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List of Scientology security checks


In Scientology, the security check (or sec check) is an interrogation technique put into practice by founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1960. It involves an "Ethics officer" probing the thoughts, attitudes and behavior of an individual member by asking them large numbers of questions. The bulk of the questions deal with criminal or sexual activity or intentions, or other things that the interviewee might be ashamed of. The questions also probe negative thoughts that the person might have about Scientology or Hubbard. As with traditional auditing, the subject holds the electrodes of the E-meter, a simple lie-detector device that measures electrical conductivity in the human body, while they are given a series of highly probing, personal questions.

Hubbard described security checking as a remedy for "unreasonable action", specifically "the compulsion or obsession to commit actions" the person feels must be kept secret. Checks are given to all Scientologists on the Bridge to Total Freedom, every six months to all Operating Thetans, according to officials, "to make sure they're using the tech correctly", and to members who are leaving staff.

In a "Code of Reform" issued in 1968, Hubbard announced that he was cancelling security checks, along with the policies of Fair Game and Disconnection. However, later Scientology documents refer to the practice, and former members report that it still continues.

Sec Checks are also known in the Scientology Justice system as "Integrity Processing" or "Confessional Auditing".

A security check resembles the confessional in traditional religions. However, it also differs from them in that it is not voluntary. Hubbard told security checkers that "you are not merely an observer, or an auditor, you are a detective."

Susan Raine of the University of Alberta observes that the questions asked in security checks show that L. Ron Hubbard was intensely preoccupied with scrutiny, surveillance and betrayal. She notes that this intense form of surveillance makes sense from a bureaucratic perspective as a way of making sure all individuals follow (and internalize) the organisational goals. Bent Corydon, an ex-Scientologist, compares security checking to the use of thought police in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He writes that Scientologists are punished for having negative thoughts about Hubbard or Scientology and so learn to think only positively. David Mayo, another former member, reported that sec checks included the question, "Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about LRH?" and that such "discreditable thoughts" could land a follower in trouble.


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