The Burglary Hat

News: Burglary Hat origin revealed!

Thanks to an inquiry from a visitor to the GO Roundup, we have at last conclusively established the source of this unique and telling document that first came to our attention as an unsolicited submission to the Guardian's Office collection here at Operation Loose Ends.

A correspondent suggested that perhaps the document was not a legitimate artifact from the Guardian's Office, and drew our attention to apparently inconsistent numbering between the cover page and the first page of the "Hatting Letter".

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the research elves, we were able to confirm that this document was, indeed, one of the thousands of pages of material seized from the Church of Scientology's Cedars Complex in Los Angeles as part of the Snow White raids. In fact, both the cover page and the document itself are listed as exhibits seized from the filing cabinet of Greg Willardson on this page, which is an excerpt from a much longer court submission, Respondent's Submission of Search Warrants Inventories Marked with Documents to be Returned to Petitioner (CSC vs. USA No. CV 77-2565-MML).

The "cover page" is, in fact, the manila envelope in which this "Hatting Letter" was found, and is listed as Exhibit 8596. The letter itself is Exhibit 8601, which corresponds to the number on the righthand side of the first page.

A most curious document recently found its way to the GO Roundup. Apparently tabled as evidence in a past court case, it purports to be a 'Hatting Letter' for bright-eyed and bushy-tailed GO operatives in Branch 1 (one of two branches within GO Info), warning of some of the less than scrupulous techniques that 'enemies' of the CoS might use to infiltrate the organization to get access to sensitive material.

(Does any of this sound a little -- familiar, gentle readers?) .

As any former (or, for that matter, current) scientologist can tell you, there are literally hundreds of such 'hatting' procedures, for all manner of activities. What makes this letter unique - or, at least, of particular note -  is that it discusses, in detail, the logistics and practicalities of using unethical, even illegal  means to obtain sensitive information. Everything from tricking unwary secretaries into handing over confidential documents to the art of picking locks is covered, all couched in a pleasingly plausibly deniable style. This is Burglar Tech. 

'Watch out, little GO agents,' the author seems to be saying, with the ghost of a smirk on his face. 'Here are some of the dirty tricks that nasty, suppressive organizations might use against us. Let me list them all, in details, with tips and tricks for how they can best be implemented.' Wink, wink; nudge, nudge.  

Signed by 'Don', the full name of the author is, alas, unknown. If anyone out there has additional information on the origins of this letter, or anything else related to 'Branch 1' and its activities, please let us know.

It should be obvious what interest such religious instruction has for those of us here at the GO Roundup. After all, it was the theft of sensitive government documents from behind locked desks and doors that got the Snow White gang in hot water with the U.S. government.

Interestingly, it would seem that Michael Meisner, Gerald Wolfe, Cindy Raymond et al failed to properly apply Burglary Tech during the course of their felonious adventures. Perhaps it was due to their carelessness - leading, as it did, to multiple raids on CoS offices and the imprisonment of eleven top ranking scientologists, including the founder's wife - that this letter was drafted.

(A challenge, then, from the GO Wranglers: using the Hatting Letter as reference, write a brief summary of how the Snow White operatives failed to standardly apply the policy set out - albeit coyly - in this letter.)  

Without further ado, we present:

The Branch 1 Hatting Letter

Cover 
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13

Note - Due to the obvious difficulties involved in transferring aging paper documents into electronic format, the files are not of the highest quality, but should still be legible. A text version of the letter is also available.