He was in Scientology’s highest circles, but when he left he paid the price so many do

When we left off on Tuesday, Peter Reichelt and Klaus Büchele were discussing Klaus’s involvement in the highest levels of Scientology’s Guardian’s Office and its successor, the Office of Special Affairs. Klaus emphasized how, in these secret power networks and intelligence agencies, information was compartmentalized so that any individual might know very little about what others were doing. But if one person knew everything about Scientology’s cover operations, smear campaigns, and dirty tricks schemes, Klaus said, it was top OSA operative Linda Hamel in Los Angeles.

Peter: I first heard the name Linda Hamel through you recently. And I have been researching OSA since the 90s. But I have never come across this woman before.

Klaus: Yes, I know. But that’s how it works. And that’s why I always emphasize that when I talk to people. Hamel is the Achille’s Heel of OSA. Because she’s a woman who basically knows all the dirty stuff about OSA. But she might not admit it. But I’m telling you, this woman knows it all.

Peter: Yes, I’m sure she must know. Did you sit with them at the HGB? In which OSA floor was that? Did they all have their own room or did they sit in an open-plan office?

Klaus: No, no, no. The twelfth floor is a large floor. And OSA was spread over two floors. The tenth floor was where all the legal stuff was. And there’s a library, a law library, a conference room. And the OSA lawyers, for example Rick Moxon, were on the tenth floor, and there was a separate office wing on the tenth floor with four or five lawyers’ offices and their own conference room. And then there is a staircase, a stairway. You can walk past the eleventh floor, the Miscavige floor, and have direct access to the twelfth floor, and Heber Jentzsch, Kurt Weiland, and I and Linda Hamel were on the twelfth floor, for example. On the twelfth floor, on every other floor of the HGB, there are at least ten offices and a conference room as well as a separate reception.

Peter: And each of you had your own office where you could close the door?

Klaus: Yes, more or less, yes.

Peter: The CIC, the Command Information Center, or Control Information Center, was also on the twelfth floor?

Klaus: Yes, CIC. We also called it the Data Office back then. That’s the department where all the archives are, where everything is archived, where everything is analyzed, and the Data Office is part of the OSA Intelligence Office. That’s the department of it. It depends on the period in which you look at it. For a while it was a separate office and then it wasn’t. But yes, all the classified files are stored entirely on the twelfth floor. So if the FBI wants to successfully conduct a police raid, then the twelfth floor of the HGB is the right place to confiscate the secret files of all the dirty tricks missions carried out.

Peter: While you were running the Germany campaign, Miscavige actually gave a print interview to “Profil” magazine, an Austrian magazine, in 1994. How did that come about?

Klaus: It was very bad for us. I was then the scapegoat and had to spoon up the soup. That was a big flap for us. Miscavige was pissed off later. The Austrian journalist came to Los Angeles to meet us and to interview Miscavige. I was there also. My name is also in the later article mentioned. That’s an important magazine in Austria. Weiland and I were interviewed on the 11th floor of the HGB building.

[Scientology’s Hollywood Guaranty Building (HGB) in Los Angeles]

Peter: So the Profil journalists from Vienna flew to Los Angeles and interviewed you and Weiland. And why did you allow that?

Klaus: We believed that this would somehow end well. But the journalists somehow twisted everything. And that ended as a big flap. They interviewed us in Miscavige’s conference room on the 11th floor for an hour or two.

Peter: And why did you even go into the holy halls of Miscavige?

Klaus: Well, we had access there. It wasn’t so sacred for us. If we wanted to, we could get access there. And it was just a nice conference room. We tried to impress the visitors there.

Peter: But Miscavige wasn’t there. He didn’t show up.

Klaus: Nope, certainly not. He was later interviewed by the journalist. I was not there. And that was the big flap, that it didn’t come out positive for us. And I was kind of guilty of that. I was responsible for Germany at the time. And I somehow believed that it would help us. But it didn’t work out that way.

The campaign against Germany went on over two years under my leadership, I think. And then it was disbanded. I was actually against it ending because I had the feeling that we were making good progress. Mike Rinder informed me of the dissolution of the task force, I think in 1995/1996. That was when Gottfried Helnwein was with us in Los Angeles at the HGB for a meeting. We took Helnwein, Mike Rinder and I, to the airport in LAX after the OSA meeting and on the way back to the HGB I was alone in the car with Mike and he told me that “my” Germany Task Force was to be dissolved. It was to be integrated into the normal OSA organization. Then I said, that’s nonsense, we’re making great progress. But Rinder said the decision had been made and then I went back to the OSA legal office for a few months. That must have been at the end of 1996. So the task force existed for about 2 years.

Peter: Why did you personally take Helnwein to the airport in Los Angeles?

Klaus: He was in the HGB at the time.

Peter: You discussed with him what his future role in the fight against Germany should be?

Klaus: Yes, of course. That was the purpose of meeting with him, that was always the purpose. Who do you know? What can you do for us? Who do you know in Washington D.C.? And then he’ll just tell us everything, who he knows where and how he can help. And that’s how he practically becomes an OSA man.

Peter: Then Helnwein was an OSA man for many years.

Klaus: Yes, that’s right. You could say that. Regardless of whether he has a contract with OSA or not, he has always worked for OSA. If he has an assignment like that, from me or from Linda Hamel, then of course we expect him to call us daily, or at least weekly, but more likely daily when it comes to important meetings, for example in Washington D.C., that he then calls us in the evening and reports back. So in this respect, he is completely an OSA man.

Back then, I had a lot to do in Germany and could do what I wanted because I was solely responsible for the whole project. That didn’t suit Miscavige. He was always like that. He always had a good nose for when someone was becoming too strong a link in the organization and might even be dangerous to him. And then they were out of the picture pretty quickly. Just like Putin shuts down people who could be dangerous to him. That’s how Miscavige got to where he is now. And that’s why Rinder and Rathbun are out too. The two became too dangerous for him. That’s why Kurt Weiland and Heber Jentzsch were out of the picture for over a decade. They knew too much and both had too much influence in the public eye because their names were well known and that didn’t suit Miscavige at all. Then he simply let them disappear and appropriated their power himself.

By the way, now about Austrians. What was the name of the leader of the Freedom Party from Carinthia, the Carinthian who was later killed in a car accident? Oh God, what was his name? He was so famous. The prime minister or the governor. He was the governor of Carinthia. Kurt Weiland and I met with him at the Celebrity Center. But I don’t know how he got there. He was kind of fascist. He was a right-winger. He was a big mover and shaker in Austrian politics. Yes, he was also Vice Chancellor of Austria, I think. He also won important elections. Oh crap, what’s his name? Haider. Jörg Haider.

Peter: But how did he get to OSA in LA?

Klaus: I don’t remember exactly. Kurt came to me and said, “Haider was here. And I’m meeting him shortly afterwards for dinner at the Celebrity Center in Hollywood. Come along,” Weiland said to me. Because I’m Austrian too, of course. Then they brought me over and we had dinner together with Haider. Of course he tried to somehow make power connections in L.A. through us. I remember that was in the summer of 1998.

Peter: I find that very exciting about Jörg Haider. Kurt Weiland calls you from the blue and says, watch out, the most important Austrian politician is currently in L.A. and he’s coming to the Scientology Celebrity Center for lunch. Are you coming?

Klaus: Yes, that’s how it was. But Haider wasn’t the most important person for us at the time. I knew my way around, of course, because I was always involved in European politics. It was part of my job to keep up to date. I already knew what an important position Haider had in Austrian politics. Kurt said, Haider is here, we’re going to dinner, come along. That’s how it went.

Peter: And where was that?

Klaus: That was at the Manor Hotel. In the Celebrity Center. In the restaurant on the first floor.

Peter: What did he want from you, from OSA, from Scientology?

Klaus: Yes, what did Haider want from us? I have no idea. We were just talking nonsense. I don’t know what came of it. I wasn’t interested and I didn’t ask any further questions. But I firmly assumed that Weiland stayed in touch with Haider after that, with the whole thing. That was of course very interesting for us, that we could somehow bring Haider into Scientology. I don’t know whether anything else happened.

Peter: Were you ever on the Freewinds?

Klaus: Yes, I was on the ship once with Leisa Goodman, who was my right-hand woman on the German Task Force. That was in 1994. And that’s when we went on the ship. We also met Wiebke Hansen there.

And there were a lot of rich Scientologists there and we gave them a lecture on what we were doing to save Scientology in Germany. That was our task and how they could help. We spent three or four days on that. It was PR sessions, talks, research and making strategies. Everyone knew Hansen, of course.

Peter: Wiebke Hansen was famous within the organization.

Klaus: Yeah, not anymore. She was famous back then until they found out in 1995 that she was falsifying statistics. After that they put her in the RPF “Happy Valley” for a long time.

I can still remember the helicopter story about you flying over Int Base and Happy Valley looking for her. Was it in 1998? I think so. It happened in passing, not directly over my desk, but OSA is quite small, the OSA team, so of course they talk about everything. I can still remember that there was a flap, OSA calls it a flap, a big PR flap, because a helicopter was flying over Int and the RPF. And of course I immediately paid attention because I heard that some German or Austrian journalist was on the helicopter.

Peter: This story was a huge thing in Europe. A big deal. In the USA too. Even Barbara Walters reported on it in a big way on 20/20 at the time, and OSA then directed actions against me. They published in May 2000 a huge lie story about me in the German edition of Freedom magazine afterwards. Over 50,000 copies of Freedom were distributed in every letterbox in Mannheim, my home town, about me and what a criminal I was. As a special edition. But where did you hear the 1998 story about the helicopter flight? In Los Angeles?

Klaus: Yes, I was still in Los Angeles at the time. I then went to Spain in March 1999 to straighten out the Heber Jentzsch criminal proceedings, to get rid of the charges and close the case once and for all. I had been involved in the Heber Jentzsch criminal proceedings in Spain from the very beginning, since 1989. I had been working on this case for ten years. I was the one, together with my then wife Edith, who finally got Heber out of prison.

Peter: And you lived in Madrid all those years?

Klaus: No, no. The whole disaster with Heber started in 1989. It began in Madrid in November. At the end of November 1989, and Edith went to Madrid first and I followed shortly afterwards. Heber was already in prison. We visited him there. We were six or seven OSA people: PR, Investigations, Legal. First there was Edith and then I was responsible for everything. And then we managed to get Heber out of prison before Christmas, but he wasn’t allowed to leave Spain. His passport was confiscated and we lived in a hotel near the court, 10 or 15 minutes away from the courthouse. We lived there until March 1990.

And in March 1990, with a number of tricks, we managed to get Heber out of Spain. I knew the entire case, of course, because I was there from the beginning, the proceedings in Spain were my business for the next few years. For 10 years, until the year 2000, the whole thing was finally delayed, with all kinds of tactics and strategies on our part, so that we could finally bring the whole thing to a good end for us. I flew to Spain once or twice a year for almost a decade to meet with our lawyers there.

In March 1999, I went back to Spain again, this time for longer, because I saw a good chance for us to finally get rid of the whole criminal case through a settlement. And I worked on that until May 2000, when I had to realize that my ideas and my strategy would not be accepted by Miscavige. My solution was simply that we pay back taxes, because that was an accusation that we hadn’t paid taxes. And I said we would give them half a million dollars in taxes and in return they would wipe everything off the table and close the criminal file. And that was negotiated in secret.

Kurt was my superior at the time and I reported to him every day. Yes, and he couldn’t approve a deal like that on his own. And things like that go straight to Miscavige, of course, because as soon as it involves large sums of money, he has to approve it. I know that because I simply know how it works. I was very frustrated.

And then for my birthday, my 50th birthday, I said to myself, enough is enough, I’m going to take two weeks off and then come back and leave Sea Org. I mean, that’s a very short summary, I told you that in a minute, but it’s much more complicated for me than I’ve explained now.

Peter: And Edith, your wife, was with you in Los Angeles the whole time?

Klaus: Yes, that’s how it was. So, let’s go way back now. Back to 1973, to the org in Munich, where I signed a Sea Org contract. I didn’t know Edith back then. At the end of 1973, the Guardian’s Office hired me. They sent me straight to England for training and I came back from England in 1974 and was fully trained in legal matters. Back then, as I said, Charles Parselle trained me. And then I took over the legal cases for Germany, Austria and Switzerland until the end of 1975, when they promoted me to England. They really wanted me in England. They were our superiors.

If someone says I’m the president of Scientology here in Germany, that doesn’t mean that they really have a lot to say, because in Scientology management is always kept separate from other things. And no matter how you present him to the outside world, e.g. as chairman of the association, internally the lines are often quite different.

OSA is certainly responsible for ensuring that taxes are paid, that the legal rules are adhered to, that the organization itself cannot be attacked because it has not produced the necessary reports to the authorities, etc. But inside, when it comes to the actual Scientology, just like in the Catholic Church, the instructions come from Los Angeles, from International Management. That’s how it was back then. But Miscavige threw that all out the window. That’s why I don’t know how things work there now, because Miscavige has turned the whole church upside down. My wife and I keep shaking our heads at how he manages to pretend that he’s still doing Scientology. Because Scientology today looks totally different, inside and out, than it did in the 70s when Hubbard was still running the show.

Miscavige would be the first person Hubbard would immediately declare a suppressive person. I have absolutely no doubt about that, he breaks all the rules. But that’s why we don’t understand at all how the old Scientologists could agree to this brutal upheaval and even go along with it, after Hubbard had drilled into them so much that nothing about Scientology should ever be changed. The “Keeping Scientology Working Policy” was at the beginning of every course they took, and it’s all about the fact that nothing may be changed in Hubbard’s policies and technology. And Miscavige has thrown all that out the window.

I had had enough. I left in June 2000. I told them I’ll take a two-week vacation whether you like it or not and then come back and route out. And that’s what I did. They looked for me of course but I knew their routine and always stayed a step ahead.

I came back to L.A. afterwards to officially end it. And then they tried for another six months, until the end of 2000, to convince me to go back and do the RPF. But I didn’t want to. They gave up in December 2000 and I left.

It was simply over for me for good. They told me, yes, please, then just go away, OK, we shook hands and said goodbye. I officially left OSA in January 2001.

I then continued as a “public” Scientologist. My new wife was also a public. And when I heard that Mike Rinder was gone, when I heard that Marty Rathbun was gone, that was of course a big surprise for me. I later worked with OSA to spy on Marty. They then tried to infiltrate me. But in the end, the story backfired because I met up with Marty in Texas.

Peter: When was that?

Klaus: That was in 2012. I met with Marty at the beginning of 2012, in January.

Peter: So as a “public” you were actually still a bit of an OSA man?

Klaus: Yes, I still had contact with OSA. And I was still in good standing. But then I read the letter at the beginning of 2012. The letter from her, what’s her name again? It was the famous email. Oh, from the flag chief in Clearwater. Her name is Debbie Cook. Debbie Cook was very highly regarded by everyone, including me. And she really wrote down everything that was wrong under Miscavige, and that was the turning point for me and for many others. After that, I just wanted to visit Marty and talk to him.

Marty was under round-the-clock surveillance by OSA, it was of course discovered that we were visiting him at home. And after that, things happened very quickly. We had an apartment in Clearwater at the time. We had a small real estate company there. After we met Marty and came back to Clearwater, Mike Sutter had already “received” us. Before he called us in, he spoke to my daughter Jasmin. She said to me straight away, you have to sort this out with OSA before you can meet up with us again. I already knew how it was going to go. Then it came to a conversation in the Bank of Clearwater building, where OSA’s headquarters are located in Clearwater. Of course, the interview went totally wrong. I demanded to see the declare on Marty. They refused. I got into Sutter’s face and he kicked us out. And the next day they gave us the Suppressive Person declare. And I haven’t had any contact with my daughter Jasmin since 2012. Very sad.

Peter: You haven’t heard from her since 2012?

Klaus: Yes, we tried again and again, but she refused to have any contact with us. That was insanely difficult for us. It took us ten years to really put that behind us. Those are the bad Scientology stories, how families are torn apart by the organization. We were also very close with her son Kai, who was our first grandchild. We all lived in Clearwater and Kai was always visiting us. Of course, we were always babysitting. From one day to the next it was all gone. She completely cut off all contact from one second to the next. OSA made sure that she put the fear into Jasmin that she would lose her eternity. That’s the big bait of Scientology, that thanks to Scientology auditing you can experience your own eternity and raise your consciousness so high that you are aware of your immortality.

We tried again and again, for birthdays and at Christmas. I know her e-mail address and her phone number. Her husband called us once or twice. He was kind of sorry because he was quite close friends with me. But things haven’t worked out for years. I let her live her life now too. I have to live my own life. I can’t do anything else. I blame myself for my family being torn apart.

Peter: That’s just as sad as Mike Rinder and his son and daughter.

Klaus: Yes, exactly. It’s exactly the same. There are hundreds of other cases of families destroyed by Scientology. They tried to get my other daughter to disconnect but she refused. They also broke up my sister’s family when she refused to disconnect from me.

There are hundreds who are going through all this. That’s so bad. Mike Rinder has chosen to fight Miscavige. I can’t do that because life is just too short.

Peter: Just waging war, you mean?

Klaus: Yes, you get out of a trench and then you go into the next trench. Then you start the next war. Yes, and it never ends. Do you understand? It never ends then.

Peter: Your connection to Marty, your meeting with him, led to you being declared a suppressive person and therefore losing contact with your daughter.

Klaus: Yes, one hundred percent.

Peter: Because the OSA people were monitoring you. Well, not you, but they monitored Marty.

Klaus: Yes, of course. They knew exactly who was coming and who was going. They were right across the street with the cameras and their P.I.s. They had their own apartment opposite him.

Peter: And they filmed you there. Marty knew that.

Klaus: He said, if you come to our place, you’ll be photographed and filmed. He warned me, but I didn’t care. I said to him, I have nothing to hide. I’m a grown man. If they want to take a photo of me on the street with you, you’re my friend. I was kind of naive. I didn’t think that my daughter Jasmin would really break up with me. I thought she’d have a stronger backbone and that she’d say I’m standing by my father. Just like my other daughter did.

Peter: Isn’t Jasmin the wife of the son of the captain of the Scientology ship Freewinds, Mike Napier?

[Freewinds Captain Mike Napier]

Klaus: Yes, Jasmin is married to Sean Napier. His father is Mike Napier. The Napiers have three sons. Sean, August and Jack. And Mike Napier himself is the captain of the Freewinds. He has been for probably 20 years. Sure, even more. Certainly even more. Yes, but that’s one reason why OSA talked to my daughter Jasmin before they talked to me. Because they knew it would go wrong somehow. And of course they didn’t want my son-in-law Sean and Jasmin to stand by me now, because that would have meant a lot more trouble for Scientology. Then Mike Napier would also have had to decide whether to stand by his family or not. And I don’t know, but I imagine that was one of the reasons why they talked to Jasmin before they talked to me and “declared” us afterwards.

Peter: OK, so that means the captain of the Freewinds is your brother-in-law?

Klaus: Well, he is my son-in-law’s father.

A big thank-you to Peter Reichelt for conducting numerous interviews over several months that allowed us to put this piece together. You can visit his YouTube channel here.

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