As previously mentioned, RTC is currently led by the "Chairman of the Board (of Directors)" David Miscavige, who has held this position since 1987. Miscavige has been in leading positions within the Scientology management since the early 1980s. Prior to being in his current position, Miscavige had been a member of the Commodore's Messenger Organization and had been instrumental in the internal purge of the Guardian's Office, the former intelligence service and legal defense unit of the Scientology network. In 1982 he became the Chief Executive Officer and later the Chairman of the Board of the for-profit corporation Author Services Inc. (ASI). Miscavige stayed on this position until 1987.