In this podcast Mark Fisher — who was David Miscavige’s former assistant for many years at the Corporate Liaison Office and later RTC — discusses how L. Ron Hubbard never appointed  David Miscavige as his Successor. Instead, Mark describes how David Miscavige, who then worked as an employee of the privately-owned for-profit company Author Services Inc., used ASI to stage a palace coup to take over RTC, and thus the Church, after the death of L. Ron Hubbard.

Mark Fisher also discusses how he took personal possession of L. Ron Hubbard’s auditing folders and the OTVIII – OTX materials after Hubbard’s death, this at the direct order of David Miscavige.

 In my previous article Scientology claims L. Ron Hubbard chose David Miscavige to succeed him, proving he didn’t, David Miscavige used Scientology attorney Eric Lieberman to insist that he, David Miscavige, had rightfully inherited the mantle of L. Ron Hubbard. Lieberman insisted the Church has documents from L. Ron Hubbard supporting this claim. However, neither Lieberman nor the Church has ever publicly produced these alleged documents. It stands to reason that if such documents existed then David Miscavige would certainly have produced and publicly circulated these documents immediately upon the death of L. Ron Hubbard on January 24, 1986. This never happened. Therefore, Lieberman’s claim must remain unsubstantiated until such a time as the purported documents are publicly posted online and made available for one and all to examine.

This matter also the question: Why, after 30 years at the top of Scientology, does David Miscavige suddenly feel the need to assert that he is the legitimate successor of L. Ron Hubbard? The answer may lie in the fact that many current and former Scientologists view Miscavige’s succession to power as having been the result of an illegitimate palace coup after L. Ron Hubbard died on January 24, 1966 without having appointed a successor.

 In the David Miscavige.Affadavit.17 Feb 1994 David Miscavige stated that L. Ron Hubbard went completely out of touch with any and all Church entities from May of 1984 until he passed away in January of 1986.

 This means that from May 1984 forward, Hubbard had absolutely no contact with David Miscavige or anyone else in the Church. And from 1982-1987 David Miscavige was COB Author Services Inc., a for-profit California corporation that was not a part of the Church of Scientology International. During this time period, however, David Miscavige arguably pierced the corporate veils between ASI, CST. RTC, and CSI at one crucial event when “Commander” David Miscavige showed up in the uniform of a Sea Org member to help conduct the Mission Holder Massacre of October 1982. As an employee of a privately-owned corporation, Miscavige had no authority to act within CST, RTC, or CSI. Nevertheless, Miscavige announced to the Mission Holders:

“Earlier this evening both Kingsley Wimbush and Dean Stokes were here. They have both now been declared and we are pursuing criminal charges against them. They have been delivering their own squirrel tech while calling it Scientology. Kingsley Wimbush’s ‘dinging process’ is complete squirrel. You won’t find it in any tech, yet he has been calling it Scientology. That’s a violation of trademark laws and he now faces some serious charges for this crime. This sort of activity is NOT going to go on any more.”

Question: By what right or authority did Commodore David Miscavige declare Kingsley Wimbush and Dean Stokes? As an ASI employee, Miscavige had absolutely no standing in CSI; he had no ecclesiastical or corporate authority to declare SP’s. And yet in the 1982 photo below we see David Miscavige declaring Mission Holder Dean Stokes of Dallas an SP:

Given David Miscavige’s lack of corporate and ecclesiastical standing in the Church, we must therefore assume David Miscavige declared Dean Stokes based upon Miscavige’s standing as a then Commander – and later Captain — in the Sea Org. However, this belies what CSI Legal Director Alan Cartwright stated in when he was deposed by Ray Jeffrey in Rathbun v. Miscavige:

Q. (By Mr. Jeffrey) Okay. Is David Miscavige captain of the Sea Organization?
A. No.

Q. What — does he have a rank within the Sea Organization?
A. He has a rank, just like I have a rank.

Q. And what is his rank?
A. From what I understand, he has a rank of captain.

Q. Okay. Is that an insulting term?
A. I don’t know about being insulting, it’s just an incorrect term.

Q. According to you?
A. Insulting?

Q. Yeah, that it’s — no, you said it’s incorrect. It’s incorrect according to you.
A. What I said to you was I don’t know him as Captain David Miscavige. I’ve never heard that being used.

Q. Have you ever seen him in his captain’s uniform?
A. I’ve seen him in his Sea Org uniform.

Q. And is it a captain’s uniform with captain’s rank?
A. You know, I’m not sure.

Q. Do you have a uniform?
A. Yes.

Q. And so, what you’re saying is that everyone within this group called the Sea Organization has a rank, but the ranks are meaningless?
A. Ranks — these — you have to understand what the Sea Org is. It’s a religious order, and these are — these are honorary positions that are given to someone because of longevity and what they’ve done for the religion. That’s all it is.

Q. Is there any chain of authority from rank to rank? Does a captain have authority in connection with an ensign?
A. No.

Q. There’s no authority that derives from that?

A. None whatsoever. Just to give you an example, I’m an ensign, Linda Hamel is a midshipman, I have a senior rank to her.

Q. And both of those ranks are beneath captain?

A. In the levels of ranks, yes.

Q. But, you are saying that the ranks are meaningless in terms of authority?
A. Totally.

According to CSI Legal Director Alan Cartwright,  Sea Org ranks are meaningless in Scientology. Hence, corporate ranks mean everything. So to repeat, how did David Miscavige, an employee of a for-profit privately owned corporation called Author Services Inc., have any corporate or ecclesiastical standing within CSI standing to declare Dean Stokes, Kingsley Wimbush, or anyone else an SP in 1982 at the Mission Holders Conference? The answer is that he didn’t.

David Miscavige’s claim that his Sea Org rank means nothing does not withstand scrutiny when we consider the actions of “Sea Org Commander David Miscavige” at the 1982 Mission Holders Conference. The for-profit ASI had no authority to declare anyone an SP. Miscavige could have only acted from his role and authority within the Sea Org when he declared people. This proves that the Sea Org actually runs the Church of Scientology; the “farrago of cavils” from Alan Cartwright notwithstanding.

 Likewise, David Miscavige’s claim to be the legitimate successor to L. Ron Hubbard does not withstand scrutiny when we consider the complete absence of any  succession document, or documents, written by L. Ron Hubbard. Rather, based upon the available evidence, we must conclude that David Miscavige came to power in a palace coup he staged to take over RTC after the death of L. Ron Hubbard.