI was there, whoever would answer the door would stall while the Information Bureau man would take all the real sensitive material that was in what's either called the Gray File or Red Box — would take that information and shred it while stalling the FBI.

Also, if there was any threat of the FBI or the police or anybody coming to the organization, the Gray File/Red Box information was taken to what's called an outside location, which only, maybe, two or three people within the organization even knew about or knew where it was at.

That was the usual training that we had.

MR. LeCHER: Were you trained in actual dirty tricks?

MS. PETERSON: I —

MR. LeCHER: Or were you trained in dirty tricks like breaking and entering?

MS. PETERSON: I was never trained in dirty tricks; however, the Information Bureau was trained on that. In fact, one of the — one of the drills — what they call drills, in other words, practices to give — in the Information Bureau was a drill called "Tell A Lie." The purpose of this was to learn to lie well. That was for the Information Bureau; we were never — I was never personally taught that. But I observed Intelligence people doing it.

MR. LeCHER: Okay.

I have many questions, but I'm going to give — turn it over to my colleagues.

Mr. Berfield, I think we start with you this time.

Before we start, do you have something for the Commission?

MS. PETERSON: Okay.

At the time I was in the Guardian's Office, there was a girl who I had been friends with for many years. Her name was Carole Garrity; she was in charge of Public Relations. She had a lot of information regarding the various activities that myself and other people have testified to. She was actually the person who would do public events and that type of thing.

MR. LeCHER: Do you have any information that dirty tricks are going on with the city government now or with the city officials within the City of Clearwater?

MS. PETERSON: Within the City of Clearwater?

MR. LeCHER: Yes.

MS. PETERSON: I — no.

MR. LeCHER: You have no knowledge of that or the answer is "No."

MS. PETERSON: I have no knowledge of it.

MR. LeCHER: Mr. Berfield.

MR. BERFIELD: Yes.

Mr. Flynn made reference to this Red Box and you later alluded to it. What would there be in something like that?

MS. PETERSON: Well, I was in the Guardian's Office, but I really didn't know, other than the fact that it was obviously very, very sensitive because it was kept someplace separately. When I heard reference to it made, I asked the man that was in charge of it and he said that I wasn't allowed to know what was in it.

MR. BERFIELD: Listen, what — I'm still not sure what motivated you to get into Scientology, in personally?

MS. PETERSON: In Scientology?

MR. BERFIELD: You personally.

MS. PETERSON: Oh, a friend of my husband's came up and discussed Scientology, the benefits and all the problems that he had and how much it had helped him. I was having — I had a history of having headaches, occasionally. I also had a condition called hypoglycemia which is a medical condition, low blood sugar. He told me that that could be — it was found that that was a psychological-type problem, that it could be cured.

He said that they had a lot of classes and a lot of different things that would help me with me my children, that I'd be able to communicate better, you know, raise your IQ; a lot of different things. He gave me a book, entitled Miracles for Breakfast, which is about children, and it seemed like a good book. And I just decided to check it out.

MR. BERFIELD: Now, these books, were they what they call auditing courses —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: Did you ever take one of these courses?

MS. PETERSON: I took — at one time — up until New Era Dianetics came out, which was delivered here at the Fort Harrison a couple of years ago, I had taken the largest amount of auditing that anyone could get.

MR. BERFIELD: And what did they do to help you?

MS. PETERSON: What did they do to help me?

MR. BERFIELD: Yes.

MS. PETERSON: Oh, I mean, I still have the problems. I still get headaches and I still have hypoglycemia.

MR. BERFIELD: Now, all of the things that they told you they would help you with they did not help you with; is that right?

MS. PETERSON: That's right.

They told me I'd be able to communicate better when, in fact, from my own personal experience and my observation of other Scientologists, they can't communicate as well because you learn a whole different language and other people don't understand. I couldn't even communicate with my own mother who I had always been very close to. She didn't understand what I was saying, and I didn't know how to tell her what it meant, really.

MR. BERFIELD: When you were taking all these auditing courses and found out they didn't help you and you went on, as I understand, to help other people regarding — wasn't there some doubt in your mind as to the validity or the deception of these courses?

MS. PETERSON: I believed that I would get handled at a different — at the next level. In other words, when I would complain about that I'd be having problems, I was told that it was the next level. And then I was told that, you know, well, particularly, I would go clear, what they call clear, which is described in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, that this would take care of all the problems and that somewhere along the line it would get taken care of.

So, I believed this to be true at the time. After I went clear and then I did above clear, which is what they call OT Levels, one of the — I know you don't want to go into kind of the beliefs of it, so I'm a little hesitant to go into it too heavily, but there's a certain level that you reach that for me was very damaging as far as my dependency upon Scientology.

After I took that particular level, I believed that I needed more and more auditing to take care of the problem. It was not a problem that I had entered Scientology to handle; in other words, it — I hope I make myself clear. But it's like I went in for various reasons. As I went higher and higher, I began to forget about the reasons why I came in and I became almost consumed with handling this one certain area.

MR. BERFIELD: So, the purposes for which you went into Scientology — you never really accomplished them?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

MR. BERFIELD: But, yet, you kept on with these courses in hopes that they would help you; is that correct?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

I spent about forty thousand dollars in trying to handle them.

MR. BERFIELD: Now, you made reference to Hubbard saying — was this direct conversation with him, or was this just something communicated to you?

MS. PETERSON: Well, it would be — I never had a direct communication with Mr. Hubbard, but there was many, many tapes by Mr. Hubbard. And there's also policies that were written by Mr. Hubbard.

MR. BERFIELD: Now, we had a lot of testimony on policies. Now, you — I think you said Clearwater was the Flag Ship or the head ship; is that correct?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR.. BERFIELD: And you were in Las Vegas?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: So, you were, to a degree, in a regional office, then; is that right?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. It's called an outer area is what it's called

MR. BERFIELD: I guess what I'm trying to get straight in my mind is: How did you know for sure that the policies that you had were Hubbard's policies? And why didn't you tell him to stick them in his ear or something like that?

MS. PETERSON: Well, I knew they were Hubbard's policies because they were signed by — you know, with his name, and because Scientology operates on Mr. Hubbard's policy. I mean, Scientology belongs to Mr. Hubbard, and nothing is done without Mr. Hubbard's written consent. I mean — you know, it's not like Joe Blow decides, you know, to do something; it's all Mr. Hubbard.

MR. BERFIELD: Well, there's a comparison here: If it were the corporate world —

MS. PETERSON: The what? I didn't —

MR. BERFIELD: If you were in the corporate world and you had a policy and you disagreed with it, you'd work on changing it or doing something about it.

Did you ever think about that?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: Why didn't you do something about it?

MS. PETERSON: I tried many times.

MR. BERFIELD: But again, did you have a right to challenge these policies, to write back — I guess, I have to use the expression: How did you know that it wasn't some clown like Jim Berfield that was writing up these policies for you instead of L. Ron Hubbard?

MR. FLYNN: I might — that's a good question. But I might just point out at this point: The inquiry is into the organization, so the relevancy of whether it was Hubbard or the organization — that's a proper focus. But if the organization is practicing it, that's what the focus of the inquiry should be. So, whether it was a clown or whether it was Mr. Hubbard is somewhat irrelevant if the organization did it from a legal point of view.

MR. BERFIELD: Okay.

But that's what I'm getting down to is that, you know, that you just practiced it because it was Hubbard's policy?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. You wouldn't — there was orders — all the orders were based on Hubbard's policy.

MR. BERFIELD: Do you know if — did everyone practice this — whatever the policy would be that Hubbard had proclaimed?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. It — all over. They're all uniform. Scientology is Hubbard, as far as I'm concerned. Anything else was considered what they call out tech, in other words, out technology.

If you did something that's not based on Mr. Hubbard's policy, you'd be sent either to Ethics or what they call Cramming where you would be shown that you were not practicing Scientology. It was called either out tech or it was called squirrel tech.

MR. BERFIELD: Now, in some of your earlier testimony, you also made mention of Mr. Walters and Mr. Hartwell.

Are those the same two people who testified earlier here.

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: Do you know that to be a fact that they are the two who testified —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: And in these — you also said that you were told that the Fair Game Policy was done away with, but then when you got in there, you found out that it still was in effect; is that correct?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: Didn't you at that time challenge the truth and — well, the truth of the whole organization that they're telling you, "We've done away with it, but, yet, we're still practicing it"?

MS. PETERSON: I was told that it caused bad public relations to use the name Fair Game.

Also, I did at various times doubt many of the things that were happening within the organization and within Scientology in general. However, I still believed mentally that I needed Scientology to get rid of the problem that I had.

MR. BERFIELD: Now, I also understand you to say that you were involved in the attacks on the Hartwells; is that correct?

MS. PETERSON: Not publically, but sort of behind the scenes, yes.

MR. BERFIELD: Didn't — didn't you in your own mind wonder whether there was something fair or square about that?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. BERFIELD: Did you do anything about it?

MS. PETERSON: No.

MR. BERFIELD: You just accepted it as being the way the company should be run or —

MS. PETERSON: I didn't think it should be run that way; however, I felt there was nothing I could do about it. And I — at that point I was so indoctrinated into Scientology that I felt that if I left Scientology that I would die.

MR. BERFIELD: Did you actually — this was in your own mind that you would die?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. There — that's part of some of the training I received, that if certain phenomena occur within a person that it means that they are out of control and that they could die from that. And I believed that that was conceivable that that would happen to me.

MR. BERFIELD: Were you ever involved in any of these blown student situations?

MS. PETERSON: I was aware of the policy; however, I did not practice it. I didn't agree with it. I was — at the time I was in charge of the training in the organization, which is where the Blown Student Policy is applied, I was not as indoctrinated as I was later and I did not agree with the policy, therefore, I did not practice it.

MR. BERFIELD: This thread that seems to run through a lot of the conversation — Scientology: If your marriage comes between you and Scientology, then, Scientology comes first; is that a fair —

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

MR. BERFIELD: I have no more.

MR. LeCHER: Mrs. Garvey.

MRS. GARVEY: You said you joined Scientology because you thought it would do something for you.

Were you impressed with Mr. Hubbard's background as published?

MS. PETERSON: Very much so, yes.

MRS. GARVEY: Were you — when you joined, did you — were you told that auditing was confidential?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MRS. GARVEY: And that it was based on those scientific techniques?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MRS. GARVEY: When you started in the Guardian Office and saw how this information was being used, did that not bother you in relationship to your own auditing information?

MS. PETERSON: Yes, very much.

MRS. GARVEY: But you didn't have any — there wasn't anything you could do about it?

MS. PETERSON: I didn't feel at the time that there was. I did do some questioning of the — the man that was in charge of the Information Bureau, basically — they gathered all the information. In other words, the Public Relations Bureau would take it to the press or whatever. The Information Bureau would gather it.

There's also filed what are called B1 Files, which is Branch 1 Files. And a short time after I was in Scientology, I was asked to help go through these files. And at that time I found that — well, let me just back up a little bit. When I first went into the Guardian's Office and I saw auditing information being used, I was told that it was because these people were enemies of the Church and that they were attacking the Church and that they had to be stopped, which I didn't agree with totally. But somehow, if you can understand the state of mind I was in, it made some sense to me and I accepted it to a degree mentally.

A short while later I went through the Information Bureau files, at which point I found that it wasn't just the enemies or the people that were complaining about Scientology. Scientologists who were actively in Scientology contributing great amounts of either time or money or both, files — auditing information would be kept in files on them. Anything that was considered to be out security, which would mean that they left the back door open to the fact that they had sex with someone other than their husband, or that they had homosexual experiences in their background, or that they were involved in anything that Scientology considered to be something that could be used against Scientology.

MRS. GARVEY: When you challenged some of these policies, what happened to you?

MS. PETERSON: I was sent to Ethics on various occasions and sent to Cramming.

MRS. GARVEY: You were sent to Cramming? What happened in Cramming?

MS. PETERSON: That's where you're shown policies on whatever it is you're complaining about, why it's okay, why it's okay to be done, until you have this realization. Whether it actually happens or not, you say you do. If you say you do, then, it's fine.

MRS. GARVEY: So, you — have you actually seen written policies on the Fair Game and the Blown Student and some of the other techniques by Mr. Hubbard?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MRS. GARVEY: Have you seen a written policy that is in the Guardian Office on lying?

MS. PETERSON: I haven't seen the actual policy; I've just seen it practiced.

MRS. GARVEY: What were you told when you joined the Guardian Office that your duties were going to be?

MS. PETERSON: It was going to be establishing Apple Schools and Narcanon drug programs was my main — the Citizens' Commission on Psychiatric Abuses was also mentioned. I didn't realize exactly what it meant at the time.

MRS. GARVEY: So, your job — you were told your duty was going to be to establish these worthwhile community organizations?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MRS. GARVEY: How much were you paid for that?

MS. PETERSON: It varied, depending on the gross income for the week. I was one of the highest executives for a three-state area, and I made anywhere between nothing to maybe twenty, twenty-five dollars. An average week would probably be about six dollars.

MRS. GARVEY: You were the highest paid, good, good.

MS. PETERSON: No, one of the highest paid for three states.

MR. CALDERBANK: Three states.

MR. LeCHER: Twenty-six dollars, you say?

MS. PETERSON: No. The average income was about six. I said, sometimes — some weeks you were paid nothing or maybe twenty, twenty-five; the average was about six.

MRS. GARVEY: How many hours a week did you work?

MS. PETERSON: Again, that varied. Probably, twelve, fifteen hours a day most of the time. Sometimes — during one time period when the Hartwells were causing what's called in Scientology a flap — in other words, they were going to the press and that type of thing — we worked for about twenty-three or twenty-four days without a day off, twelve to fourteen hours a day. And myself and Carole Garrity, who I already mentioned, became ill at that time; we became — we had bad colds. And we were taken into the Assistant Guardian's Office, who's in charge of the Guardian's Office, and we were told that the reason we had become sick was because of the FBI.

MRS. GARVEY: What year was this, do you remember?

MS. PETERSON: The Hartwells were — I believe it was '79.

MRS. GARVEY: When you — you said you got out of the Guardian Office. Were you routed out or did you just walk out?

MS. PETERSON: Well, I — I simply just said that I was leaving, and that — I had signed what's called a two and-a- half-year contract — I wasn't on a billion-year contract and my contract expired, and I worked for some weeks without being on a contract. I activated a new contract, but because it was only, in effect, a couple of weeks — and I just simply said I was going, that I would help, but I couldn't continue the schedule I was and maintain my marriage. And I wanted to stay married and keep my children. So, I just basically walked out and —

MRS. GARVEY: So, they allowed you back?

MS. PETERSON: Yeah, I was allowed back in. And I did quite a bit of work for them. That was —

MRS. GARVEY: How —

MS. PETERSON: — part of the agreement.

MRS. GARVEY: How much longer before you left?

MS. PETERSON: About a year.

MRS. GARVEY: And why did you leave? What finally freed you from the organization mentally?

MS. PETERSON: Well, I guess it was just an accumulation of many things. I saw so many things and I saw it becoming worse and worse. I also saw that the people who had been represented to me as honest, ethical, law abiding people were, indeed, guilty of crimes, which I certainly did not agree with.

I saw that — after being sort of free from there, even though I was connected to a degree, I began to be able to look at exactly what was happening in myself and the people that I knew. And I saw that I was certainly no better than when I got in Scientology; in fact, I was much worse.

I was terrified to even discuss the possibility of leaving Scientology with my own husband. I was afraid that he would stay in Scientology. I was afraid that he would write me up to the Guardian's Office and that they would then come and take me away somewhere because I had so much information. Guardian's Office staff members were heavily, heavily under security at all times. And I signed — I don't know how many — waivers of how I would never, ever talk about the Guardian's Office to anyone, and if I did, I would have to pay them a lot of money.

MRS. GARVEY: Your husband, obviously, was having doubt at the same time?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. I was unaware of it at the time, until we discussed it.

MRS. GARVEY: Can you describe a little bit of the harassment that you received once you left, and were you given a freeloader's debt?

MS. PETERSON: I was never given a freeloader's debt, no.

I — once I left, I received a lot of phone calls where people would just call and hang up. I also received a note in my car with the words "Watch it" on it. Also, a note was left in my mailbox that said, "Die." And I received several phone calls that — in the middle of the — my husband works at night, and I would receive phone calls at one or two in the morning where a male voice would say, "Die," and then they would hang up. Also, at various times during the night, someone would knock at my front door and there would be nobody there.

MRS. GARVEY: Did you have to fill out a security check —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MRS. GARVEY: — the thing that's got a hundred some questions or something like that on it?

MS. PETERSON: Many of them, yes.

MRS. GARVEY: Many of them.

MS. PETERSON: Oh, also, on the harassment-type thing: Once — after I had left Scientology, the man that was in charge of the Information Bureau, who I have already mentioned — he and I were quite good friends — he and I got together, even though I had left Scientology. I trusted him to — in other words, I wasn't really afraid to meet with him; I didn't think that he would try to kidnap me or anything.

But when we got to discussing the harassment that I had received, he tried to convince me that my attorney, Michael Flynn, was the one responsible for it.

Oh, yeah, before I came here — I'm afraid to fly — and before I came here, I received a phone call of a crash. I assume it was supposed to be a plane crash; I don't know exactly what it was, but it was just a crash.

MRS. GARVEY: And you needed that before you flew like —

MS. PETERSON: I thought about it as the plane took off.

MR. FLYNN: Evidence of that type may be relevant.

MRS. GARVEY: Oh, yes, who would know of your fear of flying?

MS. PETERSON: It was in my auditing files.

MR. FLYNN: And referring to the Mayor's earlier comment about whether the leopard has changed its spots, that particular evidence in the last five minutes would be relevant right up to —

MRS. GARVEY: That came today — or this week.

MR. LeCHER: When did you —

MRS. GARVEY: What was —

MR. LeCHER: — leave — let me just — when did you leave — I just want to get this in the right time frame. When did you leave the Guardian's Office?

MS. PETERSON: I left the Guardian's Office in 1979, officially, as a staff member. But I was connected in various ways up until July of 1980.

MR. LeCHER: You left Scientology July of 1980?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

MR. LeCHER: Thank you.

Mrs. Garvey.

MRS. GARVEY: Did you actually see the written report on the Fair Game against a number of people: Mr. Walters, Mr. Hartwell — Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell?

MS. PETERSON: I saw —

MRS. GARVEY: You actually did see some of those?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

I also saw copies of Mr. Hartwell's preclear, auditing information, copies being made of it. And there was an order on Tonja Burden to take her information to the press, and attached to the order was a copy of her auditing information.

MR. LeCHER: Mr. Hatchett.

MR. HATCHETT: Listening to you, I think this is a good question to ask you: Were you aware before coming here that certain people were going to testify that you yourself did elicit the order or were involved in the dirty tricks? Did you know you were going to face them when you came here?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. HATCHETT: Congratulations; that's what I want to say to you. You must be very much dedicated to consent to come in and testify under such conditions. That's my personal comment to you.

MS. PETERSON: Thank you.

MR. HATCHETT: Seeing, in the Guardian's Office, the heavy security, that must have been a place of great power. Did you have that feeling at the time?

MS. PETERSON: Yes, only to the outside world of Scientology, in other words, to other Scientologists and to the outside world.

As far as feeling powerful within the Guardian's Office, I suppose there are those feelings of that. But you always knew that you were under orders from the higher ups.

MR. HATCHETT: Can you give me an idea, after looking at that order of some of those people, from the best of your memory, what, for example, the Guardian Office attack on Michael Flynn — it must have been written up: step one, step two, step three?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. There was — there was also a program to get Michael Flynn disbarred. I can't remember if it was the same program as the — what was called the Oscar Program or not, but I can remember — I didn't read all the steps on it, but there was steps on there to get him disbarred. There was also a step to send letters to former colleagues of his about how horrible he was, that he had this bizarre background that maybe they weren't aware of.

MR. HATCHETT: So, this Guardian Office, undoubtedly, had a large budget to do all the things that were supposed — able to do.

Can you give us an idea of what it cost to run these types of clandestine operations?

MS. PETERSON: I really — I don't know how much it cost; it cost a lot of money. I know that if there was ever any money for — if there was ever a request for anything, plane fares to go back to Boston or to fly in somebody from Salt Lake City to spy on Tonja Burden, there was always money. When I was in the organization, in the actual organization as opposed to the Guardian's Office, you couldn't even get paper, money for paper, to write down the auditing information. In other words, the auditor — when you're auditing, you would write down what the person was saying. And staff, who made any — where between nothing and six dollars a week, had to chip in money to buy paper for this to occur.

MR. HATCHETT: Yet, there was always plenty of money to do these other operations?

MS. PETERSON: Yeah, there sure was.

MR. HATCHETT: And, also, in a timely fashion, you never had to wait?

MS. PETERSON: You could get it right away.

MR. HATCHETT: It's interesting to listen to you about the vetting of material.

I think Mr. Flynn stated that he was going to introduce this as evidence, did you not, Mr. Flynn?

MRS. GARVEY: He already did.

MR. CALDERBANK: He did.

MR. HATCHETT: Okay.

MR. FLYNN: I beg your pardon, Mr. Hatchett?

MRS. GARVEY: No, that's —

MR. HATCHETT: I've got my answer already, thank you.

I have an idea about the Safe Environment Fund for the protection of indicted Scientologists, that's something of a heavy fund, too —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. HATCHETT: — in terms of —

MS. PETERSON: Yeah, there was — I'm not sure exactly how much, but many, many thousands of dollars.

Another really interesting thing is that we were drilled to tell any public official, the press, or anyone that we did not operate the Safe Environment Fund while we were on what's called Post Time; in other words, we were to say that it was totally separate, it was something we were doing on our time. We were not allowed to say that, in fact, it was a big part of our job.

MR. HATCHETT: The Guardian Office was directly responsible to operate the Apple Schools —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. HATCHETT: — yet, they denied this?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. HATCHETT: Did they tell you why?

MS. PETERSON: We were told that the reason why was that if the government and various officials found out that Scientology was running, that there would be a lot of problems because the government was out to get Scientology.

MR. HATCHETT: Do you know for a fact whether or not these schools may have been up to any state accreditation standards?

MS. PETERSON: The ones that I was responsible for were, yes; they were supposed to be. Whether they were or not, I don't know, you know, everywhere else. But I know, at least, mine were.

MR. HATCHETT: By the licensing agent, you know, from some state or county or what not?

MS. PETERSON: Yes, we were. All — as I said, all the schools that I was responsible for all met up to all the codes and everything.

MR. HATCHETT: All right.

Can you give me an idea what the average parent may pay for the education of their child at that particular school under your jurisdiction?

MS. PETERSON: It was — I think it was about a hundred and twenty or a hundred and thirty dollars a month, which, at the time, was about what everybody was paying for other schools in the area; it was about the same.

MR. HATCHETT: That's all. Thank you.

MR. LeCHER: Mr. Shoemaker, do you have any questions?

MR. SHOEMAKER: Yes.

Mrs. Peterson, I'd like to reiterate a couple of the comments that you've made because I think they're extremely significant. So, if I'm being repetitive, please bear with me.

MS. PETERSON: Sure.

MR. SHOEMAKER: Can you describe the overall purpose of the Guardian's Office, please?

MS. PETERSON: Well, as I said, it's various bureaus, and each bureau has sort of a different purpose. But the main purpose — there's a couple — the main one is to keep everybody, other than Scientologists, away from Scientology. In other words, if a public official walked in through the front door of the Fort Harrison, the person that then comes over to take you on a tour is a Guardian's Office staff member, if they know that you're a public official.

They don't want anyone outside of Scientology to know what's going on. In fact, the Guardian's Office — other Scientologists don't even know. Most Scientologists have no idea, for instance, what happens to their preclear information.

Another thing is to take care of the press, to make sure that Scientology is well thought of so that they can expand it and grow.

MR. SHOEMAKER: And your responsibilities, while you were in the Guardian's Office, were running the conditions relating to these various types of special groups

MS. PETERSON: Yes. Although, as I said before, I got involved in a lot of other things because of the —

MR. SHOEMAKER: Right.

MS. PETERSON: — lack of personnel.

MR. SHOEMAKER: But your responsibility, though, was, in fact, control over those groups?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. SHOEMAKER: And that includes the Apple School, Narcanon, Applied Scholastic Institute, Citizens' Commission for Human Rights, Gerus Society —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. SHOEMAKER: — and Safe Environment Fund?

MS. PETERSON: Right.

MR. SHOEMAKER: And it was all — it would be uniformly set up throughout the country — throughout the world that those types of activities would be in the Guardian's Office?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. SHOEMAKER: You had made reference to the fact that Mr. Hartwell's auditing files and so forth were sent to the Las Vegas office.

Could you tell me where they came from, if you know firsthand, and the year that they were sent?

MS. PETERSON: Okay.

MR. SHOEMAKER: I'm sorry, Burden; I beg your pardon.

MS. PETERSON: Oh, Tonja Burden?

MR. SHOEMAKER: Yes.

MS. PETERSON: That was sent from Clearwater. Actually, it was sent from Clearwater to Los Angeles, to the United States Guardian's Office, and then sent to the Las Vegas Organization. That was in, I believe it was, 1979.

MR. SHOEMAKER: The —

MS. PETERSON: Either '78 or '79.

MR. SHOEMAKER: The types of operations that you described, would your boss or who was head of the Guardian's Office in Las Vegas have the authority to do one of those himself, write one up and do it himself without any instructions from higher up?

MS. PETERSON: No. You could write up a program, however, it had to be sent to the United States Guardian's Office to be approved. You weren't allowed to do anything on your own.

In some instances, it would not only go to the United States Guardian's Office but it would go to the Worldwide Guardian's Office. It would depend on the type of program and who was involved in it.

MR. SHOEMAKER: So, any of those types of organizations would have had to have been signed off on by someone — by the headquarters of the Guardian's Office?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

In fact, most of the training the Guardian's Office staff members received was received at the United States Guardian's Office.

MR. SHOEMAKER: The — you had made reference a while ago that some of the conversations that Mr. Alan Hubbard was having with Mr. Hartwell was, in fact, being taped.

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. SHOEMAKER: And Mr. Hartwell had no knowledge of that.

MS. PETERSON: As far as I know, he didn't, no.

MR. SHOEMAKER: How do you know that they were being taped?

MS. PETERSON: I saw the taping equipment on Mr. Hubbard at one point and I also heard Mr. Hubbard transcribing them several times.

MR. SHOEMAKER: And it was the type of equipment that would be hidden under clothes?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. I happened to walk into somewhere that I wasn't supposed to at one point and he had his shirt off and he was pulling this off.

The tape was edited down, also, at one point.

MR. SHOEMAKER: And the Safe Environment Fund, which was set up, I believe, as you described it, for the purpose of — was it donations, or how were the funds being raised for this Safe Environment Fund to provide legal funds for the Scientologists that were indicted?

MS. PETERSON: In a variety of ways. They would have rallies and meetings and that type of thing and talk about the indictees and how much money it was costing. And then, the people were to give donations.

MR. SHOEMAKER: Were they — was it given or would it have been forced on individuals?

MS. PETERSON: I don't think it was ever probably physically forced, but they were made to feel that if they didn't donate the money, that they were letting down the organization. And what would happen to the organization if these top people weren't there to defend them against the government, what would happen?

MR. SHOEMAKER: Were records kept or any kind of published list in terms of who gave what or anything such as that? I mean, that would be available, for instance, to just the general membership.

MS. PETERSON: You mean, to other Scientologists?

MR. SHOEMAKER: Yes.

MS. PETERSON: I really don't know; I don't remember if it was or not.

MR. SHOEMAKER: Are most of their efforts directed towards the members in the Church or towards the public people — I mean, the people that are outside of Scientology — in terms of rallies and so forth?

MS. PETERSON: Mostly, other Scientologists, although, I believe that they made some sort of an affiliation with other groups that were interested.

MR. SHOEMAKER: But it was clearly stated that that was the purpose of raising this money?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. SHOEMAKER: Mr. Mayor, I don't have any more questions.

Thank you very much.

MR. LeCHER: Mr. Calderbank, do you have any questions?

MR. CALDERBANK: Yes.

Just very quickly, then: Do you substantiate the testimony of Mr. — of the Hartwells, Walters, and Van Schaick as far as dirty tricks and activities that you saw come across the Guardian Office desk?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And do you substantiate that the Guardian's Office tried to frame or plant criminal activities on people that they described in sworn testimony?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And you also said that there was a lot of editing of tapes of undercover taping that were edited to mislead people, like, the papers in Mr. Hartwell's extortion attempt to make it seem like there was a criminal activity being done?

MS. PETERSON: I know of one — the one instance that I discussed; I don't know about many times —

MR. CALDERBANK: Okay.

But that one specific instance —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK:  — they edited it down for that?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: To follow up on Mr. Hatchett and Mr. Shoemaker's comments, the money for the GO — you said substantial amounts of money were used for this operation, that you could get typewriters when auditing couldn't even get paper; isn't that true?

MS. PETERSON: For typewriters?

MR. CALDERBANK: Yeah, or for other equipment. You said substantial money came in the Guardian's Office or they spent a lot of money on training to tickets to the equipment that was used to tape Mr. Hartwell.

MS. PETERSON: Oh, yeah, I was — I suppose typewriters, also. But I, mostly, was referring to; like, airfares and paying the rent of Russ Andrews in Tonja Burden's building, even getting in a certain amount of money so that he could survive; that type of thing.

MR. CALDERBANK: Where did the money come from?

MS. PETERSON: It was sent from the organization; in other words, a certain amount of money would go into the Guardian's Office.

MR. CALDERBANK: So, you got — what organization are you talking about?

MS. PETERSON: Well, as people would come in the front door and they would pay for their auditing training, it was in the — it was in the actual organization. And then, a certain amount of that money was sent each week over —

MR. CALDERBANK: All right.

MS. PETERSON: — to the Guardian's Office. There was a — there were separate accounts and that type of thing, three or four different accounts.

MR. CALDERBANK: Oh, so, the money that came in from say, auditing, then, directly went — or was part of the money that the Guardian's Office used?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And that money, then, may have been used to bug Mr. Hartwell or set up Mr. Flynn in Operation Oscar?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. That's where all the money came from; it was from the money that people either paid for auditing, training, or books. It didn't come from outside sources; it always came from auditing —

MR. CALDERBANK: These money sources, did you know at the time that you were in the Guardian's Office that they were elicited as donations?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: Did you know that these were tax-exempt donations for a tax-exempt organization?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: Was it common knowledge throughout the organization that this money was being used for these purposes —

MS. PETERSON: Oh, no.

MR. CALDERBANK: — even in the GO Office?

MS. PETERSON: In the Guardian's Office, yes; in the regular organization, no. Most staff members have no idea.

There's a booklet written by Mr. Hubbard, called "What Your Fees Buy," and it tells you about how you give it to run the organization with the money and it's used to help pay attorneys' fees against the attacks by the government and that type of thing. But it doesn't say anything about what your fees really do buy.

MR. CALDERBANK: And you heard — when did you first hear the Hartwells? Did you hear the Hartwells' testimony, the other testimony that was given to this body when they gave it?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: Who was your AGPRO during the time that you served there or the Guardian's Office Public Relations Officer?

MS. PETERSON: Who was my what?

MR. CALDERBANK: AGPRO?

MRS. GARVEY: The Assistant Guardian —

MS. PETERSON: Oh, the Assistant Guardian for Public Relations?

MR. CALDERBANK: Officer, right.

MS. PETERSON: Carole Garrity.

MR. CALDERBANK: Carole Garrity?

MS. PETERSON: Yeah. Although, some people came in from the United States Guardian's Office to help handle the problems at various times.

MR. CALDERBANK: Who was your AGI during that time, your Assistant Guardian of Intelligence?

MS. PETERSON: Well, there was three. It started out, first, Hamilton in the beginning, and then — Bruce Hamilton was taken out of the area because he didn't handle the problem, and a girl was sent in from the United States Guardian's Office by the name of Julie Bergman, and then a guy by the name of Dan Zalens then took over.

MR. CALDERBANK: Okay.

And because of policy, well entrenched policy, you're saying that these people could — had to have known as to what was happening during their time, what was happening to people like the Hartwells with the Fair Game Policy being put into effect?

MS. PETERSON: Are you asking: Did other Scientologists know about it?

MR. CALDERBANK: No. Did these people that were in charge know about it?

MS. PETERSON: Of course they knew about it; they ordered it.

MR. CALDERBANK: And I see a pattern shaping up with the GO and it goes back to the training routine of how to lie to someone.

Even though you set up and ran the schools, the Gerus Society, et cetera, you were actually told that they were not — that you were not involved, basically, that you would help, et cetera, that you sere told directly to say, "No," you did not run them, you did not set them up, et cetera?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

MR. CALDERBANK: And when you worked on these programs, Scientology covert programs, you were told that you were doing it on your own and you were not part of the organization, it was your own time; is that correct?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And — so, basically, adhere to that policy of lying to government officials or lying, that this is an example of it being carried out?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: Would this policy be deviated from at all in Scientology?

MS. PETERSON: No.

 MR. CALDERBANK: All —

MS. PETERSON: As a matter of fact, I mentioned about Don Cooper, who was an agent on Mr. Walters and the Hartwells. He — when his cover was blown, after myself and Carole Garrity left Scientology, he signed an affidavit, which I later saw, that said that he was acting pretty much on his own; in other words, he volunteered that he was — he was doing it.

MR. CALDERBANK: But you knew firsthand that that was not the case, that he was part of a program financed by Scientology?

MS. PETERSON: That's true.

He later — also, after his cover was blown, his freeloader debt was cancelled. He owed a great deal of money. He had left on the ship and had a humongous freeloader debt, and because of his dedicated service, spy service, his freeloader debt was cancelled.

MR. CALDERBANK: And so, getting back to Mr. Berfield's position on policy, you know, your policies always have a reward and punishment in the corporate structure.

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And if you follow policy — or was policy always followed from the Source? Or did the Source always write policy, L. Ron Hubbard?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And was what the Source said followed throughout the world in every organization —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: — his policy was followed?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

Now, there were some policies that were written by other people, but Mr. Hubbard's policies always took top priority. In other words, if there was conflicting information in two policies, you'd always follow Mr. Hubbard's; his was the senior on the area.

MR. CALDERBANK: And did you ever see a policy ever not rigidly adhered to?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: You did? And what was the punishment for that? Was there a punishment for not following policy?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. You were either sent to Cramming or Ethics.

MR. CALDERBANK: And was it a severe punishment for Scientologists?

MS. PETERSON: It would depend on the severity of the problem.

MR. CALDERBANK: So, if you did not follow policy as a corporate structure throughout the entire Scientology organization, there was a specific punishment? And if you did follow policy, such as following out a program, Operation Oscar, to get Mr. Flynn disbarred, you were given an award or reward?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And that was a pretty well structured policy in itself, reward and punishment?

MS. PETERSON: Yes. It fact, it's in some of the Ethics policies: it talks about rewards and punishments, and rewarding what they call upstats, which is up statistics, people who follow policy. It's in the Ethics policies.

MR. CALDERBANK: Is the Fair Game considered one of the punishments for out policy people?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: And you said that you questioned some of the policies or some of things you were doing but you decided not to change it or you couldn't change it.

Why is that? Was it so rigid — or why?

MS. PETERSON: Well, it was rigid and it was what Ron wanted.

You have to understand that the people in Scientology do what Ron wants. And if they think that Ron wants whatever it is they're doing, whether they personally disagree with it or not, they'll do it anyway. The ones that don't leave or they get kicked out.

MR. CALDERBANK: But if they don't leave and they're not Fair Game at the time, then, people do not do things as a lark; they do it as a result of a specific policy and a specific program laid out in Scientology. And this is the way it goes no matter where you are in the country?

MS. PETERSON: That's correct.

MR. CALDERBANK: And, finally, in the area of these schools and front groups: Would you say front groups is an apropos description of them?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. CALDERBANK: The Gerus Society: We have a very elderly population here in Pinellas County. Is the Gerus Society active here in Pinellas County?

MS. PETERSON: I really don't know.

MR. CALDERBANK: Did you ever see the Gerus Society in Pinellas County?

MS. PETERSON: No.

MR. CALDERBANK: Okay. That's all I have.

MR. LeCHER: At the peak of your career and your earning power, with all this study, you were making twenty-six dollars a week, correct?

MRS. GARVEY: On a good week.

MR. LeCHER: On a good week.

MS. PETERSON: That would have been a real good week.

M. LeCHER: Yet, you testified that you paid forty thousand dollars into Scientology while you were working there?

MS. PETERSON: Between my husband and myself, yes.

MR. LeCHER: I just wonder how you can make, at the peak of your career, twenty-six thousand dollars and you had forty thousand — twenty-six dollars a week, yet, you had forty thousand dollars spent.

Is that something that accumulate prior to becoming a Scientologist?

MS. PETERSON: Well, my husband and I had been married for several years before we got into Scientology.

MR. LeCHER: Yeah.

MS. PETERSON: And we had some money, and we had a house that we could finance.

MR. LeCHER: So, then, you had to — you refinanced your house and things like that to afford to get this money —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: — to take more courses?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: How long were you in the Guardian's Office?

MS. PETERSON: I was a staff member almost a year and then almost a year, also, as a — just as a worker.

MR. LeCHER: As I understand, as a member of the Guardian's Office, you learned to lie and to give misinformation.

How do we know you're telling the truth now? And do you think any of the witnesses that have testified could possibly be dead agents?

MS. PETERSON: Well, first of all, that — as far as you — how do you know whether I'd lie or not, I guess — you just have to take my word for it. I mean, I would hardly, realistically, fly all the way down here when I'm afraid to fly and sit in front of a bunch of people and, you know, in front of television and admit to all the things that I was involved in that I'm certainly not proud of.

As far as the other people being dead agents, I don't know exactly what you mean.

MR. LeCHER: Well, I may be using the term wrong, but dead agenting to me meant that we may be set up, that someone may have come forward to testify to put Scientology in a negative light when, actually, they may be setting us up, to be outrageous, which then could be verified if they were not telling the truth and make Scientology look good.

MS. PETERSON: Oh, I see what you mean.

I don't know. The people from Las Vegas that I personally know, I realize that they're — I mean, I know they're on the square.

MR. LeCHER: As far as you know, this is not —

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: You mentioned a public official's background could be checked.

How would you check the background of any public official on this front table?

MS. PETERSON: Well, there's two ways of doing it. The first way is called overt data collection, where you would go to — I don't know — the public library and look at some newspaper clippings and voters' registration. You'd check to see if they have any kind of an arrest record. You'd check around to find out if they were connected in any way to a mental health organization. That type of thing.

There was also — it was called covert data collection. I really don't know how you do that; I was not allowed to know that.

MR. LeCHER: If you had something on me, how would you disperse that to the people to embarrass me?

MS. PETERSON: Well —

MR. LeCHER: To the press or to the people at large.

MS. PETERSON: The Information Bureau would collect the information in one of the two ways I mentioned and they would then send it over to Public Relations. And it would just depend on what the problem was, how it was handled. I mean, perhaps, if the PR person was confronting you and they knew that you had a mistress or something, they might just, in passing, mention something about people that have mistresses or something. That would be one way.

MR. LeCHER: Okay.

Just one more and then — you did all these things — well, then, you went along with all this mistreating of people to get Scientology — or to get more into it because of the — I shouldn't say faith, but — the belief in the organization; is that correct?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: One other thing: What about coded telex with reference to Betty Orsini, who, I believe, was for the Saint Petersburg Times, and did a story originally exposing the Church of Scientology. I see here you sent reviewed coded telexes about Betty Orsini.

Can you tell me anything about that?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

There was a time period when I was receiving and sending all the telexes. And at one point we received a telex from the Fort Harrison Guardian's Office and it was coded and I then decoded it. And I can't remember the exact terminology of it, but it was something to the effect that Betty Orsini was in town and — or, no, it said that she was coming to town and what time she would be arriving and she had to be kept an eye on.

I gave this information to Alan Hubbard, who I already mentioned., and Julie Bergman, who I also mentioned, who worked in the United States Guardian's Office. And I asked them who Betty Orsini was, and they told me that she was one of the biggest SPs in the planet and that they were going to have find somebody really trustworthy to follow her and that type of thing to see what she was up to.

They were afraid that she was going to get in contact with the Hubbards — or with the Hartwells and Mr. Walters. As a matter of fact, they were very concerned about that.

MR. LeCHER: I see.

Okay. That's it, unless you have something you want to add, Mrs. Garvey.

MRS. GARVEY: Just one: Do you have any knowledge whether Broderick and Cooper were ever trained in Clearwater?

MS. PETERSON: Don Cooper is in Clearwater right now; I saw him last night.

MRS. GARVEY: That must have made you feel good.

MS. PETERSON: The interesting part about it was that I was with Mr. Walters at the time. Mr. Walters and I were taking a walk and we saw him. He came out and said "Hi."

MRS. GARVEY: Were any other of the higher ups in the Guardian Office in your area have any training here in Clearwater that you would know of or spend any time?

MS. PETERSON: Well, a man right now by the name of Bob Anderson, who is the Assistant Guardian in Las Vegas — he came originally from the Guardian's Office here. He held a position here; I'm not sure whether he was the Assistant Guardian here or not, but he was in the Guardian's Office. He was sent to Las Vegas to take care of the problem.

MR. LeCHER: Well, so, I guess, in conclusion, you might be saying that Scientology has been trying to dupe the press or the people for quite a long time?

MS. PETERSON: Yes.

MR. LeCHER: Thank you.

I appreciate your coming, my colleagues, too, and you shed a lot of light on the issues, especially, from coming from the Guardian's Office and how it relates to the Hartwells and the other people who we have listened to.

Thank you.

MR. FLYNN: Mayor, at this time, I would point out, for the record, that some or the documents pertaining to covert data collection have been marked as Exhibits 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and, specifically, the document on lying, TRL, has been marked as Exhibit 13. I will have testimony at a later point on the individual who was in B1, who did covert data collection through such things as breaking and entering.

Affidavit of Carole Garrity

At this point in time, I would like to introduce an Affidavit of Carole Garrity, to whom the witness has just referred, and I will read that affidavit into the record.

"I, Carole Garrity, being first duly sworn, depose and say: I was a member of the Church of Scientology from April 1975 through July 1980, and during that time I became a staff member and worked full-time for the Scientology organization from August 1976 through July 1980.

"Between November 1978 and July 1980, I was a member of the Guardian's Office of the Church of Scientology. The Guardian's Office is more commonly referred to as the GO by Scientologists. It's responsible for intelligence gathering, covert operations and activities, spying, and public relations. The Guardian's Office administers front groups, such as schools and drug programs which are designed to make money. The Guardian's Office headquarters in the United States is in California. However, the Guardian's Office has the power to go into a local Scientology church and literally take over any section of it or the entire local church, if necessary. This is covered in the policy letter written by L. Ron Hubbard, entitled 'The Guardian.'

"The Guardian's Office activities are conducted pursuant to a Scientology policy entitled the Fair Game Doctrine which states: The Fair Game may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist, may be tricked, sued, or lied to, or destroyed.

"I have personal knowledge of Scientology organizations actively and covertly conducted operations against Attorney Michael Flynn in an attempt to destroy him and thereby eliminate him as a representative of those individuals victimized by the Scientology organization. One such operation occurred between January and July 1980, where the Guardian's Office conducted a series of covert operations to infiltrate the law office of Michael J. Flynn by placing a plant whose code name was Oscar and whose real name was William Broderick. The Guardian's Office devised a second covert operation to stop Attorney Flynn's client, LaVenda Van Schaick, from speaking out against the Scientology organization. The program was code-named Shake an Bake and pursuant to program, GO agents were sent to Massachusetts to interrogate Ms. Van Schaick and try to encourage her to divorce her husband and to fire Attorney Flynn.

"The Guardian's Office perused Ms. Van Schaick's auditing files, which contained the most personal and intimate details of her life, and extracted confidential disclosures for the purpose of blackmail and extortion. The practice of reviewing confidential auditing files and extracting private and intimate details of an individual's life is a common Scientology practice. The data gleaned from an unsuspecting individual's files are transmitted to California headquarters for extortion and blackmail. This practice occurs regularly.

"I have personal knowledge of auditing information being sent to Clearwater and transmitted through Clearwater for this purpose. On one occasion I received a Guardian's Office order instructing me to remove confidential information from Tonja Burden's file, a woman suing the Church of Scientology, and release it to the media. I executed the order and brought the information to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

"I became upset and in fear when I learned that eleven top leaders of Scientology had been convicted of felonies, including Mary Sue Hubbard, the Founder's wife. I do not agree with Scientology practices which condone burglaries, electronic surveillance, spying on former members and others to deceive the critics of Scientology, and all the other unlawful and underhanded conduct that the release of the documents in the FBI raid revealed to the national media.

"I left the Church of Scientology on July 18, 1980.

"Dated this 28th day of April 1982, Carole Garrity."

This will be marked as the next exhibit.

(The Affidavit of Carole Garrity was marked as Exhibit No. 46, as of this date.)

MR. LeCHER: For information, do you want to break or do you want continue on going at this point in time?

MR. FLYNN: Perhaps, if we could take a shorter break than our usual break, an hour instead of two hours?

MR. LeCHER: We normally come back at two.

Commissioners and staff, would you like to come back at one?

Is that all right with Vision Cable?

This meeting is recessed for one hour.

(Whereupon, the luncheon recess was taken.)

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