page_title: Sea Org
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Sea Org / Background
caption_attribution_description: L. Ron Hubbard in Los Angeles, California.
context_page_description: The Sea Organization is a Scientology organization, which the Church of Scientology describes as a "fraternal religious order, comprising the church's most dedicated members". All Scientology management organizations are controlled exclusively by members of the Sea Org. David Miscavige, the de facto leader of Scientology, is the highest-ranking Sea Org officer, holding the rank of captain.
  The Sea Org has been described as a paramilitary organization and as a private naval force, having operated several vessels in its past and displaying a maritime tradition. Some ex-members and scholars have described the Sea Org as a totalitarian organization marked by intensive surveillance and a lack of freedom. The Sea Org has also been compared to a monastic organization.
  In a 1992 memorandum by the Church of Scientology International, the following information was provided to the Internal Revenue Service with regards to nature of the Sea Org:
  [the Sea Org] does not have an ecclesiastical organizing board or command channels chart or secular existence such as an incorporated or unincorporated association. ...
context_section_description: According to Hubbard, much of the galaxy, including Earth (known as "Teegeeack"), was ruled tens of millions of years ago by the Galactic Confederacy. The confederacy was controlled by a tyrant named Xenu, who was eventually overthrown by a group within the Galactic Confederacy known as the "Loyal Officers". Religious scholar Hugh Urban writes that the Sea Org is modeled after these Loyal Officers. Urban also describes the Sea Org, with the naval uniforms and ranks, as an idealized re-creation of Hubbard's own World War II military career. He also states that the Sea Org is reminiscent of the "Soldiers of Light" in Hubbard's science fiction story collection Ole Doc Methuselah.
  Stephen A. Kent (2001) argues that at least part of the reason for the establishment of the Sea Org was that the Church of Scientology's practices encountered resistance from the American Food and Drug Administration and the IRS, and from the governments of Australia, the United Kingdom, and Rhodesia. Sailing on the high seas meant the church could escape their attention.
  In 2000 the number of Sea Org members was listed at around 7,000. As of 2009, the number was listed by the church at around 5,000. Most Sea Org members reside in church complexes in Los Angeles, Clearwater, Copenhagen, London, Saint Hill, and Sydney, with some at smaller centers or on assignment elsewhere.
  According to scholar Susan Raine, Hubbard created the Sea Org as a "kind of space navy, melding SF space ideas with Earthbound naval ones." Hubbard biographist Jon Atack recalled a confidential command within Sea Org that claimed that governments of the world were on the verge of collapse. "The Sea Org would survive and pick up the pieces."
caption: L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church of Scientology in 1953 and the Sea Org in 1967.
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