Talk:Office of Special Affairs

Guardian's Office

Somehow this has slipped through the cracks. Guardian's Office redirects to Office of Special Affairs, which doesn't mention the FBI raid and the resulting criminal trial, and instead merely mentions the GO "was disbanded in 1983" as if it was simply an administrative reorganization of departments. Of course OSA is the reincarnation of the GO, but there is no one place in Wikipedia describing what is the GO. Of course, the articles Mary Sue Hubbard and Operation Snow White describe the raid and trial in depth. But what reader would find the content there if they were searching for the Guardian's Office?

We either need a standalone article named Guardian's Office, or a large section in Office of Special Affairs, which includes a description of the GO's position within the Church of Scientology network, what was its mission and what sort of work it performed, a link to sub-article List of Guardian's Office operations (or maybe put the content in there and rename without "List of"), a description of the FBI raid, a description of the criminal trial and the result of the trial, the overthrow of the GO by David Miscavige (with Mike Rinder), and the subsequent establishment of the Office of Special Affairs (OSA).   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 04:34, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

OSA/GO techniques & methods

Perhaps we should add a section for the types of techniques or methods OSA (and GO) use to achieve their aims. There's a stub article Noisy investigation which is a fair game technique, but isn't even mentioned in Fair game (Scientology). Fair game is its own large category of OSA ops. But OSA also employs black propaganda, litigation, Slapp lawsuits, Dead agenting, Suppressive person declarations, and manipulates disconnection orders. I'm sure there are more methods than I can think of right at this moment.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 04:42, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

Headquarters of OSA

I just made an edit changing the listed location of OSA's headquarters to Hollywood from Hemet. Given the history of Scientology on wikipedia, I figured I should also make a more detailed note in the talk page in case there needs to be a discussion about this.

First, it is my understanding that Scientology's International/Gold Base is near Hemet, CA, but is not in Hemet. Instead, it's in Gilman Hot Springs, which is separated from Hemet by a smaller community named San Jacinto. Google maps corroborates this. Therefore, if I am wrong and OSA's headquarters are at the International Base, Hemet would still have been wrong; the headquarters would be in Gilman Hot Springs.

However, I don't think I am wrong. The author who put Hemet was likely doing so because Mike Rinder was at the Int. Base, and he is known as having been the Commanding Officer for OSA. However, he was also Watchdog Committee member for OSA, which is technically above CO (he may have held both posts at the same time at certain periods). The WDC is at Int. Base. I believe he relayed orders to OSA's headquarters in Hollywood from the Int. Base. During some of the time Rinder was at the Int. Base, he was not CO OSA Int., and this post was held by Kurt Weiland. OSA was not located in the Int. Base during this time; the WDC was.

There have been media stories and youtube videos by former Scientologists noting that OSA's HQ is in the Hollywood Guarantee building on the corner of Hollywood & Ivar. JapanOfGreenGables (talk) 21:27, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

OSA is not a separate corporation but is a part of Church of Scientology International which has their Principal Office of Corporation in the Hollywood Guaranty Building at 6331 Hollywood Blvd, LA CA 90028. It is likely that there are OSA personnel working at both 6331 as well as Gold Base near Hemet, as well as scattered throughout many churches of scientology as Directors of Special Affairs. I agree that "Hollywood, Calif" is a better choice over Gold Base or Hemet for the infobox headquarters.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 02:12, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Well, I don't want to start a fight (especially since we agree about Hollywood), but you don't need to be a corporation to have a headquarters. Departments of corporations very much can be headquartered in a specific place. The infobox this page is using isn't for corporations. OSA very much has a headquarters, and it's very much in the Hollywood Guarantee building. As for everything else, you're correct. As stated in my above post, the WDC OSA is located at the Int. Base. And yes there are OSA members are local orgs. That's mentioned in this article already. Anyways, not trying to start an argument; just wanted to document this information here. JapanOfGreenGables (talk) 01:41, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

No arguments here; your changes are fine. Though I think the Watch Dog Committee is probably no longer in operation. I don't have any particular source but just letting you know. Maybe keep an eye out for a reference on that (as will I).   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 03:24, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

The to do list at the top of this page requested more photos. As such, I added a picture of the Guaranty building. JapanOfGreenGables (talk) 20:59, 26 May 2024 (UTC)