WHY A CHURCH REVEALS SECRETS TO THE PRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201000016-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: January 5, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201000016-1
5 January 1980
I.S. ,orS
A* RELIGIOUS movement's
diligent research and sophis-
ticated'public relations. have
The placing. of news stories) ..,As Scientology grew inter-
by special-interest groups is. nationally during the 1960s it
familiar and. accepted prac-' became the subject of simi-
tice to thepress. But the larly - critical investigation
papers- publishing. articles on 'clenwwogtsts' activities are, outside the United States.)
subjects ranging, from --crop worrying journalists because Public- inquiries were set up
spraying to drug. abuse in of the..organisation's motives' in.. New . Zealand, South
history. Africa, Australia and Britain.
prisons.
The---articles, which- ~ have The scientologists intend .Scientologists. blamed the
appeared over recent months, the stories to shore up their adverse findings of these in-
stem. from - an apparent theory that the organisation. quiries On-the, organisation's
attempt by. the Church of has., been - -the 'target of al "old enemies" back in the
Scientology to'-Improve its long-running conspiracy by United States=- particularly!
reputation after- years ? of such organisations as . the psychiatrists cooperating with)
adverse publicity. CIA, the FBI, Interpol, the CIA. --
The-movement's public re- America's Internal Revenue The Scientologists' claim
lations' officers, wearing pin- Service and the psychiatric that they have been the vie-'
striped suits . and. usually Establishment. . tims of governmental and
carrying:. bulky brief'. cases : The-; conspiracy theory psychiatric conspiracy has
packed- with* documents dates back to the late- 1940s. been strengthened by the
i
'
ng of America
s Free-
marked " sec-et", and.." confl-J when. the Central Intelligence pass
dential," have become a fami- Agency launched a research dom' of Information (FOI)
liar sight in Fleet ? Street programme into the military legislation. This has fact-j
news rooms.- potential of mind control. litated disclosures about the
The-material, they have The research i n v o l v e d original CIA mind-control
been offering has often pro- attempts to manipulate ' the experiments and the involve-'
vided- a welcome, if unsoli- mind through such methods ment of a number of leading
cited, contribution to as the administration of psychiatrists.
newspapers' inquiries' into drugs, shock therapy and sen- The church now has ,bout
matters of public interest., scry deprivation. 165 researchers in America
Thee., Scientology-inspired I . At about the same time an Working full-time to unearth
stories have appeared in the American- science fiction documents under the FOI.
Guardian, the Sun,'-' the writer, Lafayette Ronald) They are trying to uncover
Times, New Scientist, ' New Hubbard. was- developing his further evidence of. govern.
Statesman and the Daily.Mir- theory of dianetics, a pseudo- mental misdeeds, to supportnor. - scientific p h i l o s o p h y on the conspiracy claim and to
Stories for which Scientolo- which- the Church.of Sciento- win a reputation for Sciento.
STAT
The Board of Inquiry deli-
vered a bitter indictment of
the organisation, declaring :
."Scientology is evil, its te-
chniques evil its practice a
serious ' threat to: the com-
munity, medically, morally '
.and--socially, and-its adher-
ents sadly deluded and often
mentally ill."
Scientology's. .'retort . was1
equally: bitter, denouncing
the-state' .of' Victoria as- " a
society founded by criminals,
organised by criminals and
devoted to making people cri-
minals." ?
Successive inquiries' 'In
New Zealand, Britain; South
Africa and Canada-where.
Scientology ? was investigated
as partof a wider inquiry'
into the "practice of .'the'
healing arts"-were more re-,
!
strained in- their. Judgment.
'But all : inquiries rwere: ini
some degree critical of -the l
organisation:
? Arguably the most horren-I
dous. evidence to? emerge
from these inquiries was th??
organisation's methods . of
dealing with its "enemies."
Declared " fair game" they
could, according to - in-
ternal instructions, "be de-;
prived of property or injured
by any means by any Sciento-
logist. May be tricked.
sued or lied to or destroyed."'
The "fair game" rule was
dropped after adverse .-publ-
icity.: -
The only British Govern-
ment stricture on Scientolo-
gists is an immigration ban
imposed in 1968. In 1969, an
inquiry was set up, under an
eminent QC and parliamen-
tarian, Sir John Foster.
which recommended repeal
of the immigration ban. But
it also- recommended legisla-
tion to control the practice
of psychotherapy.
Neither recommendation
was acted upon. But after in-
tensive lobbying recently by
the Scientologists-including
stage-managed "incidents" at
airports-Mrs Thatcher's Gov-
ernment is considering re-
pealing the immigration ban.
MPs are' being. canvassed
for their views.- ?
In 1968 the ban was im
posed by the then Miniter of l
Health, Mr Kenneth Robin-!
son, who said : "The Govern-~
ment are satisfied, having
reviewed a:l the available
evidence, that Scientology is i
socially harmfuL"
tish psychiatrist,, Professor inevitably brought the move-~ to how the information
Hans Eynsenck. The profes- mint into conflict with-, they offered by the Scientologists
sor was unaware of the psychiatric, : profession -- should be treated. Some
agency's involvement. . which - considered - it dan- argue that failure to publish
? The use and availability gerous to mental health' - authenticated material touch-
of ' an American chemical and with a variety of govern- ing on matters of public in-'
warfare drug, BZ, in Britain. ment agencies. :. ' ? terest would amount to
cosh (dings administered tigated by the Food and But others say, that the I
for disciplinary reasons) . in Drug Administration, which reputation of the Scientolo-
British' prisons. ' claimed that it was breaking gists for litigiousness-which
? The use of a dangerous 'American medical legislation;; is. probably unparalleled
chemical; 245-T, -as a weed- by the FBI, which suspected makes any critical press It
killer In- Britain.. - ` various criminal activities; vestigation of the organisa-
? .: British'- -involvement in and by: the Internal Revenue tion difficult, particularly in
American mind-control exper- Service, which contested a Britain - with its prohibtive
iments. = Scientology' claim to tax libel laws. -.: - : :
The only trice the Sciento- exemption -on. r e l i gio u s It is :argued that, 'In the
logists exact for their free= grounds. . absence of such' inquiry
=
lance contributions ' is ' an Scientologists"harassment" claim that and in view of the organisa-1
acknowledgement this official.
published lion's history - it is wrong
with 'the stories that their was at least partly due to to acquiesce In an exercise in
organisation uncovered the early assertions by Hubbard news management which is
Information. Periodicals are that-dianetics was the only
usually happy to comply on technique which could un Intended to improve Scipnto- I
the grounds that the move- earth what he termed "pain-! logy's public image.
( merit's involvement - In - the drug-hypnosis " .- mind . That image took a particu- 1
stories should'be known. control - and that for this larly bad battering from the ,
reason the organisation was a first public inquuy into
CIA'target.' Scientology, set up by the
state of -Victoria. .-Australia, ll
In 1963. - . _'
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201000016-1