Mike Rinder, who led Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs from 1982 until 2005 and remained a senior executive until leaving in 2007, said the organization’s Fair Game operations targeted critics through surveillance, intimidation, defamation, online vilification, and lawsuits. In interviews after his departure, Rinder acknowledged personally helping monitor and discredit journalists, including John Sweeney, and said Scientology investigators followed targets, stationed people outside their homes, and sought damaging personal information. These accounts are attributed to Rinder and other former executives rather than presented as independent findings in every instance.
A documented precursor was Operation Snow White: Scientology organized an illegal infiltration of 136 government agencies, prompting an FBI raid and the prosecution of numerous senior officials. The organization later spent approximately $7 million fighting Time magazine over its 1991 investigation, a lawsuit that exposed internal litigation strategies and was ultimately unsuccessful. Rinder said the internet and social media weakened the campaign by allowing former members to publish anonymously and connect with one another. His disclosures, documentaries, and 2022 memoir helped sustain public scrutiny of Scientology’s alleged surveillance, coercive disconnection policy, and retaliation against defectors.
