David Miscavige, Scientology’s Leader: ‘Salute Mah Beagles!’
Wanting to convey what it was like to work for the dictatorial Miscavige at Scientology’s secretive desert headquarters in Southern California, Reitman described what it was like to be summoned to see “COB*”:
Virtually every meeting with Miscavige involved an element of fear: the initial summons required that those called to it drop whatever they were doing and sprint to the assignation place; there they would wait until the leader, who’d often be playing Nintendo in his private lounge, decided to show up.
He would arrive flanked by his wife and Lou Stuckenbrock, a retinue of aides, and, often, his beagles. He had five dogs, two of which, Jelly and Safi, wore tiny blue sweaters with commander’s bars. Miscavige was known to make his staffers salute the dogs, who held ranks higher than those of many people on the base.