Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 14:15, 2 March 2009

David Miscavige (born April 30, 1960) is chairman of the board of Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology, and "holds the ultimate ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard’s religious technologies." Although Religious Technology Center is a separate corporation from the Church of Scientology, Miscavige is officially described as "worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion." In January 2008, when questioned about the allegation that Tom Cruise was second in command of the Church, Elliot Abelson, general counsel for the Church of Scientology stated: "The only person who runs the Church and makes policy decisions is David Miscavige." He also oversees the application of Scientology tech by affiliate programs Narconon, Criminon and Applied Scholastics, which are legally separate from the church but operate under license from RTC.

Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard while still a teenager, and rose to a leadership position within the organization by the early 1980s. He was named Chairman of the Board RTC in 1987, some months after Hubbard's death. Although Miscavige's position is paramount within current scientology, it cannot be compared to the one once held by L. Ron Hubbard. Miscavige's role is officially that of "protector", whereas Hubbard was the originator and founder of the movement.

Among Scientologists, Miscavige is often referred to simply as "DM" or "C.O.B." (Chairman of the Board). He reportedly lives at Scientology's Gold Base, which is also the main RTC headquarters, near Hemet, California.

Biography

David Miscavige was born in Philadelphia to Loretta and Ron Miscavige Sr. and he was the youngest of their four children. The Polish-Italian family was Roman Catholic, but not very observant. One sister is Denise Licciardi who in 2002 was hired by Bryan Zwan as a top executive for the Clearwater, Florida-based company Digital Lightwave. His older brother is Ronnie Miscavige, who for a time was also in the Sea Organization but who left the Church of Scientology in 2000 and is now in the real estate business as Managing Broker of the Williamsburg office of Long & Foster.

Miscavige suffered from childhood ailments as well as allergies, which kept him from accomplishing athletic and academic goals. During this time his father, a trumpet player, became interested in Scientology. Ron Miscavige Sr.'s interest in Scientology led him to have the boy sent to a Scientologist. According to him and his son, the 45-minute Dianetics session cured his ailments. The family was impressed enough by Scientology to move to the world headquarters in Saint Hill Manor, England.

Scientology

Miscavige joined Scientology in 1971. In 1976 he left high school and joined the Sea Organization. In 1977 he worked directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films. Hubbard appointed him to the Commodore's Messenger Organization, responsible for enforcing Hubbard's policies within the individual Scientology organizations. In 1981 he was placed in charge of the Watchdog Committee and the All Clear Unit, tasked with handling the various legal claims against Hubbard. He persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign from the Guardian's Office (GO), deposed several GO officers through ethics proceedings, and removed the GO from the church's organization.

After closing the Guardian's Office, Miscavige set up a new organizational structure for Scientology that would release Hubbard from any personal liability. He set up the Religious Technology Center, tasked with licensing Scientology's intellectual property, and Author Services Inc. to manage the proceeds. The Church of Spiritual Technology was created at the same time with an option to repurchase all of RTC's intellectual property rights. In October 1982 Miscavige required all Scientology Missions to enter new trademark usage contracts which established stricter policies on the proper use of Scientology materials.

In 1981 Mary Sue Hubbard, at that time second only to L. Ron Hubbard himself in Scientology's hierarchy, was appealing her prison sentence for her part in Operation Snow White, and she began to face criticism from within the Scientology organization. The St. Petersburg Times, in the 1998 article "The Man Behind Scientology," states: "During two heated encounters, Miscavige persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign. Together they composed a letter to Scientologists confirming her decision -- all without ever talking to L. Ron Hubbard." According to Miscavige, he and Mary Sue Hubbard remained friends thereafter.

Miscavige made the first announcement of L. Ron Hubbard's death in 1986, speaking to Sea Org members assembled in the Hollywood Palladium. Shortly before Hubbard's death, an apparent order from him circulated in the Sea Org that promoted Scientologist Pat Broeker and his wife to the new rank of Loyal Officer, making them the highest-ranking members. Miscavige became the Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center the following year. One of his acts as chairman was to cancel the promotion order, establishing himself as the ecclesiastical leader of the religion.

In a 1994 declaration, David Miscavige described his career path and his activities as the Church of Scientology staff member and executive as follows:

" 4. I have been a practicing member of the Scientology religion since 1971. In 1976, I joined staff of the Church of Scientology of California (and the Sea organization - the Scientology religious order). During my tenure in this corporation, I held many positions. In 1977, I had the opportunity to work directly with L. Ron Hubbard in many different capacities. In 1978, Mr. Hubbard was engaged in the production of Scientology films which had the purpose of training Scientology counsellors (called 'auditors') in the practice of Scientology. During this time I was the Chief Cameraman. Later, I worked directly with Mr. Hubbard as a member of the Commodore's Messenger Organization ('CMO'), which duties consisted of assisting Mr. Hubbard in whatever activities he was engaged in. The functions are best described as an assistant. Later, when Mr. Hubbard went into seclusion to continue his researches on Dianetics and Scientology, and to engage in his own writings, I became part of a newly formed CMO organization, CMO International.

"5. CMO International's role was to see that the management of the Church operated in accordance with Scientology policy and technology. The title of my position was Action Chief. In short , this post was responsible for missionaire activities of the Church, where personnel from the Mother Church would travel to different parts of the world to see to the proper operation of various Church activities and to take corrective action where necessary. The types of missions I generally supervised were those that saw to the correct functioning of the Church management and the correction thereof.

"6. From the beginning of 1982 until March of 1987, I was chief Executive Officer and later Chairman of the Board of Author Services, Inc. ('ASI'), a California corporation which managed the personal, business, and literary affairs of L. Ron Hubbard.

"7. Since March of 1987, I have been Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center ('RTC'),

"9. As Chairman of the Board, the most senior position in RTC, I am uniquely interested in the standard application of the Scripture of Scientology I inspect and correct departures from the standard application of the Scripture of the religion. I also ensure that any attempted perversion of the technology of Dianetics and Scientology rapidly dealt with,

"10. In the course of my duties I travel widely. I often appear at Church events and briefings In all such appearances, my position as Chairman of the Board of RTC is known, as is its distinction from actual Church management officials of CSI . I also oversee the affairs of the Religious Technology Center in its function of verifying that the source writings of the religion are kept pure. I also oversee RTC's function of assuring that the trademarks of Dianetics and Scientology are legally registered and kept current in over 190 countries around the world. "

Tax advocacy

In 1993 after lengthy negotiations an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service was reached on its treatment of the Church of Scientology. In 1991 Miscavige, with Mark Rathbun, had gone to IRS headquarters to meet with the Commissioner Fred Goldberg, which led to a two year review process (in which IRS tax analysts were ordered to ignore the substantive issues because the issues had been resolved prior to review), and ultimately, tax exemption for the Church of Scientology International and its organizations in the US. Later, in 1997, the church issued a statement denying its own "impromptu meeting" version of events, which the IRS and Goldberg declined to comment on.

In 1990, David Miscavige founded the organization Citizens for an Alternative Tax System. In 1997 the group was challenging the US tax system.

Personal life

According to his official Scientology biography, David Miscavige's hobbies are riding motorcycles, fishing, snorkeling and underwater photography.

Miscavige has been married since 1981 to Shelly (Michelle) Miscavige, née Barnett, who also serves as his official assistant. They have no children.

Miscavige served as best man in his friend Tom Cruise's 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

Public contact

Although he is often a speaker at major Scientology openings, award ceremonies and related events, Miscavige has rarely spoken to the press.

In his first media appearance, in 1992, Miscavige was interviewed at length by Ted Koppel of ABC News. During the near-hour long appearance, Miscavige identified what he considered to be misconceptions about Scientology and condemned recent criticism of the Church as unfounded and bigoted. Miscavige also addressed the issue of extraterrestrial beliefs in Scientology, dismissing them as no different from the beliefs of any other religion. When played an audio recording of L. Ron Hubbard describing a visit to the Van Allen belt, Miscavige rejected it as " part of current Scientology."

In 1998, Miscavige gave his sole newspaper interview to the St. Petersburg Times.; and later that year, he appeared in an A&E "Investigative Reports" installment called "Inside Scientology" which aired in December.

Criticism and controversies

• In a 1982 probate case, Ronald DeWolf, Hubbard's estranged son, accused Miscavige of embezzling from and manipulating his father. Hubbard denied this in a written statement, saying that his business affairs were being well managed by Author Services Inc., of which Miscavige was the Chairman of the Board. The case was dismissed on June 27, 1983.

• Former Scientology staffers, including Lawrence Brennan, Jeff Hawkins, Stacy Young, and Marc Headley, have alleged that Miscavige physically and emotionally abuses his subordinates, including high-ranking executives. Church representatives have consistently denied such accusations.
  • Hawkins, a senior marketing executive in the Church, claimed that Miscavige had physically assaulted him at an executive meeting in 2002, and, on other occasions, had punched him in his stomach and hit him on the head
  • Young, the wife of Hubbard's former public relations spokesman Vaughn Young and Miscavige's former secretary, has claimed that Miscavige emotionally tormented staff members on a regular basis during her tenure. "His viciousness and his cruelty to staff was unlike anything that I had ever experienced in my life...He just loved to degrade the staff," Young said in a 1995 ITV interview. "He got a kick out of it. He thought it was funny. Anybody who didn't think it was funny, like I didn't, was very suspect."

• On January 25, 2008, Miscavige's niece and Scientology critic Jenna Miscavige Hill claimed in a letter to Church spokesperson Karin Pouw that disconnection was a current practice within the Church. Hill was responding to recent official statements denying this and other claims made in Andrew Morton's Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography.

References

1. Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The man behind Scientology". part 4. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography (accessed 2007-05-08)
3. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography, page 2 (accessed 2007-05-08)
4. Behar, Richard The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power Time Magazine May 6, 1991 page 50
5. Tapper, James (2008-01-07). "Diana author names Tom Cruise as 'World Number Two in Scientology'". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
6. Young, Robert Vaughn Scientology from inside out, Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.
7. Hoffman, Claire Tom Cruise and Scientology, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005
8. Lewis, James R. (2004). Controversial New Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN 0195156838.
9. ^ Sappell, Joel (1990-06-24). "The Man In Control". Los Angeles Times. p. A41:4. Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Additional convenience link at .
10. Reitman, Janet Inside Scientology Rolling Stone, Issue 995. March 9, 2006. Page 57.
11. ^ Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The man behind Scientology". part 2. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. O'Neil, Deborah (June 2, 2002). "The CEO and his church: Months of interviews and thousands of pages of court papers show the effect that influential church members had on a Clearwater company that was a darling of the dot-com boom". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg Times. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
13. Atack, Jon (1990). "Chapter Four—The Young Rulers". [[A Piece of Blue Sky]]. Lyle Stuart. p. 448. ISBN 0-8184-0499-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
14. http://ronmiscavige.lnfre.com/falcon/webui/lnfwelcomepage.aspx
15. ^ Jacobsen, Jonny (2008-01-28). "Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography". AFP. Google News. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. ^ Lamont, Stewart (1986). Religion Inc.
17. SO ED 2104 INT "The Flow Up The Bridge, The US Mission Holders Conference, San Francisco 1982," transcript, page 1
18. "Mystery of the Vanished Ruler". TIME. 1983-01-31. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. Miller, Russell (1987). "22. Missing, Presumed Dead". Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (First American Edition ed.). New York: Henry Holt & Co. pp. 305–306. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
20. Atack, Jon (1990). A Piece of Blue Sky.
21. "Flag Order 3879 Cancelled". 1988-04-18. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
22. RTC web site http://www.rtc.org/board/pg002.html
23. Declaration of David Miscavige, Church of Scientology International vs. Steven Fishman & Uwe Geertz, Case No. CV 91-6426 (HLH (Tx), U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Riverside County, February 8th, 1994
24. Frantz, Douglas (1997-03-09). "Scientology's Puzzling Journey From Tax Rebel to Tax Exempt". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
25. Frantz, Douglas (1997-03-19). "Scientology Denies an Account Of an Impromptu I.R.S. Meeting". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
26. The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 1997
27. "Cruise and Holmes go on honeymoon". BBC News. 2006-11-19. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
28. Inauguración de la Iglesia Nacional de Scientology de España, Keynote Address at the Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology New York (accessed August 3, 2006)
29. Koppel, Ted, Nightline, David Miscavige interview of February 14, 1992; Official ABC News Transcripts TV Broadcast, hosted on YouTube
30. Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The Man Behind Scientology". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2008-01-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
31. A & E Investigative Reports: "Inside Scientology"], December 14, 1998
32. Miller, Russell (1987). [[Bare-faced Messiah]], The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help) Page 369.
33. "Public radio interview with Jefferson Hawkins". The Edge. WXYB AM 1520 Tampa, FL. 2008-03-06.
34. url=http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/selling_scientology/Content?oid=862344%7Caccessdate=2008-08-10}}
35. "Inside the Cult", ITV's The Big Story, 1995

Media

• Barnes, John (1984-10-28). "Sinking the Master Mariner". Sunday Times Magazine. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Koff, Stephen (1988-12-22). "Scientology church faces new claims of harassment". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Sappell, Joel (1990-06-24). "The Mind Behind the Religion". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Koppel, Ted (1992-02-14). "Scientology Leader Gave ABC First-Ever Interview". Nightline. ABC News. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
• "Scientologists sue church for $1-billion". St. Petersburg Times. 1987-01-01. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Intimidating the IRS". Editorial. St. Petersburg Times. 1997-03-11. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Morgan, Lucy (1998-01-28). "Hardball". Special Report. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The man behind Scientology". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Kennedy, Dominic (2007-06-23). "‘Church’ that yearns for respectability". The Times. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• RTC, David Miscavige presentation
• Official Church resources for Miscavige

• 1960 births
• American Scientologists
• Italian-Americans
• Leaders of Scientology
• Living people
• People from Philadelphia
• Americans of Polish descent
• Underwater photographers