Office of Special Affairs

The Office of Special Affairs (OSA), formerly the Guardian's Office (GO), is a department of the Church of Scientology International. According to the Church, the OSA is responsible for directing legal affairs, public relations, pursuing investigations, publicizing the Church's "social betterment works," and "oversee[ing its] social reform programs". Some observers outside the Church have characterized the department as an intelligence agency, comparing it variously to the CIA or the KGB. The department has targeted critics of the Church with dead agent operations and character assassination.

OSA is the successor to the now-defunct Guardian's Office, which was responsible for Operation Snow White and Operation Freakout. OSA is in Department 20 (Department of Special Affairs) in the Scientology organizational chart, same as the Guardian's Office was. The most recently known Commanding Officer for OSA International is Linda Hamel, succeeding Mike Rinder, who left the Church of Scientology and became a fierce critic of the organization, appearing as a co-host on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.