Mike Rinder exposes Scientology ‘Fair Game’ for Leah Remini’s lawsuit

Yesterday we told you that Leah Remini had fired back at Scientology’s attempt to gut her lawsuit with a motion to strike and anti-SLAPP.

Included with her filing was a new, devastating declaration by Mike Rinder, exposing Scientology’s “Fair Game” policy along with his own experiences watching it being carried out, both when he was running Scientology’s spy wing OSA, and after he left the church and became a target of that harassment.

We figured you’d want to see the whole thing, and we’re happy to oblige.

COMES NOW, Mike Rinder, who hereby attests as follows:

1. My name is Mike Rinder. I became involved in Scientology in 1960 at the age of 5 because of my parents’ involvement. I joined Scientology’s Sea Organization (“Sea Org”) in 1973, when I was 18, and was a full-time employee of Scientology until June 2007. The Sea Org consists of the most dedicated Scientologists who commit to serving Scientology for a billion years and live and work in Scientology facilities 24/7. Sea Org members exclusively occupy the most senior positions in the hierarchical structure of Scientology and thus control all its activities around the world.

My Background in Scientology

2. Over the years, I rose in the ranks within Scientology and served in leadership positions, including becoming Scientology’s international spokesperson. I was on the Church of Scientology International’s board of directors from its inception in 1982 until I left in 2007. In these positions, and because of my status, I worked closely with the “Chairman of the Board,” David Miscavige.

3. I also served in the role of head of “OSA,” or Office of Special Affairs, for more than 20 years. OSA essentially serves as Scientology’s CIA and, under the direct supervision of David Miscavige, directs investigations and carries out operations against those who speak out against Scientology, or “Suppressive Persons.”

4. Because of my role in Scientology and, specifically, OSA, I am well aware of the types of Scientology’s methods to quell the voices of those who leave, speak out against or attack Scientology. These tactics include the type of character assassination, stalking, and harassment that Leah Remini and I, as well as many others, have been subjected to for many years.

5. Scientologists are directed to not only attack those who are vocal against Scientology, but also anyone close to them personally or professionally. Scientology policy also commands that, when individuals speak out against Scientology, they must be destroyed personally and professionally.

6. I escaped the Sea Org in 2007 and immediately became a top public enemy of Scientology.

Scientology’s “Fair Game” Policies

7. Beginning in the late-1950s, the Church of Scientology, through its founder and leader, L. Ron Hubbard, institutionalized a series of retaliatory activities to be taken against any individual, organization, business, or government that Scientology deems to be an enemy, otherwise known as a Suppressive Person or Group. Reflected in hundreds of published directives—Office of Special Affairs (“OSA”) Network Orders, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letters (“HCOPL”), Hubbard Communications Office Bulletins (“HCOB”), and Executive Directives, these policies mandate “obliteration” of Scientology’s enemies, who are commonly referred to as Attackers under the banner of what was termed “Fair Game.”

8. Suppressive Persons are also referred to, among other names, as Attackers, Merchants of Chaos, Merchants of Fear, Antisocial personalities, Anti-Scientologists, Psychotics, Squirrels, Cancer on Society, Criminals, and Bigots. These classifications, laid out by L. Ron Hubbard’s directives, justify the destruction of Suppressive Persons. One does not need to be a Scientologist or former Scientologist to be on Scientology’s “Enemies List.”

9. Publicly departing Scientology is denominated a High Crime—the highest offense against Scientology as described in Hubbard’s “Justice Code.” Anyone who publicly leaves Scientology and speaks out about the abuses they witnessed or endured is automatically denominated a Suppressive Person.

10. Attached hereto as Exhibit 1 is a true and correct copy of an L. Ron Hubbard directive entitled COUNTER ATTACK TACTICS, dated March 28, 1972. Exhibit 1 lays out some of Scientology’s Fair Game policies, which mandate that Scientology treat Suppressive Persons as attackers to “totally restrain[] and muzzle[].”

11. One method Scientology uses to “restrain[] and muzzle[]” a Suppressive Person is to financially ruin that person by attacking their sources of income. As Exhibit 1 explains, “These persons can always lose their jobs. . . . This is A POINT OF VULNERABILITY. . . . If the person’s job is also not valuable to him or if he cannot be made to cost his job, something can be found which he is seeking to protect and it can be threatened. . . . When identified or even suspected as the instigator, draw up a project which includes at least three channels to cost him his job” (emphasis added).

12. Attached hereto as Exhibit 2 is a true and correct copy of a Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter entitled ATTACKS ON SCIENTOLOGY, dated February 15, 1966, which states that, to handle Suppressive Persons, Scientology should: “Spot who is attacking us. . . . Start feeding lurid, blood sex crime actual evidence on the attackers to the press. . . . Make it rough, rough on attackers all the way.”

13. Actions against Suppressive Persons are primarily carried out by members of the Sea Org who belong to OSA, which handles Scientology’s internal security and outside legal affairs and serves as Scientology’s intelligence and spying operations.

14. The letters and orders that comprise the handling of Suppressive Persons and Fair Game lay out the rules of engagement for OSA operatives, all Scientologists, and their allies, that must be followed with precision until the “Attacker” is put out of commission by Scientology’s operations. The duty of the Office of Special Affairs is to accomplish what is called a “Dismissed Attacker.”

15. One of Scientology’s Fair Game policies is a procedure known as a “Noisy Investigation.” Noisy Investigation is a formal Scientology policy written by L. Ron Hubbard involving pretending to conduct a criminal investigation in order to sow chaos and discredit and create fear for its targets, as well as their family members, friends, and colleagues.

16. Attached hereto as Exhibit 3 is a true and correct copy of Hubbard’s HCO Manual of Justice published in 1959 which states in part: “When we need somebody haunted we investigate. . . . When we investigate, we do so noisily always. And usually mere investigation damps out the trouble even when we discover no really pertinent facts. Remember that – by investigation alone we can curb pushes and crush wildcat people. . . .” Ex. 3 at 3.

17. Attached hereto as Exhibit 4 is a true and correct copy of part of The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology Volume II by L. Ron Hubbard, dated 1954-1956, which states: “The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly.” Ex. 4 at 157.

18. Attached hereto as Exhibit 5 is a true and correct copy of a Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, dated February 16, 1969, and entitled “Battle Tactics.” This Policy Letter lays out some of Scientology’s Fair Game policies, including:

— “We must ourselves fight on the basis of total attrition of the enemy. So never get reasonable about him. Just go all the way in and obliterate him.” Ex. 5 at 2.
— “The prize is ‘public opinion’ where press is concerned. The only safe public opinion to head for is they love us and are in a frenzy of hate against the enemy. This means standard wartime propaganda is what one is doing, complete with atrocity, war crimes trials, the lot.” Ex. 5 at 3.

19. In furtherance of Fair Game policies against Scientology’s enemies, Scientology operatives will: hire private investigators to surveil and intimidate targets; picket targets’ workplaces, residences, and neighborhoods with posters falsely accusing targets of crimes, such as child molestation, with the purpose of humiliating them; frame targets for crimes; enlist homeless and mentally ill people to harass and intimidate targets; search targets’ trash; illegally obtain targets’ personal information, like credit reports and phone records; confront targets at home, workplaces, and airports to falsely accuse them of wrongdoing; harass targets’ family, friends, and employers in order to intimidate them; enlist Scientologist members to engage in online harassment campaigns against targets; and much more. The goal of these tactics is to make it impossible for targets to find work, isolate them from their family and friends, and ruin their lives, in order to neutralize the “threat” they pose to Scientology.

20. I have reviewed the declaration of OSA official Lynn Farny and am aware of Mr. Farny’s statements that “there is no doctrine of ‘Fair Game’ within the Scientology religion” and “[a]ny and all statements that the Church has a policy of ‘Fair Game’ are false.” Mr. Farny’s statements about Scientology’s Fair Game policy are incorrect. I know this because I personally carried out Scientology’s Fair Game tactics against its targets while I was the head of OSA.

21. L. Ron Hubbard laid out Scientology’s Fair Game tactics in a series of directives that have been used in Scientology since the late 1950s. The words and teachings of L. Ron Hubbard are the law of Scientology and the law for Scientologists. The policies of L. Ron Hubbard cannot be changed, modified, or interpreted. In fact, it is a High Crime in Scientology to disobey the exact words and teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, no matter how antiquated, abhorrent, and illegal they may be. The exact Fair Game policies that L. Ron Hubbard laid out, no matter how long ago, are still actively practiced by Scientology today.

22. Lynn Farny’s statement that “the purported ‘Fair Game’ policy was canceled in 1968” twists the truth. Attached hereto as Exhibit 6 is a true and correct copy of an October 21, 1968 Policy Letter authored by L. Ron Hubbard regarding Fair Game. This Policy Letter prohibits Scientologists from referring to Fair Game as Fair Game because the term “causes bad public relations” but also states clearly that this “does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP [Suppressive Person].” In other words, Scientology’s Fair Game policy did exist and still exists in full force, all that changed in 1968 was Scientology’s “public relations” approach to the policy. This is consistent with my observations and experiences when I was the head of OSA. I personally carried out Scientology’s Fair Game tactics up until I escaped in 2007.

23. Likewise, Mr. Farny’s statement that Scientology’s Fair Game policy did not “endorse[] violating the law of the land” is also false. Scientology’s Fair Game policies, as taught to me and carried out by me during my time as the head of OSA, were to destroy Scientology’s enemies at any cost, even if it required illegal surveillance, harassment, threats, framing people, or other forms of breaking the law. Scientologists are trained to regard “wog” (non-Scientologist) laws as only worthy of contempt.

24. Attached hereto as Exhibit 7 is a true and correct copy of the Sentencing Memorandum from the United States Department of Justice in the prosecution of L. Ron Hubbard’s wife and 10 other senior Scientology officials (all of whom pled guilty). It contains the following, which demonstrates Scientology’s attitude toward non-Scientology legal authority:

Their total disregard for the laws is further made clear by the criminal campaigns of villification, burglaries and thefts which they carried out against private and public individuals and organizations and carefully documented in minute detail. . . . That these defendants were willing to frame their critics to the point of giving false testimony under oath against them, and having them arrested and indicted speaks legion for their disdain for the rule of law. Indeed, they arrogantly placed themselves above the law meting out their personal brand of punishment to those “guilty” of opposing their selfish aims The crimes committed by these defendants is of a breadth and scope previously unheard of. No building, office, desk, or file was safe from their snooping and prying. No individual or organization was free from their despicable conspiratorial minds. The tools of their trade were miniature transmitters, lock picks, secret codes, forged credentials, and any other device they found necessary to carry out their conspiratorial schemes. It is interesting to note that the founder of their organization, L. Ron Hubbard, wrote in his dictionary entitled “Modern Management Technology Defined” that “truth is what is true for you.” Thus, with the founder’s blessings they could wantonly commit perjury as long as it was in the Interest of Scientology. The defendants rewarded criminal activities that ended in success and sternly rebuked those that failed. The standards of human conduct embodied in such practices represent no less than the absolute perversion of any known ethical value system. In view of this, it defies the imagination that these defendants have the unmitigated audacity to seek to defend their actions in the name of “religion.” That these defendants now attempt to hide behind the sacred principles of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the right to privacy—which principles they repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to violate with impunity—adds insult to the injuries which they have inflicted on every element of society.

25. Scientology’s authority with respect to its members is absolute, precluding even a role by law enforcement. Scientology strictly forbids members from contacting the police to report crimes committed by practicing Scientologists, no matter how violent or heinous the crime (except when directed by Scientology as part of operations against Suppressive Persons). Scientology trains its members how to lie to law enforcement. Scientologists are also forbidden from cooperating with law enforcement against another Scientologist and testifying against other Scientologists in court. Scientology also forbids Scientologists from seeking remedies in civil court against other Scientologists without prior approval from Scientology officials.

26. For example, one of the tactics employed when I was head of OSA was to illegally access enemies’ flight plans to track their movements and aid in Scientology’s surveillance and harassment of them. I know that this tactic is still employed by Scientology against its enemies because in the time since I escaped Scientology, my wife and I have been harassed at airports when Scientology would not have had any legal means of accessing my travel plans.

27. Scientology has carried out Fair Game tactics against many people who have publicly criticized Scientology over the years, including former Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares, journalist Paulette Cooper, reporter Richard Behar, investor Bob Minton, research professor David Touretzky, former Scientologists Chuck Beatty and Tory Christman, as well as former Sea Org member Ron Miscavige, father of Scientology leader David Miscavige.

My Experiences in Scientology

28. During the several years in which I worked directly for David Miscavige, I endured verbal abuse, physical abuse, and near-constant humiliation from him. On numerous occasions, he punched, hit or otherwise physically abused me. No other Scientologists stepped in to stop him, nor was I allowed to defend myself, because Miscavige was the top-ranking Scientologist whose authority was accepted without question.

29. Periodically from January 2004 through 2007, I was incarcerated by direct order of David Miscavige in what he called “The Hole.” This was a building on Scientology’s “international headquarters” property near Hemet, California that consisted of two double-wide trailers connected by a conference room. I along with more than one hundred other Sea Org members were confined to this building for months on end by order of Miscavige.

30. The Hole was literally a prison, with bars on the doors and windows screwed closed and a security officer posted outside the only entrance 24 hours a day. While confined in The Hole, we slept on the floor and ate all our meals within that building. RTC President, Warren McShane was assigned by Miscavige to oversee the personnel and activities in The Hole. The only person anyone incarcerated in the Hole could communicate with outside The Hole was McShane.

31. Virtually the only thing that happened in The Hole was efforts to extract “confessions” from others in The Hole about their misdeeds and “evil intentions” toward Miscavige. This was done by “group pressure” (dozens of people screaming at one person for hours on end), lack of sleep, lack of food, and sometimes physical assaults or even torture.

32. Virtually everyone who was in The Hole eventually wrote self-incriminating “confessions” in an effort to prove to Miscavige that they no longer needed to be held prisoner. If the “confession” was not sufficiently contrite or dramatic, it would be rejected and the mental and physical torture would resume.

33. Scientology still maintains some of these coerced “confessions” from me on a website, https://www.whoismikerinder.com/#admitted-lies-doing-illegal-things, which they use to claim that I “admitted dishonesty, a criminal moral code and ‘doing illegal things.’”

Leaving Scientology and Becoming the Subject of “Fair Game”

34. I escaped Scientology in June 2007, after finally having had enough of David Miscavige’s physical and mental abuse and the lies that he, often through me, was telling the world.

35. When I left Scientology, my family disowned and “disconnected” from me, as required by Scientology policy. My wife divorced me. My mother shunned me until her death. My ex-wife, children, brother, and sister continue to shun me to this day.

36. Since leaving Scientology, I have spoken out about the abuses I witnessed, including to news media, to law enforcement, on various shows and podcasts, in my book and via my blog. As a result, Scientology has conducted a campaign of intimidation, spying, stalking, and harassment against me, my wife, and those with whom I have worked closely. Its purpose has been to intimidate me into silence, as was the purpose of the intimidation, spying, stalking, and harassment that I witnessed — and took part in — when I was head of OSA.

37. In 2009, I spoke to the St. Petersburg Times to confirm information they had been told by Miscavige’s former lieutenant Marty Rathbun. I was then stalked and surveilled by private investigators sent to Denver, Colorado, where I lived at the time. Scientology attorneys (Monique Yingling and Bill Walsh) and other high-ranking Scientology members (Tommy Davis and Jessica Feshbach) then followed me to Denver to attempt to “settle” with me so that I would withdraw the corroboration I had provided for Marty Rathbun’s interview. They threatened me, saying that I would never see or hear again from my mother, wife, siblings, and children to force me to cooperate with their demands not talk to the media. They offered to “make peace” (which I understood was a euphemism for reaching a financial settlement in exchange for a gag order – something I had done with Monique Yingling in the past on behalf of Scientology). They demanded that I not talk to the media. I refused.

38. Since 2009, my wife and I experienced the following at the hands of Scientology:

a. Repeatedly followed and filmed by private investigators, including David Lubow;
b. Harassed by Scientology’s “Squirrelbusters,” including Ed Bryan;
c. Had our garbage taken by private investigators;
d. Had surveillance cameras trained on our house from neighboring homes, including one disguised as a “birdhouse;”
e. Had friends, people with whom I worked, and neighbors “noisily investigated” by private investigators working for Scientology;
f. Had spies sent by Scientology to attempt to inveigle themselves into our lives;
g. Had private investigators take up residence 24 hours a day in a house within sight of our home, for purposes of watching our comings and goings;
h. Been “tailed” by up to six vehicles at a day driven by private investigators during a trip to Los Angeles to meet with the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
i. Been “tailed” by two cars for an entire drive from Tampa, Florida to Houston, Texas;
j. Been hassled at airports;
k. Had my phone records illegally accessed, resulting in a letter that I received from T-Mobile stating that it was conducting an internal investigation;
l. Been the subject of phony Craigslist postings about “estate sales” at my home, resulting in strangers arriving at my home starting at 6:00am on Saturday;
m. Had my car keyed;
n. Had my wife and children followed to the supermarket, doctor’s office, and park;
o. Had numerous websites and publications containing false and defamatory statements about me and my wife distributed by Scientology and maintained online to this day.

39. Each of the above is in accordance with Scientology’s pattern and practice for its treatment of enemies, with which I am personally familiar from my time in Scientology and OSA.

40. After Leah Remini escaped Scientology in 2013, we developed a friendship and started working together on projects to increase awareness of Scientology’s harmful teachings and providing support to those who had left Scientology or suffered under its policies. Ms. Remini and I have since co-hosted a docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, and have also co-hosted podcasts in which we discuss Scientology

41. I am aware that Ms. Remini filed her lawsuit against Scientology in August 2023. I am also aware based on my conversations with her and based on my own interactions that the level of harassment of her and others by Scientology has increased significantly since that time.

42. I, personally, have been the subject of this surge in attacks.

43. On August 15, 2023, I was made aware first by my stepson and then by neighbors that a suspicious vehicle was seen parked in our neighborhood in view of my home. The vehicle was parked on the main boulevard of our community outside their house in a location where vehicles do not normally park.

44. That day, my wife and I left our home to run errands. This same vehicle began following me and my wife around town and into a parking lot. Later the same day, we again spotted the same vehicle in an otherwise empty church parking lot adjacent to the entrance to our community.

45. Concerned this was an effort to surveil me by Scientology operatives, I approached the car in my vehicle. As I approached the SUV, the driver pulled out of the parking lot speedily. We followed him out of the lot and the driver made an erratic and illegal U-turn over a traffic median, presumably to avoid us.

46. I chronicled the events of this day on my blog at https://www.mikerindersblog.org/new-fair-game-pi-activity-caught-on-camera/. As stated in my video, I am certain that Scientology is surveilling me and my family as a scare tactic because of my friendship with Ms. Remini. I also believe Scientology operatives were sent to watch me to ensure that I do not provide information that may lead to the discovery of the location of David Miscavige. These conclusions are based on my personal knowledge of Scientology’s Fair Game and “noisy investigation” policies, which I acquired during my time as the head of OSA.

47. On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, I was contacted by Delta Airlines reporting suspicious activity of a woman calling to ask about flight reservations for me and my son Jack. I had announced on my blog that I was traveling to Philadelphia with Jack (I was attending the annual Child USA Gala on November 2, 2023). Subsequently, a man who appeared to be a private investigator took photos of us as we traveled to Philadelphia on 1 December and on our return flight on 3 November. I chronicled this in a YouTube video and at my blog at: https://www.mikerindersblog.org/our-philly-trip-pis-ideal-org-and-more/.

48. It should be noted that I am currently undergoing treatment for Stage IV esophageal cancer, a fact publicly disclosed and of which Scientology is aware. In fact, tweets by Scientology operatives seemingly celebrate my diagnosis and poor health.

49. My current condition has left me in a weakened condition and therefore these harassing episodes by Scientology are distressing to both me and my family now more than ever.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Florida and the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.

Mike Rinder

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