Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

agents into the US Attorney's offices in Washington DC and Los Angeles with the specific task of
providing an early warning of any legal moves against him. In its usual clumsy prose, the
Guardian's Office defined the first priority of 'Program LRH Security' as 'Maintain an alerting Early
Warning System throughout the GO N/W [Guardian's Office network] so that any situation
concerning govts or courts by reason of suits is known in adequate time to take defensive actions
to suddenly raise the level on LRH personal security very high.'[5]
Confident that the Guardian's Office would protect him, Hubbard planned to insinuate himself into
Clearwater society by posing as a photographer with an interest in taking scenic pictures for the
tourist industry. 'Taking pictures of "beautiful CW" is the local button,' he wrote in a letter to Henning
Heldt, a deputy guardian. 'My portrait of the mayor will hang in city hall never fear.'
The mayor of Clearwater, Gabriel Cazares, had more important things on his mind than having his
portrait taken. Like many of the good citizens of Clearwater, he was concerned by the sudden influx
of strangely incommunicative young people. They were busily scrubbing and cleaning the Fort
Harrison Hotel and the old bank building, wore a form of uniform and appeared to be guarded. 'I
am discomfited,' the perplexed mayor finally announced, 'by the increasing visibility of security
personnel, armed with billy clubs and mace, employed by the United Churches of Florida. I am
unable to understand why this degree of security is required by a religious organization.'
For his discomfiture, the mayor was instantly placed on Scientology's 'enemies list'. He would have
been even more discomfited had he seen a directive issued in December outlining plans to take
control of 'key points in the Clearwater area'. The aim of 'Project Power' was to 'establish the
indispensability of United Churches' in the community and the means of achieving the objective
involved classic Hubbardian strategy.
'The overall plan is to locate opinion leaders - then, their enemies, the dirt, scandal, vested interest,
crime of the enemies (with overt data as much as possible). Then turn this over to UC [United
Churches] who will approach the opinion leader and get his agreement to look into a specific
subject (which will lead to the enemies' crimes). UC then "discovers" the scandal, etc, and turns it
over to the opinion leader for his use. Ops [operations] can be done as a follow up to remove or
restrain the enemy.'[6]
Before United Churches' cover was blown, Hubbard made a foray into Clearwater to direct the
taping of a radio show in which three local ministers had been invited to participate. The
Commodore had abandoned his gold-embossed naval whites in favour of a beret and khaki
fatigues and in this freakish outfit, topped by headphones, he bustled about, twiddling knobs,
adjusting microphones and directing where everybody should stand. 'They introduced him to me as
Mr Hubbard,' said the Reverent R. L. Wicker, of Clearwater's Calvary Temple of God. 'But that didn't
mean anything to me. They said he was an engineer.'
In January, the Guardian's Office discovered that local newspapers were moving closer to
discovering the real identity of United Churches. Silver reported that a Bette Orsini of the St
Petersburg Times was asking questions about the tax-exempt status of the Church of Scientology.
And June Byrne, a Scientologist who had got a job as a clerk in the newsroom at the Clearwater
Sun, told the GO that reporter Mark Sableman seemed to be making a connection between United
Churches and Scientology. He had been checking the registration plates of cars used by United
Churches officials and had discovered one was licensed in the name of 'R. Hubbard'.
On 28 January 1976, the 'Reverend' Arthur J Maren, a striking figure with an Old Testament beard,
arrived in Clearwater from Los Angeles to announce at a news conference that the Church of