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David Miscavige
It would be difficult indeed to understand the modern Church of Scientology without first examining its leader. David Miscavige was born to less-than-observant Roman Catholic parents on April 30, 1960 in Philadelphia. The youngest of four children, David suffered from various childhood ailments, including asthma and severe allergies, which kept him from accomplishing various athletic and academic goals. In the midst of young David's health problems, his father - Ron Miscavige, Sr - became interested in Scientology. This interest led to David being sent to a Scientologist auditor. According to David Miscavige, the 45-minute Dianetics session cured all of his various ailments. The family was so impressed by Scientology that they moved to the world headquarters in Saint Hill Manor, England.
Miscavige officially joined Scientology in 1971. He soon left high school to join the elite Sea Organization (seaorg.html), where within a year he was working directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films. Hubbard appointed him to the Commodore's Messenger Organization (childlabor.html), a group of young underage teenagers who were responsible for enforcing Hubbard's policies within the individual Scientology organizations. His ambitions propelled him quickly through the ranks, and 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.
In the midst of the fallout from Operation Snow White, it was Miscavige who convinced Mary Sue Hubbard - L Ron's wife - to resign from the Guardian's Office - the Church's intelligence agency, whose tactics are often compared by former members to the Nazi SS. In addition, it was Miscavige who personally removed the Guardian's Office from the church's organization, replacing it with The Office of Special Affairs (OSA).
After the closure of the Guardian's Office, Miscavige resigned from the church - at least technically - and set up a new organizational structure for Scientology that was intended to release Hubbard from any personal liability, thus ensuring that Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue, would take the fall for Operation Snow White. In the process, Miscavige set up the Religious Technology Center, tasked with licensing Scientology's intellectual property rights. In October 1982 Miscavige required all Scientology Missions to enter new trademark contracts which established new fees and stricter policies on the proper use of Scientology materials. Not only was MIscavige rescuing Hubbard from personal liability, but he was systematically creating a strict system of control and enforcement over the entirety of the Church of Scientology.
It was Miscavige who made the first announcement of L Ron Hubbard's death in 1986, in an address to Sea Org members who had been assembled in the Hollywood Palladium. Despite Hubbard issuing an order shortly before his death that promoted his wife Mary Sue and Scientologist Pat Broeker to Loyal Officer - thus making them the highest-ranking members - within a year Miscavige somehow became the Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center. One of his first acts as chairman was to nullify the promotion order, thus firmly establishing himself as the ecclesiastical leader of the Church of Scientology.
When the transition from Hubbard to Miscavige took place, many who have since left the church have said there was a dramatic difference within the organization almost overnight. Many have said that instantly, any fun and openness that had been a part of the organization previously disappeared, and all the paranoid control that had existed in the shadows became more and more prominent. Many of the original members of Scientology have since left, stating Miscavige as the tipping point of their decision to leave the organization.
Slowly over the past two decades, Miscavige has been making himself more and more visible as the head of the Church of Scientology. He's a close personal friend of Tom Cruise, and was the best man at Cruise's 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. Miscavige attempts to project a very macho, confident, forceful image to the public and to the members of the church. But unfortunately, the many stories from those within the inner sanctum of the modern Church of Scientology, create a much darker picture. There have been many accounts - including personal testimonies from victims - that Miscavige often goes into rages inside the offices of the church's headquarters, has allegedly abused underlings through physical beatings and emotional manipulation, and there have even been alleged incidents when individuals who dared question his leadership or policies had been consigned to a fate inside the Rehabilitation Project Force, the manual labor prison camps run by the organization.
It would be impossible to go into all of the details here, but I would urge you to investigate this for yourself and read further information regarding David Miscavige and what he has done to reshape the Church of Scientology in his own image. For a more personal glimpse at David Miscavige, I would highly recommend the 1992 Nightline interview presented by Ted Koppel. It's a brilliant example of Miscavige's domineering personality and his attempts at projecting an image of power and unrelenting machismo. The interview is available in its entirety free online at XenuTV.com.
Detailed Information & Additional Resources:
• Xenu-Directory.net: David Miscavige
• Wikipedia: David Miscavige
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