Organizational Structure, Sea Org, Ranks
There will be several posts in this thread. They will cover an explanation of the structure, definitions of each organization and where it falls in the heirerchy and what the different ranks of the Sea Org are.
Girls - if you make a "explanations forum" this should really be moved there.
In chat, there were people asking for clarifications on the structure of the church - who is SO who is not etcetera .... here is a brief explanation. (SOME NAMES HAVE changed since I was in, but the structure is basically this)
These are all Sea Org:
RTC is the top. Legally they do not have control of the organization though in practice they do. This is to prevent lawsuits of organizations affecting RTC.
RTC licenses the use of the trademarks to the Church of Scientology.
The Church of Scientology International Management manages the network through middle management. Theoretically, orders for the whole of Scientology structure come from here and go THROUGH middle management. Think chain of command.
Upper Management consists of different organizations that manage or direct different aspects of Scientology. The main organization (Church of Scientology International) manages all the individual organizations in middle management. Each individual organization is responsible for their own network. Different networks are: Churches, Missions, WISE, ABLE, NARCANON, OSA, and a couple of more.
As sub catagories of Churches are lower service organizations (not sea org), advanced service organizations (sea org) and the celebrity network. Celebrity network is managed directly through Celebrity Centre International (sea org). Other CC orgs are not Sea Org.
Non-CC orgs are managed through lower management at the continental level. Each contintental org manages a section of the world. There are two for the US (eastern and western), Canada, Europe, Latin America, ANZO (Australia, New Zealand, Oceana - basically the far east) and a couple of others I think.
WISE, ABLE and Narconon do not manage directly (theoretically) but license organizations for RTC and advise. In practice, they are usually managed. The difference between managed and licenced is a legal one, preventing lawsuits at lower levels reaching upper levels.
Same goes for Mission Network. Missions are owned by individual scientologists, and these are not technically church staff. The schedules don't have to follow what most organizations have to follow.
Advanced and lower level service organizations are managed by continental (lower) management. There are management/overseeing units at the continental level for WISE, ABLE, Narconon. The individual organizations are NOT sea org. Except advanced service level organizations. The excpetion to this is the managemement of the Flag Service Organization which is an international service organization, not responsible only for certain areas.
There are networks for different specialized departments/posts in organizations. These are in the executive section of each strata.
These networks are LRH Communicator (charged with ensuring standard tech, ethics) Flag Regresentative (charged with ensuring management directives are followed) and Office of Special Affairs (charged with ensuring organizations are on legal footing and to seperate any legal actions from the rest of the organization). These networks are the only networks where at times Sea Org members are part of Non-Sea Org Organizations.
Middle Management is called "Flag Command Bureax" and the most advanced service organization is called "Flag Service Organization" because these started on the Flagship of the Sea Organization when it started in the 60s. They were split by L. Ron Hubbard so that the largest money making organization for the Church was not distracted by trying to manage other organizations. When the newer Freewinds Service Organization started (the only ship in the Sea Org), they were put on the same level as FSO as an international service organization.
Another network that is seperate from the command structure is Commodore's Messenger Organization. These are policing and enforcement organizations structured with the same International, Flag and Continental levels. These get orders from RTC and watchdog, and have wide powers to direct management at their level. This is because they started out as the messengers for L. Ron Hubbard and when he died and the copyright holder became Religious Technology Center.
Four other organizations must be noted. Golden Era Productions is the organization which handles A/V matters. they are at the International level and are managed directly by International Management. There is a CMO org directly responsible for enforcement, etc for that org.
Two more organization that are managed from the Flag level are Bridge and New Era Publications. These produce the books sold by the organizations. Only Bridge, New Era or Gold can provide materials sold by organizations accoring to their licensing.
There is a level in International Management which is at the top (right below RTC). This is called the Watchdog Committee. They are charged with running the organization as a whole and making sure each level does what it's supposed to do. It's not organized into the same departmental structure as all organizations below it.