Sea Org

Sea Org
Sea Organization
Formation1967
FounderL. Ron Hubbard (Commodore)
HeadquartersGold Base, California (Church of Scientology headquarters)
Location
LeaderDavid Miscavige (Captain)
Publication
High Winds
Parent organization
Church of Scientology
Formerly called
Sea Project [1]: 90 
Part of a series on
Scientology
PAC Base, Los Angeles
  • General
Controversies
More

The Sea Organization or Sea Org is the senior-most status of staff within the Church of Scientology network of corporations, but is not itself incorporated. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Sea Org was started as L. Ron Hubbard's private navy, and adopted naval uniforms and ranks.[2]: 263 [3]: 124  Today, all Scientology management organizations are exclusively staffed with Sea Org members.[4] The Sea Org maintains strict codes for its members, beginning with a billion-year pledge of service to Scientology upon initiation.[3]: 125  David Miscavige, the leader of Scientology, is the highest-ranking Sea Org officer with the rank of captain. The rank of commodore is permanently reserved for the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.[1]: 139  Some ex-members and scholars have described the Sea Org as a totalitarian organization marked by intensive surveillance and lack of freedom.[3]: 125 

In a 1992 memorandum by the Church of Scientology International, the following information was provided to the Internal Revenue Service with regards to the nature of the Sea Org:[5]

[The Sea Org] does not have an ecclesiastical organizing board or command channels chart or secular existence such as an incorporated or unincorporated association. [...] Although there is no such "organization" as the Sea Organization, the term Sea Org has a colloquial usage which implies that there is. There are general recruitment posters and literature for "The Sea Org" which implies that people will be employed by the Sea Org when in reality they will join, making the billion year commitment, at some church that is staffed by Sea Org members and become employees of that church corporation. [...] The Sea Org exists as a spiritual commitment that is factually beyond the full understanding of the [Internal Revenue] Service or any other but a trained and audited Scientologist.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference reitman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference miller was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference urban was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference nrmarlia2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Church of Scientology, Nov. 23, 1992: Third Set of Responses to the IRS in support of Scientology's application for 501(c)(3) tax exemption.