Editing David Miscavige (section)

== Early career in Scientology ==

In 1976, with his father's permission, Miscavige left high school on his sixteenth birthday and moved to [[Clearwater, Florida]], to join the [[Sea Org]], a Scientologist organization established in 1968 by founder [[L. Ron Hubbard]].{{r|sptimes1998}} Some of his earliest jobs in the Sea Org included delivering [[telex]]es, groundskeeping, food service and taking photographs for Scientology brochures.{{r|sptimes1998}} 

Miscavige was appointed to an elite group of young Scientologists within the Sea Org called the [[Commodore's Messenger Organization]] (CMO), which Hubbard had established to carry out his personal errands and deliver executive directives to Scientology management. As they grew into adolescence, the Messengers' power and influence within the Sea Org increased.<ref name="Man in Control"/><ref name="Bare-faced Messiah">{{cite book | author=Miller, Russell | author-link=Russell Miller | title=Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard | publisher=Henry Holt & Co | location=New York | edition=First American | year=1987 | isbn=0805006540 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/barefacedmessiah00mill_0/page/301 301–304] | url=https://archive.org/details/barefacedmessiah00mill_0/page/301 | chapter=18. Messengers of God | chapter-url=http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/bfm/bfm18.htm | url-access=registration }}</ref>{{r|atack|pages=264–5}} By 1977, Miscavige was living in [[La Quinta, California]], working directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films at CMO Cine Org.{{r|atack|p=264}}