For decades he was harassed by the Church and pursued through the court systems, bankrupting him, in an attempt to keep the materials and facts undisclosed.

In 1971, he joined the Sea Org and was sent to work on their ship, the Apollo where he rose through the ranks to become legal and then public-relations officer.

He worked on Scientology training films and became part of Hubbard's household staff at Gold Base in Gilman Hot Springs, California.

As part of his assignment, Armstrong also obtained Hubbard's war records from the US Navy and his transcripts from George Washington University.

[1][4]: 329 As published by author and journalist Janet Reitman, this represented "a trove of private letters, journals, files, and other materials that ... documented that Hubbard had lied about virtually every part of his life, including his education, degrees, family, explorations, military service, war wounds, scientific research, the efficacy of ... Dianetics and Scientology—along with the actions and intentions of the organizations [Hubbard] created to sell and advance these 'sciences.

[2] For a year, when Armstrong would find documents that contradicted the Church's narrative about Hubbard's background, he would explain it away in his mind.

But eventually, unable to reconcile the vast amount of contradictory data, he approached Church officials to correct their narrative.

In response, he copied about 10,000 pages from Garrison's collection, with permission, and deposited them with an attorney as "insurance" (leverage).

[4]: 331 [5]: 107 Armstrong finally began to tell me fragments of stories about being relentlessly harassed by the church, pursued by its private investigators, run off the road, targeted in elaborate sting operations, slandered at every turn by what he calls "Black PR" and "dead agent packages" and stalked through the US courts.

... Why has the Church of Scientology spent nearly three decades trying to discredit and silence this unemployed, penniless man living on a disability pension in the middle of nowhere in British Columbia?

[4]: 333 According to religious scholar Stephen A. Kent, "[Armstrong] poses a threat because he has knowledge of L. Ron Hubbard that few if any other outside critics hold.

Armstrong agreed to not publish orally or in writing any information about his experience with CSI, and that he would be liable for $50,000 for each breach of confidentiality.

Its ostensibly benevolent activities — its Volunteer Ministers that show up to "help" at disaster sites; its Narconon anti-drug operations; its Way to Happiness booklet campaign, etc.