Letter from Director William N. Webster to Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights Don Edwards (August 6, 1985)
FBI File No.: 62-1161511
August 6, 1985
Honorable Don Edwards
Chairman
Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights
House Committee on the Judiciary
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D. C. 20515Dear Chairman Edwards:
Your letter of June 3, 1985, requesting FBI review of allegations made by Reverend John D. Standard III, Director, Office of Public Affairs, Church of Scientology International, concerning “a bizarre multi-agency plan to disrupt the Church of Scientology has been brought to my attention.
The FBI has received other inquiries on this subject. I want to stress that the FBI is not involved solely or in conjunction with other Federal agencies in any attempt to destroy the Church of Scientology. In those cases where a violation of Federal law falling within the FBI’s jurisdiction has occurred, the FBI investigates such situations with complete fairness to all parties involved. The facts are then presented to the appropriate United States Attorney’s office which determines the prospective merits of the case.
The particular allegations made by Reverend Standard are based on conversations recorded during “secret” videotaping of a former Church member, Gerry Armstrong, whom Reverend Standard alleges is a “government covert operative.”
Gerry Armstrong, a former church member, has been interviewed numerous times by various Federal investigators and attorneys in connection with pending litigation in this and other Federal investigations. Partial transcripts of Mr. Armstrong’s videotaped conversations have been provided by the Church as an exhibit to various pleadings filed in litigation with the Department of Justice, and they fail to substantiate claims of a counter-intelligence program directed against that group. Conversely, review of the unexpurgated transcripts of those videotaped meetings referred to by Reverend Standard conclusively negates any inference of government conspiracy.
I hope this will be of assistance to you.
Sincerely yours,
William H. Webster
Director
NOTE: Reverend John D. Standard III, Director, Office of Public Affairs, Church of Scientology International, wrote to Representative Rodino, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee alleging “a bizarre multi-agency plan to disrupt the Church of Scientology”, and requested Representative Don Edwards hold hearings on this matter. Representative Don Edwards requested the FBI review Reverend Standard’s allegations. Videotaped conversations of a former Church member, Gerry Armstrong allegedly establish the government-wide conspiracy and have been utilized as exhibits in various pleadings filed by the Church; however, the transcripts selectively omit a pertinent portion of the tape which conclusively negates any inference of government conspiracy. The context of this letter was taken, in part, from similar replies to congressional inquiries. This reply was coordinated with [?] Legal Counsel Division.
[Handwritten] Copies of the transcript of the videotaped conversations of former church member Gerry Armstrong were filed as an exhibit to a motion to vacate summary judgment entered on behalf of the defendants in Founding Church of Scientology v. Director FBI etc. (USDC, DOC, C.A. No. 78-0107). A review of these transcripts by DOJ attorneys and by SA [?] reveals several statements by Armstrong to the effect that the government is “not out to get” the Church of Scientology or any Scientologist. Copies of the full text are in possession of LCD and DOJ Federal Program Branch. 8/1/85
Notes
- This document in PDF format. Compare two versions of second page. ↩
FBI File #336: Letter from John D. Stanard to FBI (September 12, 1984)
Anonymous
From the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of
Justice, Washington, D.C. Please archive. Previous files are archived at
http://www.xenu.net************
[this letter is undated, but the FBI stamped it SEP 12 1984]
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLGOY
NATIONAL PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
2125 S ST., N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20008
(202)-797-9828FOUNDER:
L. RON HUBBARDre: Church of Scientology
Dear Sir,
Enclosed is information for your files relative to Church of Scientology,
Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard.The subject of the enclosed has been know [sic] to have made numerous
contacts with federal agencies and to have disseminated false and
misleading information about the Church. Even if you or your agency has
had no contact with this individual his continuing pattern of
dissemination of such questionable information would indicate a
possibility that you could be sent such information in the future.In any event, I ask that you include this material in your files.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Rev. John D. Stanard III
Director“A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where
the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is
free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.” Copyright
(c) 1965, 1984, by L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of Scientology*******
[Enclosed with this letter is a series of articles from “Freedom, The
Independent Journal Published by the Church of Scientology”, Issue 61,
starting on page 1. There is no legible date on any of these articles but
the issue is copyrighted 1984. All articles are from the same issue.
They are as follows:1) “Boston Attorneys Linked to Underworld in Plot to Loot Hubbard Estate”,
page 1, no author listed; a many page article describing attorney Michael
Flynn’s alleged attempt to “loot the personal estate of New York Times
list best-selling author L. Ron Hubbard and blame it on the Church of
Scientology” by using the “estranged, disinherited son of … L. Ron
Hubbard” and forged checks.2) “FAMCO: Anatomy of a Conspiracy”, by Stacy Young, page 1; describes the
formation and purpose of Flynn Associates Management Corporation, whose
alleged purpose was to destroy the Church with numerous expensive
lawsuits;3) “Documenting the Conspiracy”, page 2, no author listed; appears to be
comment from the editor and describes contents of this issue and the next;4) “Freedom Special Supplement: Co-conspirators Finger Flynn in $2 Million
Forgery Scheme”, page 5, no author listed, large portions of this article
are blacked out but this was done by Freedom and not the FBI. This is a
complete’ version of an affidavit obtained in Italy by Gene Ingram from
Ala Fadili Al Tamimi and his brother Akil Abdul Amir Al Fadili Al Tamimi
in which the Tamimis allege they were hired by the Flynns to forge and
pass a bad check on Hubbard’s bank account. According to the introduction
to the article: “certain names in the affidavits have been blocked out.
For the purpose of authenticity, expletives that would not normally appear
in FREEDOM have been retained”, so it is not possible to identify anyone
who could corroborate the Tamimis account.5) “Blossoms Owner Hides Controversial Past. Alleged Civil Rights Culprit
Gains Federal Funding”, by John Lawrence, page 13; article about Kevin
Flynn and his Washington, D.C. restaurant Blossoms which was initially
funded with a Small Business Administration loan; the articles implies
that Kevin Flynn made false statements on his SBA applicationNames mentioned in these articles include attorney Michael J. Flynn, his
brother Kevin Flynn, Cheryl Flynn (wife of Kevin), Lavenda Van Shaick
(former member), Gene Ingram (a Los Angeles private investigator), Heber
Jentzsch, Wayne Hollingsworth, Ala Fadili Al Tamimi (a forger allegedly
hired by Flynn and whose 29 page affidavit is included in #4 above,
although heavily censored), John Clark (Massachusetts psychiatrist), and
Ronald E. DeWolf (son of L. Ron Hubbard). The articles claim to expose
and provide evidence for various criminal acts by Michael Flynn, Kevin
Flynn, Ala Tamimi, and Ronald DeWolf in an attempt to “loot Hubbard’s
estate”, steal from the federal government, extort money from Scientology,
and “cure people of their religious convictions” through deprogramming.
Because doing so would violate copyright, these articles will not be
reproduced here.]**********
Notes
- Retrieved 22 September 22, 2014 from alt.religion.scientology. ↩