Article: Perilous route: business – totalitarian sects – CIA? (2007)

Perilous route: business – totalitarian sects – CIA?¹

Dozens of large Novosibirsk firms, banks and insurance companies have come into the zone of influence of one of the most dangerous totalitarian sects in the world.  That’s what the Center for Issues of Sectarianism at the Novosibirsk Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevskiy says.  We talk with center director Oleg Vladimirovich Zaev on this sensational subject.

This sort of picture has formed in the public consciousness: totalitarian sects usually act in secret, covertly and disguised.  From the documents we have seen, it appears that a branch of the totalitarian cult of Scientologists is operating quite openly in Novosibirsk, giving out much information about its activities.

Sects go through various stages of development.  When starting out, they are very secretive. As they grow stronger, they start to act more and more openly. One example of this in our region is the Scientology cult, which operates by having staff throughout a network of organizations.  It still hides, although its true face is seen very clearly.  There are the Small Business Development Center, the Young People’s School of Business, the Business Club at the Small Business Development Center, the All-Russian Association of Entrepreneurs for Honest Business, and the Center of Citizen Initiatives of the United States of America in the Novosibirsk region and the Altai district. Also there are the Novosibirsk Business Journal and the School of Economic Journalism’s magazine. Then there are a number of companies. For instance, the Modern School of Sales and the Business Expansion Club. All of them have been identified as conduits for Scientology ideology, although it says on their Internet sites that they are not connected with any Scientology centers.  But this is done solely to avert suspicions of ties to the teachings of Scientology cult founder Ron Hubbard. That is what our friend Gerald Armstrong from Vancouver, Canada said about this. He gave 12 1/2 years of his life to Scientology, so knows first-hand what it is. Moreover, this man collected Hubbard’s archives as his personal archivist.  He was the stepson-in-law of Scientology Church President Heber Jentzsch. We were in touch with him by e-mail especially for this interview, and he sent us a number of documents. In his notes he recalled: “To avoid liability for the many violations of the law, for crimes in the war against “suppressive persons,” (people critical of Scientology, and the ones who sensibly have broken from the sect), those affiliated with the church declare themselves autonomous.”

Let us look at the structure by which the above-named Novosibirsk organizations are enveloped within Scientology central.  This is the Religious Technology Center.  It directs the entire church empire and operates the church spy network.  There is a church institute WISE, the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises.  This institution also says it is wholly separate, with no connection to Scientology. On its web site, it says that WISE consultants are not included in any of the churches of Scientology. But below that it says that WISE consultants are independent businesses licensed to use Ron Hubbard’s administrative technology in their work with individual clients and businesses. Thus, on the one hand they declare they are not involved in Scientology, but on the other hand they talk about using Scientology cult founder Ron Hubbard’s technology. It’s no coincidence that this same site states very eloquently: “Although administrative technology services are not religious services, WISE consultants may direct people to the Church of Scientology so that they may deal with their personal problems.”  As it’s said, where we go is no secret.

Let’s not leave the Novosibirsk firms caught in the cult’s dangerous influence, but tell us what is Scientology and who is Ron Hubbard?

I’ll refrain from any personal assessments and defer to an individual who knows this organization from inside, Gerald Armstrong.

First, Gerald Armstrong says, Scientology teaches that throughout the history of mankind all other ideas, doctrines and health systems have failed.  It states that its system alone can raise its followers to superhuman levels of ability and power, improve their intelligence to supergenius level, and even give them the ability to raise the dead.

Hubbard issued a directive, which every Scientologist must accept as truth:  “The whole agonized future of this planet, every Man, Woman and Child on it, and your own destiny for the next endless trillions of years depend on what you do here and now with and in Scientology. This is a deadly serious activity. And if we miss getting out of the trap now, we may never again have another chance.”  Understandably, this motivates Scientology members to take Hubbard’s words very seriously.  What really is behind these words?

Scientology divides the world into two groups, Gerald continues, Scientologists and wogs (wog is an abusive English words, which literally translates as “Eastern person” and is close in sense to the concepts of “nigger” or “churka”) and it asserts that Scientologists are superior in all respects. Scientology says they are smarter, more open, more capable, and more ethical. Scientology proclaims that its followers are a new supreme race, and all the rest of us are wogs.

Hubbard and Scientology teach that in the wog world there are only good and bad people. The good try to create things, the bad to destroy them.  Other types do not exist, not even the slightest shade of gray.  There is only black and white.  Bad people, or “Suppressive Persons” (SPs), are very dangerous.  They constitute 2.5 percent of the country’s population.  Scientologists call people who are in some way or another connected to SPs “Potential Trouble Sources” or “PTS.”  They are also supposedly bad and destructive. The “Suppressive Person” doctrine, in fact, is central to the Scientology worldview.  According to the doctrine, SPs are the cause of all the illness, misfortune and adverse conditions in the world.  SPs are said to be insane, completely ill-intentioned and incurable.  Allegedly, Suppressive persons are continually committing crimes and should be denied human rights. Scientology says it has the only technology for identifying SPs. It even sells courses in how to do it. This technology, Scientologists are convinced, is absolutely scientific and is the result of Hubbard’s scientific research.  Scientology uses, promotes and sells a method for dealing with SPs after their detection and exposure. This includes their destruction (literally their shattering). One of the courses the sect teaches is called “How to Confront and Shatter Suppression.”  It goes without saying how dangerous the practices of this totalitarian sect are.  In essence, “Suppressive Persons” are those people the Scientology sect considers its enemies, says Gerald Armstrong.

It would not be amiss to say that any person who does not accept Scientology would be a “suppressive person.”

Given that we are now preparing this article with you, we would be SPs?

It would not be amiss to say that any person who does not accept Scientology would be a “suppressive person.”

Given that we are now preparing this article with you, we would be SPs?

Yes, and Scientology says it has the right, according to Hubbard’s teachings, to carry out so-called “fair game” procedures against us.  Gerald Armstrong writes that it states in a specially issued directive that “fair game” means that any Scientologist may deprive “suppressive persons” of property and harm them by any means.  They may be deceived, sued, lied to and physically destroyed.  It should be said that in the West the Scientology “fair game” policy has been debated in courts and administrative organs for decades.  It has been harshly criticized in the mass media.  Today, Scientologists claim that they stopped this “game” nearly 30 years ago.  But Gerald Armstrong says the truth is that “fair game” remains their policy and practice to this day.  The only people against whom Scientology applies “fair game” are those who oppose their lying, fraud and criminality.  These are doctors, psychologists, priests, teachers and journalists.

Thus, it is safe to say that Scientology is fighting against the healthy part of society.

But why does this sect call itself a church?

Many overseas organizations claim the status of church to avoid paying taxes or to gain privileges.  Scientology follows this practice as well.

In Russia there are well-known scandals associated with the sect evading tax payments.  During its entire history Scientology has had conflicts with the tax authorities.

Back in 1974, the cult declared war on the US IRS.  The initial targets of Scientology spy operations were tax administration offices in Washington and Los Angeles, as well as in London.  According to testimony of former Scientologists, in 1973 Hubbard wrote a program “Snow White,” which became operational in early 1974 and failed on July 8, 1977, due to the alertness and capable actions of nearly 150 FBI agents. The objectives of the Snow White program were to be achieved by infiltration, theft of documents and covert operations.  For 3 and a half years Hubbard’s Snow White agents and elite Guardian Office intelligence service staff (it is part of the Scientology structures) had access to a wealth of government records on Hubbard and the church, and they copied them.  They also put disinformation in various files.  Among the first documents stolen were files on California Governor Edmond Brown Jr., Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and singer Frank Sinatra.

According to material from Gerald Armstrong, Ron Hubbard’s former personal archivist, there is an Intelligence Bureau “B-1” that was part of the Guardian Office.  It was formed by Ron Hubbard on the intelligence principles developed by Nazi spy Reinhard Gehlen.

Scientology has its own spy network, but also hires detectives and other professionals. The cult uses the methods of intelligence services to obtain information: from open sources to illegally obtained information by techniques like infiltration, burglary, theft and extortion.  It has departments of security and counterintelligence, departments for external affairs, and a network of covert agents.  The cult collects information on people at all different levels of society. From the highest political leaders, industrialists, the entertainment industry, doctors, down to the most ordinary people.

In 1977, 150 FBI agents raided the offices of Scientology’s intelligence bureau in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.  They obtained overwhelming evidence that agents of the organization had entered more than a hundred American public institutions and federal agencies and stole documents from them.  Eleven Scientologists, including Hubbard’s wife, were arrested in this case, convicted and sentenced to prison terms.

Oleg, it’s hard to believe that the people in the Novosibirsk organizations that you have been speaking about intend to physically destroy the opponents of Scientology.

We understand this, so it was important to provide a full picture of the conditions that exist in the Scientology sect.  Now about the Novosibirsk organizations.  What we are saying is that these organizations (including the Small Business Development Center, the Business Club, the School of Economic Journalism, and the Modern School of Sales), certainly are under Scientology’s influence.  We cannot say that these are Scientology organizations, but we can say that the people in leadership positions in these organizations, especially Tamara Apashko and Nonna Barkhatova, are WISE consultants.

What does this mean for our region?  It means that these people intend to bring foreign WISE consultants to the various workshops and training sessions for representatives of business.  It means that a large number of our region’s influential people are coming into their sphere of interest.  Taking the list on their web site, these include the BFK company, the Novolit company, various hotels, the Karavan trade center, the Clear Water company, the Eurodoors Salon, four insurance companies, real estate agencies, the former Sibakadem Bank now URSA Bank, the Siberian Financial Group, Siberian Bank of Russia, the Urban Investment Bank, Sibirtelecom, MTS in Novosibirsk, Megafon, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in Novosibirsk, Autoradio-Novosibirsk, Rembyttekhnika and others.  In all, more than 80 companies and enterprises.

Do WISE staff claim that all these companies and businesses send them their employees for training?

Yes, they state this, and law enforcement agencies have verified the truth of these statements.  Those who go for consultations here in our region are then invited to continue their training abroad.  According to former Scientology sect members, up to 40 percent of the people who go to WISE seminars and training become Scientologists.

What does this in turn mean?  It means that Scientology is growing stronger in our region.  It means that this dangerous sect is getting “its people” into various echelons of business and government.

You say that WISE is linked to Scientology, and with various Scientology centers?  How can this be proven?

Recently a book was published Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? written by Bent Corydon, who gave Scientology nearly 20 years of his life.  This man, as well many others who leave the cult despite the pressure exerted on them, spoke out about the evil that is Scientology.  The book tells how Scientology has been able to silence so many people.  Among them are Hubbard’s son, Ron Hubbard, Jr., his daughter, and many other well-known people who broke away from the Scientology cult.  Nevertheless Bent Corydon acquired and published 246 pages of the book.  It is this book that gives a figure of 40 percent for people who attend WISE “administrative technology” seminars and become cult members.

What danger does this “technology” pose for businesses and industry in Russia?

Take for instance the Moscow fan company, Moven, Inc., which began using Hubbard’s administrative technology.  This is a good example showing how dangerous Hubbard’s theory is in practice.  Moven president Alexander Mironov took his first training courses abroad, at a cost of 6 thousand dollars.  Mironov became a staunch supporter of Hubbard’s administrative technology in his enterprise, while at the factory many were opposed to it.  With the introduction of Hubbard’s methods, the lives of the management team became strictly controlled and closed to outside observation.  A stricter military-style command was imposed. Any dissent was suppressed. Denunciations, reporting and almost institutionalized surveillance were practiced and encouraged. For the slightest infractions, social benefits were cut and salaries were reduced.  At the same time, the business paid money to the Hubbard Center for various seminars.  Large sums went for business trips and travel to the US.  At first, the Moven president transferred 6 thousand dollars for his own two-week study of the technology in Sweden.  Then another 100 million rubles for his deputies’ studies.  Later another 200 million was transferred to the Scientology organization.  The factory introduced a mandatory system of written reports, including reports on oneself as well as others.  And those inside say it was necessary to report the intimate details of their lives.  Managers read the reports and then discussed them at an “ethics court.” This is something akin to our “comrade courts” from a bygone era.  Not writing a report, or to refusing to inform, also meant being called to the court. The system of accusations and self-reporting at Moven used as many staff as were employed in the workplace.  As a result, skilled workers were dismissed to make employees accept the Hubbard technologies.  Then Moven president Mironov tried to introduce a system of trade secrecy to make it impossible for dismissed employees to work in their specialty for six years.  On January 25, 1995 Mironov was killed in his own office.  Costs to the company to introduce the technology were almost a billion rubles.  Much of this money went to the Hubbard College.

We’ve seen a list of participants in WISE seminars and noticed dozens of very reputable firms.  Can it be assumed that representatives of these firms have no idea of the fact that they are in the Scientology education machine?

I have an e-mail to me that was sent on behalf of the Novosibirsk Small Business Development Center.  The letter did not mention that the invitation was to a WISE training seminar.  It simply says the trainer’s name is Michael Bang, and the invitation is to the training class “Effective Sales DeLuxe.”  It says he is an international businessman, a consultant with 30 years of personal sale experience, the holder of the title “best salesman in the world in the 1990s,” founder of the International School of Sales in Great Britain, and so on.  It says that in Novosibirsk Michael Bang has visited over 500 companies, among them such well-known firms as First Construction Fund, Novolit, Center of French Linen, Megafon, Gazprombank, etc.  There is no mention of the fact that all this is WISE.  And unsuspecting managers can send their subordinates to enhance their skills in business or they may attend the seminar themselves.

The statements we make are primarily on the basis of their own testimony.  I have a printout from the web page of the Hubbard Institute for Management made 28 September 2004.  This document says that the Hubbard Institute for Management held a working meeting of institute managers, Director of WISE-CIS Vladimir Kuropiatnik, President of WISE-Europe George Aslanis, and the Director of the Novosibirsk Small Business Development Center Nonna Barkhatova.  Nonna was in Moscow for her election as President of the Association of Entrepreneurs for Honest Business.

What would seem to be wrong?  But quoting the text from the site further: “At the meeting, issues of cooperation in the Siberian region were discussed.”  Nonna commented that “the level of professionalism and the quality as human beings of the WISE consultants who came to Novosibirsk at the Center’s invitation distinguished them favorably from other consultants and trainers.”  She also pointed out that “university students were well-acquainted with these WISE consultants, because they are our long-time partners.  This includes stars like Michael Bang, Marten Runow, Patrick Valtin and others.”

This meeting took place in 2004 at the Hubbard Institute in Moscow.  And it was later again reported in WISE documents that a Klaus Hilgers, who is a WISE trainer, thanked the WISE consultants. He listed all the consultants in various cities, and among them was Nonna Barkhatova from Novosibirsk.  Thus, as shown from open sources, she is a WISE consultant.  Once again, I would remind you that this is the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises.

Another regrettable fact is that the Novosibirsk School of Young People’s Business has put Nonna Barkhatova on its board.  This raises the prospect of the emergence of Hubbard technology at the school.  The school searches for young people with business ideas.  This goal is the school’s mission and, consequently, people capable in business will be taught Hubbard’s technology.  In any case, this is safe to assume.  One thing in particular to know in order to understand Hubbard structures: they are never passive.  We are alarmed by the fact that the Young People’s School of Business will be subordinated to the interests of the Hubbard College, or, the same thing, that a destructive organization will use its premises.

Oleg Vladimirovich, what can be done in this situation?

We want to highlight the problem and bring it to the attention of law enforcement and to certain people in the power structures. We are talking about a national threat to Russia as a whole, and in our region in particular.  We want to warn that in the structures that are very close to Scientology this is not harmless.  Understandably, leaders in these structures do not know they are available as catalysts for Ron Hubbard.  We have become aware that in this area today there is a tendency to conceal membership.  People who have left Scientology have been telling us for more than two years that Ron Hubbard’s followers are instructed not to emphasize the fact that they have any relation to the Scientology structures.

This suggests that the Hubbardists understand: public opinion has shifted downward toward rejection of Scientology, and people’s dalliance in destructive cults in society is beginning to diminish.  We already told you about people who go to the initial seminar in Novosibirsk subsequently being invited abroad.  It’s very interesting to read what people who have taken these Scientology courses write.  For example, the general director of the Novosibirsk Oktyabrskaya poultry farm writes: “I have to arrange such training for company employees.”  Thus there may be cases where upper management makes subordinates study Scientology technology.  In fact, this goes for all of Hubbard’s technology. That’s the way it was at Moven.

Alexander Okonishnikov, “Chestnoe Slovo:”

“The Scientology organization uses mental manipulation and psychological terror to subjugate people and make them dependent.  It is also suspected of using criminal methods to attain its totalitarian goals.  This is unwanted in a democratic society.  For the protection of citizens and society its endeavors must be combated by all legal means.”  This was stated by Doctor Günther Beckstein, Interior Minister of Bavaria, Germany.  He has long been concerned with the problem.  Speaking in the Reichstag, he said that Scientology is a criminal, money-laundering cartel.

Just a couple of decades ago, the US Government waged an intense fight against the Scientology cult.  Recently, however, the situation has changed a little.  Now in the US, the Scientologists are given maximum preference.  And it’s the opposite for those who expose Scientology.  For example, the California Court has prohibited Gerald Armstrong from not only talking about his experiences in the cult, but even from publicly saying words such as “Scientology,” “Hubbard” and “Dianetics.”  For each violation of this prohibition he must pay a penalty of 50,000 dollars.

What is the reason for such a striking change?  Specialists in destructive sects, in particular a Belgian MP, the director of the Belgian Parliamentary Commission for illegal sect activity Serge Moureaux believes that today the CIA is using Scientology for its own purposes.  In 1991, an FBI chief said in a Time Magazine interview:  In my opinion, Scientology has one of the most effective intelligence services in the US, which rivals even the FBI.”  Serge Moureaux said: “The American Embassy in Belgium had orders to protect the interests of the Scientologists.  The CIA’s cooperation with Scientology is now a virtually settled fact.

This means that files on all the participants of the many WISE seminars can be found not only in the headquarters of the Scientology Church, but also in the headquarters of the CIA.  Many of the questionnaires that Scientology disseminates contain issues that verge on secrecy.  For example, “Have you served in an army unit or government agency that required a security clearance?” “Are you or your members of your family connected (or have been connected in the past) with intelligence organizations?”  We agree that recruitment of new members of Scientology from among businessmen, students, journalists and government officials, together with the collection of confidential information is a threat to the national security of Russia.

Notes