Part 4 of 15
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.