THE RELIGIOUS TECHNOLOGY CENTER AND THE CROSSING OF CORPORATE LINES - A DOCUMENTATION

by Martin Ottmann

I) PREMISE

My name is Martin Ottmann, I am 30 years of age and a German citizen. I previously filed a declaration as a witness for the case before the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County Los Angeles, known as "Uwe Geertz and Steven Fishman vs. Church of Scientology International et al.", Case No. BC 122 467. That declaration consisted mainly of my firsthand experiences with Scientology and the Sea Organization.

I was asked by Mr. Fishman to compile for him certain documents, which should show and proove that the Religious Technology Center regularly crosses the corporate lines of the Scientology-hierarchy and is in fact the highest management entity of Scientology.

Due to my own experience with Scientology and my work as a consultant regarding Scientology for the German CID, state ministries, cult information centers and the Protestant Church I felt safe to write an own documentation about the above matter, which I want to present hereby.

I understand that a major issue in this case is the possible involvement of the Religious Technology Center in the activities against Mr. Fishman and Dr. Geertz. This documentation has the purpose to show that RTC manages the "Church of Scientology", has ultimate power in the command structure and supervises the actions against its opponents. It is demonstrated in its own magazine, the "Keeping Scientology Working-News", which are distributed to Scientologists all over the world. I submit this documentation in support of Mr. Greene's motion for a deposition of the head of RTC, David Miscavige.

The most KSW-Issues I used were German editions. I had to translate therefore the necessary portions of these articles.

II) HOW RTC REPRESENTS ITSELF

1) Assignment Agreement between Lafayette Ronald Hubbard and RTC, Los Angeles, USA, 16 May 1982 (Document 1)

Page 3-6:
"...E: RTC was formed with the approval of LRH to be the protector of the religion of Scientology and to maintain the purity and ethical use of the philosophy and technology of the religion, including services rendered under the Marks and products associated with the Marks, and to own the Marks, with all of the rights and responsibilities that are incident to a (illegible) required by ownership of the Marks in order to maintain their validity, to protect the exclusivity of their use by faithful organizations of the religion of Scientology, and to insure that the nature and quality of all services and products that are associated with the Marks are in accordance with the Scientology Scriptures.

F: LRH wishes to transfer ownership, supervision and control of the Marks and the goodwill associated with the Marks to RTC, along with the authority and responsibility for supervising the use of the Marks by CSI, and through CSI by all of the organizations of the religion of Scientology that are within the hierarchy governed by CSI, all in accordance with the Scientology Scriptures, subject to the following terms, conditions and reservations.

Agreement

...3. Reservation of Rights

...d. The subject matter of all products, as defined above, with which any of the Marks are used pursuant to this reservation of rights shall be subject to the supervision and approval of RTC. Approval is hereby confirmed and granted by RTC for all products that previously have been sold by LRH or licenses of LRH bearing or emboding the Marks, including the books, writings and lectures of LRH prior to this Agreement, and the approval of RTC shall be deemed to have been granted for all the products that are sold by LRH or licensees of LRH if RTC does not express its disapproval, in writing, within ten (10) days after it receives notice from LRH or his representative of the intention to sell such product."

2) The Command Channnels of Scientology, USA, 1988 (Document 2)

Page 6 - 7:
"Religious Technology Center, Holder of the Dianetics and Scientology Trademarks

The Religious Technology Center (RTC) is the protector of the Scientology religion. It owns all the trademarks and service marks and controls their licensing and use. The purpose of RTC is:

TO SAFEGUARD THE PROPER USE OF TRADEMARKS, TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC AND TO MAKE SURE THAT THE POWERFUL TECHNOLOGY OF DIANETICS AND SCIENTOLOGY REMAINS IN GOOD HANDS AND IS PROPERLY USED.
The Religious Technology Center (RTC) is not part of International Management. It is a parallel policing body which ensures that the Church of Scientology International, whom it has licensed to use the trademarks and service marks, does put the trademarks to good use and is Keeping Scientology Working. Overseeing the correct use of the trademarks and protecting these trademarks, which is RTC's responsibility, includes policing in and insisting that proper command channels exist and are in use so the "form of the org" is held internationally.

The Chairman of the Board RTC is the most senior position of the Religious Technology Center. The Chairman of the Board sees that RTC accomplishes its purpose and he has under him the Inspector General, who runs the day-to-day affairs of RTC.

Under the Inspector General, are the Inspector General for Ethics, the Inspector General for Technical and the Inspector General for Administration, each of whom polices the proper application of the scriptures within his respective area.

The Inspector General for Ethics has the responsibility for keeping Scientology free from internal and external subversion, thus preserving and reinforcing the gains of International Scientology. As part of this he polices the exact application of the standard ethics and justice policies and sees that effective measures are taken to thwart those who may intentionally attempt to misuse the trademarks of Dianetics and Scientology.

The Inspector General for Technical polices technical standards internationally through effective technical correction and enforcement actions that police in the correct use of the trademarks. He sees that on-source technology is available to the public and off-source technology is hammered out of existence, by policing all technical compilations done by the Church of Scientology International in order to verify and guarantee exact reproduction of, and respect for, source materials.

The Inspector General for Administration polices in the exact use of LRH's administrative policies by management so the Church continues to grow and prosper. Ensuring proper command channels which hold the form of the org internationally exist and are adhered to is key to this. In order to perform his functions, the Inspector General for Administration has under him the Department of Authorization, Verification and Correction International (AVC Int), which is responsible for authorizing and verifying the evaluations, strategies, programs and issues from Church management to ensure they are on policy.

RTC is the organization which polices the command channels of Scientology that get in and hold the form of the org internationally and enforces the correct use of the trademarks and service marks of the Scientology religion."

3) What Is Scientology, Los Angeles, USA, 1992 (Document 3)

Page 359:
"RELIGIOUS TECHNOLOGY CENTER

...Until 1982, all the trademarks and service marks were owned by L. Ron Hubbard. In May of that year he gave the marks of the Scientology religion to a newly formed church, Religious Technology Center (RTC).

RTC possesses ultimate ecclestical authority over the international hierarchy concerning the maintenance and standard application of L. Ron Hubbard's technology. RTC owns all the Scientology trademarks and service marks and controls their licensing and use. RTC is not part of the management structure of the Church. Its purpose is to safeguard the proper use of trademarks, to protect the public, and to make sure that the technologies of Dianetics and Scientology remain in good hands. It sees to the pure and ethical ministration of Scientology religious services.

This provides protection for the parishioner. It means that a person knows when he goes to a Scientology organization to receive a specific service, he will get exactly that service. It protects unsuspecting persons, should unscrupulous individuals outside the Church try to pervert and use L. Ron Hubbard's technology to further their own ends. Thus, the technology is kept pure. This is the intention of all Scientologists and RTC receives their wholehearted support in maintaining it.

Comment: RTC claims that is not part of International management, leaving its main activity to the supervision of the trademarks. At the same time it is stated that RTC possesses "ultimate ecclestical authority".

RTC says it would "maintain the purity and ethical use of the technology of the religion". But in which way RTC wants to do that and not manage the Church, if one keeps in mind to what extent Hubbard's "scriptures", the bulletins and policies, control every single activity of any Scientology organization?

III) THE CROSSING OF CORPORATE LINES BY RTC, DOCUMENTED IN ITS OWN MAGAZINE

1) KSW News, published by Religious Technology Center, Issue 16, USA, 1986 (Document 4)

Page 2 - 3:
...In recent months many actions have been successfully taken to stop squirrels from committing their harmful acts against themselves, the Scientology religion and the society at large.

A recent injunction (court order) was obtained in Los Angeles against various squirrels which protects the upper level materials against any possession or use by squirrels or psychiatrists. This was a major victory not only for Scientologists but for the future of this civilization.

A landmark settlement has just occurred in the United Kingdom where a group of squirrels were found to be copying LRH tape recorded materials, knowing full well that their actions were unlawful. The squirrels even went to such lenghts as to have a sheet of instructions to tell them how to get around copyright laws.

When this unlawful operation was discovered by RTC, immediate action was taken by RTC and New Era Publications (who is licensed to use the copyrights of LRH's works and protect them from infringement). The activity was brought to a halt through a court order granted by the English High Court. At the same time a special search warrant was obtained from the court and the premises of the squirrel group where the copying was occurring were gone through to ascertain further the extent of damage done by the actions of these individuals.

After two and a half hours of searching representatives from RTC and New Era Publications along with their attorneys had found the evidence to confirm the extent of the damage caused by the squirrels.

With this hard evidence to hand the case was prepared. However the squirrels involved saw that they had been caught red-handed and asked for a complete settlement before the major hearing of the case.

After negotiations were completed the matter was taken to court to finalize the settlement.

On March 24, 1986 in the High Court in London, a permanent court order was entered making New Era's demands and the settlement agreement final.

This settlement was particularly significant in that it uses the power of copyrights on LRH materials to close the door on incorrect application. Once again this demonstrates LRH's foresight in protecting the tech by ensuring it is properly copyrighted...

...Concurrent with this settlement and the disbanding of the group, a local squirrel group in Edinburgh fell apart after the two squirrel leaders left and disconnected completely from their squirrel activities. To top this off one of the last remaining squirrels in London literally brought his squirrel activities to a dead halt and declared that he had decided to stop squirreling and to disconnect from any squirrel activity entirely.

This win has had far-reaching effects as it has resulted not only in the dissolution of squirrel activities but demonstrates that in addition to being able to protect the confidentiality of the upper level materials, Scientologists, through the strength of the copyrights can see to it that the lower level materials are also forcefully protected.

Caption: "RTC Executives leaving courthouse after judgement won against squirrels."

Comment: "The power and strength of the LRH copyrights" aren't just executed by the simple copyright claim. They are carried out by lawyers and attorneys, but this is business of the Office of Special Affairs, which was designed to deal with legal problems. The above article demonstrates the crossing of at least two corporate lines by RTC.

2) KSW News, published by the Religious Technology Center, Issue 19, USA, 1986 (Document 5)

Page 2:
RTC has registered over 3,000 trademarks in over 140 countries around the world. These trademarks are our assurance that, come the year 2000 and in fact as long as we are on this planet, no one has the right to alter the technology of the Scientology religion as developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

These trademarks are actually our first beachheads established in those countries where we want to open up and secure Scientology. However, these beachheads can only be held if the technology itself, is in use in those countries. If the trade and service marks are not actively being used, then we cannot maintain our claim of ownership on them for very long.

To this end, Religious Technology Center fired a mission earlier this year to the Flag Land Base. Its purpose was to establish an Expansion Office which would set up groups and missions in the 110 countries where we have trademarks registered but no technical delivery occurring.

The Expansion Office, which now has a staff of four, contracts Scientologists as missionaries for a two year period. In return the missionaries get initial training, continual back up and the adventure of a lifetime!

Caption: "Pablo Lobato of Religious Technology Center signs up a missionary at the Scientology International Expansion Office at the Flag Land Base."

Comment: The establishment of the Expansion Office is clearly a management function. "The Command Channels of Scientology" state that WDC is responsible for the forming of management units, and not RTC.

3) KSW News, published by Religious Technology Center, Issue 24, USA, 1988 (Document 6)

Page 2 - 3, 5: (translated)
GENERAL INSPECTOR FOR ETHICS

In the General Inspector Network of RTC, the General Inspector for Ethics has the responsibility to see that Scientology ethics is established and maintained on an internal and external basis, so that the tech and admin of LRH is applied, and Scientology can expand undisturbed.

He achieves that by supervising standard ethics as well as the functions for external matters of the Church of Scientology International. He and his staff see that Scientology organizations have a sufficient number of fully trained and hatted Ethics Officers to serve all Scientologists, both staff and publics, and that the organizations have trained security personnel on post, to guarantee a safe environment for the orgs.

During the past two months the number of ethics officers and Directors for Inspections and Reports in Scientology and the Sea Organization has more than doubled! Many more ethics officers will be put on post and will receive fulltime-training to guarantee the application of 100 % standard ethics- and justice-policy in every org.

On 4 different places of the world complete security units are active now, and there are more, which are being established at the moment. The security units ensure that the environment of the orgs stays safe and secure.

Further the General Inspector for Ethics ensures that a strong, ethical and on-source network of the Office of Special Affairs exists, and that it protects Scientology organizations from any outside distractions, so that they can continue with the delivery of materials and services of Dianetics and Scientology to the public.

The area of responsibility of the General Inspector for Ethics and his staff also includes to verify that all ethics officers, all staff of the security units and all the executives of the Office of Special Affairs fulfill the prerequisites and qualifications for their posts, as it is demonstrated in the policies of LRH. The number of those staff in the areas of ethics, security and the Office of Special Affairs, who passed all the requirements and qualifications for their posts, rose at 400 % during the past 6 months.

To build strong ethics-lines on an international basis helps to secure that the ethics-technology will be known and applied in a standard way, so that the design of ethics will be achieved. It is: "To make the road free for technology and to get it in." (HCO PL 27 May 1965 Processing)

The General Inspector for Ethics and his staff are mainly connected with the upper management, but their communication lines are open for you too.

Caption 1, p. 2: "The Chairman of the Board RTC, the Inspector General and the General Inspector for Ethics enter the International Headquarters to confer with the executives of the top management about the international ethics strategy. (from behind to front (sic!): Chairman of the Board RTC Captain David Miscavige, Inspector General Captain Greg Wilhere, General Inspector for Ethics Mark Rathburn)."

Caption 2, p. 3: "The General Inspector for Ethics (right) and the Inspections Secretary for Ethics Commander Mike Sutter (left) watch the statistics of ethics officers, who are on post internationally."

Caption 3, p. 3: "The General Inspector for Ethics (Middle), the Inspections Secretary for Ethics (left) and the Director for Licences and Trademarks Warren McShane (right) discuss the progress of the strategic planning of the Office of Special Affairs."

Comment: RTC plans strategies for the Office of Special Affairs and it supervises the functions for external matters of CSI. This article shows that RTC has the ultimate power and that it is the highest point of the command structure of Scientology.

4) KSW News, published by Religious Technology Center, Issue 30, USA, 1990 (Document 7)

Page 2 and 7: (translated)
RTC MINIMUM STANDARD REQUIREMENTS HELP ORGS TO EXPAND

To fulfill its duties RTC licences every organization and mission through the Church of Scientology International and through Scientology Missions International, who use the marks of Dianetics and Scientology and who deliver services and materials to the public. RTC licences also directly and individually every organization of the higher levels of Scientology, who own the advanced levels and deliver them. These services include R6EW, the Clearing Course and New OT I up to New OT VIII, the Flag-exclusive L rundowns and the training of Class VIII up to Class XII.

The RTC supervises the standard delivery of all services in orgs and missions, including the services of the higher levels in every Advanced Organization. This is executed by the International and the Middle Management, but also through direct inspections by RTC. In the past year executives of RTC have made far more than 100 of such inspections in orgs and missions. These inspections will be executed further on. You can see the results in an increased quality of technical delivery and in an increase of technical personnel in orgs and missions around the world.

Based on the marks- and licence-agreements of the orgs, RTC has published specific minimum-standard-requirements for them. These requirements are based on LRH Policy and include the minimum-number of trained case supervisors, auditors and supervisors as well as certain staff in the administration, whom every org needs in order to deliver standard service to the public. Part of these requirements is also a list of training and processing services and materials, which the org has to deliver due to its licence-agreement. Corresponding to that a particular series of RTC minimum-standards exists for Scientology missions, who have to meet them required by their licence-agreements.

After the verification, that an org or mission has met all the minimum-standards, the RTC gives the orgs and missions new licence-certificates...

p. 7:

...INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL NETWORKS

RTC has the responsibilty for the supervision of the command channels of Scientology International, so that the form of the org gets maintained on all levels and the orgs can further expand. That includes the supervision of two technical networks within Scientology: the Training & Services Aides Network and the Senior Qual Network.

The Training & Services Network consists of the Training & Services Bureau at the Flag Bureaux and a Training & Services Bureau in every Flag Operations Liason Office. Every bureau is responsible for the delivery of Dianetics and Scientology services as well as for the training of the staff in its own area.

The Senior Qual Network exists within the LRH Communicator Network. Head is the Senior Qual Secretary International, who is responsible for the achievement of a fully manned up and functioning Qualifications division in every org. She operates directly under the LRH Communicator International and has continental Senior Qual Secretaries, who assist her in every Continental Liason Office.

During the past months the Religious Technology Center and the International Management have concentrated upon the establishment of these highly important, technical networks. There has been a lot of progress, and at the Flag Command Bureaux and on every continent Training & Services Aides and Senior Qual Secretaries are now on post.

Comment: If a group entity executes more than 100 inspections in its sub-organizations during one year and prescribes a series of requirements, mostly regarding personnel, for them, then it cannot be stated that this entity doesn't interfere with the day-to-day affairs of the official group management.

The establishment of the Training & Services Aides and the Senior Qual Network is per definition solely the business of CSI, and not of RTC, if RTC actually doesn't manage CSI.

5) KSW News, published by Religious Technology Center, Issue 43, USA, 1993 (Document 8)

Page 2 - 3: (translated)
...HOW RTC USES YOUR REPORTS TO SECURE THE PROPER USE OF THE TRADEMARKS

The only way to clear the planet is the standard delivery of the technology of Dianetics and Scientology to individuals and to move them up the bridge, one after the other. The Religious Technology Center exists to ensure the proper use of the trademarks, to secure the public and to make sure that the powerful technology of Dianetics and Scientology stays in good hands and gets applied properly. One concern of RTC is to keep an eye on the standard use of the ethics and justice proceedings in the scope of Scientology International, so that tech can get in and gets in. That is true inside of Scientology orgs, missions and groups as well as outside of Scientology.

There are many activities, which RTC executes to ensure that the policies of Scientology ethics and justice get correctly applied. Among them are routine inspections of Scientology organizations and missions, to make sure, that they deliver standard ethics, tech and admin, in correspondence with their particular licence-agreement. On the occasion misuses of the marks get detected and it gets ensured that the public receives on-source technology, including the ethics technology. Part of that purpose is the monitoring of the external environment of Scientology, so that the orgs don't get infiltrated and stay free to grow unrestrained. The acceptance and the handling of reports regarding trademark-violations and -abuses is necessary too, this gets known to RTC or the Inspector General Network through staff members or Scientologists in the field.

Even if RTC and the Inspector General Network have extensively to deal with staff members of Scientology organizations by exercising many of these activities, they still keep their communication lines open to all Scientologists for reports. These communication lines are of highest importance and you should be aware that they exist and that they are for use.

In a Scientology organization or mission reports are the most important tools for the ethics officer, as they give him the information, which he needs to follow his purpose: "To help Ron to keep orgs and the public free of entheta and enturbulation, so that Scientology can get applied." (HCO PL 11 May 1965, HAT OF THE ETHICS OFFICER) Without the reports the ethics officer doesn't have the information he needs to perform his duty.

Reports are for RTC important too. The acceptance, the analysis and the handling of reports of staff members and public Scientologists are one way how RTC detects false technical applications and misuse or violations of the trademarks. Thus the communication lines of RTC are open for all Scientologists so that trademark violations like the following can get reported: Non-standard application of ethics, technology or administrative procedures, when something else (out-tech) gets delivered and it is called Scientology, as well as any situation, you have noted, which is a threat to Scientology or Scientologists.

Comment: RTC openly admits that it "handles" reports. That means that it not only supervises internal and legal "ethics"-affairs, but runs them both in a broad (KSW Issue 24) and in a specific (KSW Issue 43) way. That leaves RTC as the total control point of Scientology for all "ethics matters". The aspired extent of that control is best shown in the next document.

6) KSW News, published by Religious Technology Center, Issue 48, USA, 1995 (Document 9)

Page 15: (translated)
MATTERS RTC IS INTERESTED IN

RTC has an interest to keep our lines clean and to keep Scientology working around the world. To help Scientologists to detect situations which are of interest for RTC, we have compiled a detailed list. By getting reports about such matters RTC is able, if necessary, to execute an investigation and to discover any suppression and to remove and thereby to ensure that Scientology keeps working.

ETHICS

TECHNICAL

ADMINISTRATION

SEND YOUR REPORTS TO: RELIGIOUS TECHNOLOGY CENTER, REPORTS OFFICER, 1710 IVAR AVENUE, SUITE 1100, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90028, USA. FAX: 213-960-1929

IN CASE YOU ARE A PUBLIC ON THE FLAG LAND BASE, YOU CAN GET IN TOUCH WITH OUR OFFICE OF THE GENERAL INSPECTOR IN THE SANDCASTLE DELIVERY BUILDING OR IN THE FORT HARRISON HOTEL.
INSPECTOR GENERAL OFFICE FLAG LAND BASE, 210 FORT HARRISON, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA 34616, USA.
OFFICE IN THE SANDCASTLE: TELEPHONE: 813-447-5225, FAX: 813-447-5313
OFFICE IN THE FORT HARRISON: TELEPHONE: 813-445-4372, FAX: 813-445-4371

Comment: Every Scientologist is expected to report the above matters directly to RTC. Besides the fact that informer activities of this sort prior existed in totalitarian systems like the German "3rd Reich", the communist Soviet Union or the "Great Brother"-state of George Orwell's "1984", this kind of informer system leaves RTC the ultimate power to control and interfere with every "ethics" aspect on any level of Scientology.

IV) RÉSUMÉ

The above samples of different KSW-articles proove the following facts:

a) RTC controls and leads the course of Scientology.
b) It manages the "Church of Scientology" both on a long-term and on a short-term basis.
c) The channels RTC uses to manage vary. It orders the various levels of the official Scientology-management, but it also uses "inspections" or the "handling of reports" to control and run the lowest levels of the Scientology-hierarchy.
d) It crosses the designated corporate lines of Scientology at will.
e) The trademarks RTC owns are not only used to defend its rights against possible competitors but to cover its management operations before the public , f. e., as "actions against trademark-violations" or "inspections".

In issue 24 of KSW it is stated: "The General Inspector for Ethics ensures that a strong, ethical and on-source network of the Office of Special Affairs exist." Just according to that statement RTC and its chairman, David Miscavige, should be held responsible for the actions against Mr. Fishman and Dr. Geertz.

RTC says that it is not part of the Scientology-management. This allegation is used to represent RTC as a separate entity from Scientology. Through its own publications RTC reveals that this statement is a lie and a deception. In fact, RTC is the Scientology-management and it controls and runs every level of Scientology.

V) APPENDIX

I declare under penalty of perjury that the aforementioned facts are true and correct.

Respectfully submitted,
Dated: 20 May, 1996
_____________________
Martin Ottmann
c/o EZW
Hölderlinplatz 2 A
70193 Stuttgart
Germany


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