Feud: Paulette Cooper and the Scandal of Scientology

The story of Paulette Cooper's battle against the church of Scientology. In the late 1960s and Early 1970s Paulette Cooper was a smart beautiful young freelance journalist who was always on the lookout for a story. And in 1969 she found one when a friend of her's told her he was Jesus Christ. Her friend had just joined the controversial new religious movement known as The Church of Scientology. Paulette decided to investigate Scientology and it's founder L. Ron Hubbard for an article that was published in the British magazine Queen and which was eventually expanded in to a book called The Scandal of Scientology. However she didn't realize what she had gotten herself in to. The Church of Scientology was not pleased with the book and (following L. Ron Hubbard's fair game policy) made a decision to silence Paulette Cooper at any cost. These plans ordered by L. Ron Hubbard himself and carried out by the church's Guardian's Office were named Operation Daniel, Operation Dynamite, and Operation Freakout. The goal of Operation Daniel was to expose PC's (their code for Paulette Cooper) sex life. This involved anonymously subscribing her to pornographic mailing lists and sending letters to her neighbors claiming she had a venereal disease and was a prostitute. There also found out she suffered depression and then proceeded to rob her psychiatrist's office and mail her records to all her neighbors. But that was just the beginning. Operation Dynamite had church spies steal copy's of Cooper's stationary and fingerprints so that they could mail the bomb threats to themselves claiming she sent them. Paulette was arrested and was charged with mailing the letters. These attacks took their toll on Paulette as she started drinking more, abusing prescription drugs, and even contemplated suicide. But the church wasn't done with her yet. Their final plan Operation Freakout was their most nefarious yet. It's goal was to either have Paulette incarcerated in a mental institution or jail. The plan required having a woman impersonating PC to make threats to the Arab consulate in New York City and then to threaten both Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger. However this plan never went in to affect as before it could Scientology's offices were raided by the FBI and they found documents which exposed the whole plan. Cooper was released and her name was cleared. In 1985 the church settled out of court with her for an undisclosed settlement. She still works as an author and journalist to this day.

Story added by sofly on September 28, 2018