Michael J. Meisner, 29, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended parochial elementary and secondary schools. He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana for two and a half years from 1968 through 1970. Mr. Meisner became interested in Scientology in November 1970 when he was introduced to it by a friend. During the next two months, he took several courses at the Urbana Church of Scientology franchise and in January 1971 left the University to become a full time course supervisor. He held this Position until May 1971 when he was sent to the Church of Scientology of St. Louis for two weeks of further training. He then returned to Urbana, Illinois, where he resumed his duties as a course supervisor until September 1971. At that time, he returned to the St. Louis Church of Scientology where for the next eight months he was trained to become an auditor. [1] From May 1972 until August 1972, he resumed his duties as a course supervisor and an auditor in Urbana, Illinois. In August 1972, he assumed the position of Executive Director of the franchise until June 1973.

In mid-May 1973, the defendant Duke Snider recruited Mr. Meisner for the Guardian’s Office of the Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C. In a meeting in Washington, D.C., the defendant Snider told him that he wanted him to become part of the Intelligence Bureau of the Guardian’s Office. The Intelligence Bureau became the Information Bureau Bureau [sic] in July 1973. In mid-June 1973, Mr. Meisner and his wife Patricia were accepted for the Guardian’s Office and moved to the District of Columbia to take courses in preparation for assuming their duties as officials of that organization. Upon becoming an officer of the Intelligence Bureau, Mr. Meisner was instructed by the defendant Duke Snider that that Bureau was in the forefront of the Guardian’s Office that is, it dealt with safeguarding the environment within which Scientology existed by locating, removing and rendering harmless all those perceived to be enemies of Scientology, This was accomplished by infiltration, theft of documents and covert operations. Following a week of training in Guardian’s Office procedures and policies in the District or Columbia, Mr. Meisner was sent to Los Angeles, California, for more intensive training in the Intelligence (Information) Bureau.

From July 1973 until October 1973, Mr. Meisner’s training in the Information Bureau of the Guardian’s Office in Los Angeles, California, included intensive courses in administrative procedures, policies and practices of the Information Bureau, as well as the Guardian’s Office as a whole. These included courses on the preparation of documents, such as reports, “CSWS” (completed staff work), [2]  “programs,” (later denominated “Guardian Program Orders”) “projects,” “Guardian Orders,” and daily Intelligence reports. He also learned the routing and format required in the preparation of documents. Mr. Meisner was taught that strict adherence to the chain of command and seniority within the organizational structure was of paramount importance in the day-to-day operations of the Guardian’s Office, and more specifically the Information Bureau. Mr. Meisner was instructed that the routing placed on each written document followed strictly that chain of command so that each memorandum, report, etc., went to the appropriate persons for approval and/or information. In a clinical setting, Mr. Meisner also learned to conduct covert investigations, surveillances, “suitable guise” investigations, [3] the recruiting and supervising of covert agents, the placing of these agents in organizations that were to he infiltrated, the theft of documents, and other overt and covert intelligence gathering techniques. The defendant Gregory Willardson, among others, supervised him in the these areas. For a three-week period Mr. Meisner also cross- filed memoranda and other [sic] covertly and overtly obtained documents of interest to Scientology. He thereby became intimately familiar with the sophisticated filing system maintained by the Guardian’s Office and its Information Bureau. The absolute necessity of correctly labelling and filing all documents obtained and kept by the Information Bureau was emphasized to Mr. Meisner. Strict adherence to these policies was mandated to assure that the Information Bureau and the Guardian’s Office functioned in a proper and efficient manner.

In November 1973 Mr. Meisner returned to the District of Columbia as Branch II Director of the Information Bureau. In that position he was responsible for internal security matters. These included both the physical security of the premises of the local Guardian’s Office as well as the handling of all dissident and disaffected Scientologists.

With regard to the latter, his duties included obtaining personal information which would prevent them from becoming a nuisance to Scientology. In January 1974, the Guardian World-Wide Jane Kember elevated Mr. Meisner to the position of Assistant Guardian for Information in the District of Columbia (AG I DC) In his new post, Mr. Meisner was responsible for all overt and covert intelligence investigations and operations. This included the implementation of all Guardian orders, programs, and projects within the District of Columbia applicable to the Information Bureau, as well as overall supervision of all covert operatives in private and governmental agencies. Until March 1974, the defendant Duke Snider was Mr. Meisner’s immediate supervisor. At that time, the defendant Snider was Assistant Guardian for the District of Columbia (AG DC) the highest position in the local Guardian’s Office.