Gadfly
Crusader
As others have noted, LRH had a problem wherein he could not afford to have it be seen that he was running Scn (and thus be held personally responsible for Scn's actions). Accordingly, he tried to mask his involvement as much as possible. "Consultant advices" (where everybody knew the "consultant" was ron, but try proving that in court) were one vehicle for exerting that control.
Another vehicle was the CMO. Policy was that the utterance of a Commodore's Messenger was to be treated as though it came from Ron. Often, the Messenger WAS relaying orders from Ron, but in a manner which masked the fact from the legal system, should it ever come to that.
As time went by, Ron was operating more and more like a Mafia Don: never put on paper (or on an easily-tapped communications line) something which can be relayed by a subordinate. Never have the subordinate reveal where the order really came from.
I want to point out that in 1978-79, at FOLO EUS, all the advices were NEVER said to be from "a consultant". They were signed right on the telex with "L=R". There was no hiding that these were from him. Basically, the telex was copied just as it was, and THAT was the raw "advice". We all had copies of them.
The point is that they were NEVER called "orders", which would imply that Hubbard was in control and liable, but they WERE called "advices", because an "advice" is just a SUGGESTION. Of course, management treated them as ORDERS once they got hold of them.
I remember being told by some missionaire or CMO executive that while Ron is no longer running things (the CMO person may or may not have known that he was), that OF COURSE, we will work hard to "get the advices DONE", because "if you do what Ron says, you win and succeed"!!!!
So at THIS TIME (1978-79), and in THIS PLACE (Folo EUS), I never even heard of the phrase "consultant". I was also a Flag Rep in the Toronto Org in 1980, and I NEVER heard that term. The "LRH Advices" still existed, were known AS THAT, and by then various Programs and Projects had been written to implement each point of each advice. These may have been written into FPGMOs (Flag Program Order) or PPJO (Flag Project Order), though it was about then that management of the orgs was being transferred to LA from Clearwater. When I was in, back in 1979, all orgs were run from the "Flag Bueau" in Clearwater. Mission Orders were run from there by the Flag Program Chief. But over the early 1980s, along with DM's consolidation of power, "Flag" as management was entirely changed, and the term "Int Management" began and was run out of LA.
When I first got to FOLO EUS in 1977, I don't recall any "CMO" presence, but there was an office within a year or two. And THEY were senior to everybody else locally.
The Flag Bureau moved to LA. I think it actually kept that name for awhile. Various ex-FB members showed up as International INT Execs or on the WDC. As I recall, back thern, Diana Hubbard was Div 6 International for awhile. The FFR (Flag Flag Rep), Annie Tasket (???), was on an early version of the WDC. I never really thought much about all of this, but I have a great many observations filed away somewhere in my head about all of this.
Oh, I remember when the LRH Advices for the Class IV orgs first came out. They were RUSHED to us at FOLO, and our seniors at Flag got immediately on the phone and told us to GET THEM IN HARD AND FAST with each Org. And, that implementing them would BOOM Scientology. As FR FOLO EUS, I had orders from Flag to get all FOLO staff to CHINESE SCHOOL these Advices. We did so DAY after DAY. They were the newest TOP ORDER.
In retrospect, the idea and word "consultant" may have been there somewhere. Hubbard was surely being viewed as a sort of consultant, and this PR Line about Hubbard's new relationship to the organized Church of Scientology was spread whether that exact term was used or not.
Last edited: