Office of Special Affairs
From End The Cult
Office of Special Affairs, or OSA (pronounced "oh-sah") is Scientology's public relations and data collection branch. It formed after the abolishment of the Guardian's Office. OSA consists wholly of Sea Org members.[1]
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Purpose
OSA's defined goal (or in Scientology language "valuable final product") is "Handled situations which result in the total acceptance of Scientology and its founder throughout the area." The function of OSA is to deal with "external affairs to safeguard the org against any outside interference"[2] Other functions are:
- Dealing with legal issues regarding copyrights
- Protecting the Org "from the confusions and enturbulations of the outside world"
- Creating and maintaining "excellent public relations with the community and media"
- "Cleaning up the rotten spots of society in order to create a safer and saner environment for Scientology expansion and for all mankind." (p.23 [2])
Structure
OSA consists (at least between 1986 and 1992[2]) of six "sections", which are further divided into different "units". (p.25 [2]))
Director of Special Affairs
Services Section
Investigations Section
- Invest Information Unit
- Defensive Investigations Unit
- Support Investigations Unit
Public Relations Section
- PR Opinion Analysis & Control Center Unit
- PR Planning Unit
- PR Properties Unit
- PR Execution Unit
Legal Section
- Legal Information Unit
- Legal Rudiments Unit
- Trademark Integrity Unit
- Litigation Unit
Social Reform Section
- Social Reform Information Unit
- Social Reform Planning Unit
- Social Reform Execution Unit
OSA Volunteers report to their DSA officers. DSA's report to their continental C/O and then they in turn report to OSA International in Los Angeles.
Training for OSA
The Investigations Officer Full Hat Checksheet (a "Hat" is a function one does at a post, a Checksheet is a list of things one has to do before completing the course at hand) appears to be the most relevant source of training material to be found in the Frank Oliver Docs.[2]
Methods employed by OSA
- hiring private investigators
- legal action
- dead agenting, which means spreading negative statements on a person to destroy the person's reputation
- stealing trash[3]
- public relations work
Comparison with the Guardian's Office
The internal structure is similar in that the former "bureaus" were similarly divided according to function as are the current "sections". A main difference is the requirement of Sea Org membership. When the Guardian's Office existed, the Sea Org and GO were parallel organizations.[4] Now, OSA is a part of the Sea Org.
The question of the extent of similarity in regards to methods is controversial.[5]
Links
- Office of Special Affairs (Wikipedia)
- Patty Pieniadz "Trash Stealing for OSA" (holysmoke.org)
- OSA INT ED 508 R (gerryarmstrong.org)
- Various sources on OSA (xenu-directory.net)
- "Targets: Defense" Policy (xs4all.nl)
- Church of Scientology Office of Special Affairs and Frank Oliver (Wikileaks)
- GO organizational chart (Xenu.net)
References
- ^ Office of Special Affairs (Wikipedia)
- ^ a b c d e Church of Scientology Office of Special Affairs and Frank Oliver (Wikileaks)
- ^ [1] Patty Pieniadz: Stealing Trash for OSA (holysmoke.org)
- ^ GO organizational chart (Xenu.net)
- ^ OSA History (Xenu.net)
