tonight, a special edition of "nightline," inside scientology. it's the church known for its glamorous membership, from tom cruise to john travolta. but tonight, in a "nightline" exclusive, one former church official is making shocking allegations about what she says she saw and heard behind the scenes. plus, secret or lies? she said she was held against her will and physically humiliated. >> people are screaming at you. sometimes, water's poured over you. >> the church denies it. the story behind an explosive battle pitting the rich and powerful church of scientology, against a woman who says she's fighting to save her religion. and chow time. behind the scenes at tonight's white house state dinner.

how do you throw the pitch-perfect party for the leader of the free world and 78 heroes? >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city. this is "nightline." february 29th, 2012. good evening. i'm terry moran. while the church of scientology is one of the world's newest religions and growing. opening dozens of new churches around the world. and making high-profile converts in places like hollywood. but tonight, a former scientology insider will allege that there is much we don't know about this famously powerful, wealthy and secretive institution. allegations of misuse of power and physical harassment. abc's dan harris brings us an exclusive interview with a woman who was once a high-ranking church official. in his report, "scientology: an insider speaks." >> reporter: scientology, a church known for celebrity. >> i'm a scientologist.

>> reporter: secrecy. and controversy. >> you listen to me for a second. >> reporter: and now, the latest p.r. hit involves a former high-ranking insider, named debbie cook, who is being sued by the church, and is fighting back by making headline-generating allegations in open court, about what she says happened to her behind the scenes in the church of scientology. >> i was put in a trash can. cold water poured over me. slapped. i know it's wrong. it needs to get exposed. it needs to get confronted. and it needs to get handled. it can't go on. >> reporter: it's become, in some sense, the fight of your life? >> yes. >> reporter: the fight of her life because she's going toe-to-toe with a church she says she still loves. one that was, she claims, her salvation. cook was 14 when she found scientology, a religion

established in the 1950s by the science fiction writer, l. ron hubbard. debbie cook so firmly believed in scientology that at age 17 she went to work full-time for the church. joining their religious order. she rose all the way up to the rank of captain, at the church's so-called flagbase, in clear water, florida. >> welcome to the mecca of scientology. >> reporter: but in around 2005, cook says she started to see high-level members of the church behave in ways she found deeply disturbing. it began, she told us, when she was asked to start working more closely with the leader of the church, david miscavige. >> one quality that has always set us apart is we are unselfish. yes, we have an utter monopoly on workable solutions. but we share those solutions for anyone who reaches for them. >> reporter: miscavige is

best-known for being friends with the world's best-known scientologist, tom cruise. >> the most dedicated scientologist, i know. >> i have never met a more competent, a more intelligent, a more tolerant, a more compassionate being. we are lucky to have you. and thank you very much. >> reporter: but debbie cook has testified in court that she saw him punch a fellow scientology executive. he punched him in the face? >> yes. i've never seen anything like this before. never. >> reporter: and you had no inkling it was possible? >> i never conceived of that. i've been in scientology since i was 14 years old. i was on staff since i was 17. at that point, it had been more than 25 years being there. i had never seen anything like that. it was inconceivable. >> reporter: while she says he never hit her, she did testify that he ordered his secretary to do so. and she did it? >> and she did it very hard, yes.

>> reporter: hard enough that you fell down? >> yes. >> reporter: why did he ask her to do this? >> he was displeased how i was answering a question. it wasn't what he wanted to hear in some way. >> reporter: did you feel you could retaliate? >> no. absolutely, definitely not able to retaliate. >> reporter: and listen to what she says he told his assistant to do on another occasion. >> he told her to grab my finger and to break it if i don't answer the question. so, she grabbed my finger and bent it back. my initial answer wasn't good enough. so, you know, she cranked it a little bit more. she never did break it. but, yes, that happened. >> reporter: did you ever think to yourself, maybe i'm in the wrong church? >> no. i never had that thought that i was in the wrong church. i think that somebody else was in the wrong church. or somebody else was in the wrong place, i should say. just doesn't belong in church at all. >> reporter: in repeated letters to abc news, scientology officials have denied that david miscavige ordered debbie cook to be slapped or have her finger

bent back, or that he punched a fellow executive. in fact, the church said that the letter, signed by the executive in question, in which he said this alleged incident did not occur, and i would remember it if it had. but cook is not backing down. you stand by what you've said? >> i absolutely do. >> reporter: in her testimony, she goes even further. alleging that in june of 2007, while she was working at the scientology international base in southern california, she was suddenly and physically removed from an office by two large men, while she was on the phone with david miscavige. >> he was asking me about various projects. and was unhappy that things had not gotten done to his satisfaction. and then, soon after that, the window was pried open. these two guys came through the window. and mr. miscavige asked me on the phone, are they there? i said, yes.

he said, good-bye. and then, i was physically taken off with these two guys to the hole. >> reporter: the hole. according to cook's testimony, it was located here, in a pair of double-wide trailers on the international base. >> and when i was there, it had bars on the windows. and security guards posted at the one door for entering and exiting. >> reporter: what do you have to do in order to be sent to the hole? >> you have to really have caused what mr. miscavige considered to be, you know, harm or, you know, you've really done enough bad that you're being sort of quarantined in the hole. >> reporter: and when you're in there, can you leave? >> no, you cannot. >> reporter: what would happen if you tried to leave? >> you can't. you just can't leave. there's guards at the door. >> reporter: coming up, what debbie cook says happened to her and the other executives inside the hole. and the church's response.

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or sweet golden honey. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ ♪ i was thinking that i hope this never ends ♪ [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. >> announcer: a special edition of "nightline," "scientology: an insider speaks," continues. to devotees, the church of scientology, is the only way to forward to mental clarity, spiritual enlightenment, and as its members call it, clear. debbie cook, a former church official, says she still believes that, yet she's taken a stand in a texas courtroom to testify that church officials held her against her will in a place known as the hole that church officials deny even exists. abc's dan harris continues his exclusive interview. >> i'm debbie cook, captain of

the flag service organization. >> reporter: for 17 years, debbie cook was one of scientology's highest-ranking insiders. but according to her court testimony, in june of 2007, she was forcibly taken to the hole. located here on scientology's international base in california. it was, she says, a place for scientology executives who had fallen out of favor with the leader of the church, david miscavige. cook testified she was in the hole for seven weeks. that she and the other executives were fed a sort of slop. that the place was crawling with ants. and that the temperature, at times, reached 106 degrees. what did you do all day? >> most of the time, the activities were either you confessing your own sins or bad things that you've done. or getting another person to confess theirs. people are screaming at you.

and in some cases, sometimes you're made to stand in a trash can and water's poured over you. >> reporter: that happened to you? >> yes. >> reporter: did you break down at all? >> i did, yeah. i did. >> reporter: the church denied our repeated requests for an interview. however, their lawyer sent abc news a letter saying, flatout, the hole does not exist and never has. the letter did say that cook voluntarily participated in their program of religious discipline. but that she was not taken there by force or held against her will. and that her account of what went on is inaccurate and misleading. in her court testimony, cook says several months after she left the hole, she decided to leave her position in church management. in this videotape, released by the church, cook and her husband, wayne, are seen signing contracts, agreeing to never publicly disparage the church or its leadership. and accepting checks for $50,000 apiece. >> you have high regards for the staff that you work with?

>> very. >> and how about the boss? talking about david, david miscavige. >> yes. >> reporter: for four years, cook remained silent. but just weeks ago, when she september out this e-mail to large group of fellow scientologi scientologists, complaining among other things about her belief that david miscavige had assumed too much power, the church sued her for breach of contract. lawyers informed her the contract was unenforceable, because despite what cook says on this videotape -- >> and you're doing this voluntarily? >> i am. >> no one has made any threats or forced you to do anything? >> not at all, whatsoever. >> reporter: she now argues she only signed under duress, something the church denies. >> you know, i would have signed, you know, that i stabbed babies over and over again and loved it. i would have done anything, basically, at that point. >> reporter: in a flurry of statements to abc news, the church describes cook's allegations using words like false, salacious, defamatory,

fiction, untrue and distasteful, sensationalistic and revisionist. essentially they're saying that you and your husband are bitter, defrocked ais to dates. that's their term. and you're part of a group of heretics, i believe the church term for that is squirrels. how do you respond to that? >> i have never lost my passion or love for the church and all that it stands for and all that it does to help others. so, i'm not bitter. it's really out of that passion and love and care that i am doing this, to rid it of a situation that has grown out of control. >> reporter: in our interview, debbie cook repeatedly insisted that her complaints were not directed at scientology generally. only at the current leadership, especially miscavige. >> it's not the church. it's not scientology and it's not hubbard.

it's a tyrannical individual operating in the church that's doing these things. >> reporter: however, the church sent us numerous letters from scientology executives, describing david miscavige in glowing terms. the church says the real story here, as told in this upbeat ad they've been running on national tv of late, is the explosive growth of scientology, with 25 new churches built in the last 5 years alone. along with extensive anti-drug and human rights programs. the church now says debbie cook can no longer enter any scientology building and cannot even call herself a scientologist. >> it's very hard. it's very traumatic for me. and the only thing that drives me is the fact that i hope i can effect a change. and i hope i can -- i hope i can, in some way, help to get it back to what it is supposed to

be and what it was always intended to be. >> reporter: how optimistic are you that you can do that? >> i don't know. i'm not sure. >> reporter: for "nightline," this is dan harris, in bulverde, texas. >> church officials say they're pressing forward with their case against debbie cook. and that each time she speaks publicly, it will cost her for violating her confidentiality agreement. cook says she's aware of those risks. but they're worth it if it brings reforms. thanks to dan harris for that. up next, we're going to take a rare look behind the scenes at a white house state dinner. not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪

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a state dinner at the white house. normally reserved for the most

distinguished of foreign dignitaries. but tonight, all that tradition, pageantry and pomp is all about a very different guest list. abc's bob woodruff was given exclusive, behind the scenes access to an unprecedented event. >> reporter: less than an hour before i have to do this. how many people are late for an interview with the president? i arrived at washington's union station at 3:45 this afternoon after bad weather canceled my flight. let's run! the rush added to my nerves. and the sense of honor, being invited to this historic event in the first place. it's almost surreal in the sense that i would even be in this room with them. how many times do you get a chance to do to a state dinner? but the real honor, sitting alongside the iraq veterans who this dinner will celebrate. the families are very much still here. they can never be forgotten. and that's probably the most exciting thing for me to be there. i finally arrive at the white house at 4:15. there it is, the white house.

45 minutes later, at 5:00 on the dot, the president greets us. >> it's good to see you. >> reporter: i asked him about the somewhat controversial apology to afghans for the accidental burning of korans by american troops. >> the reason that it was important is to save lives and to make sure our troops who are there right now are not placed in further danger. >> reporter: do you think it has improved it? that apology? >> it calmed things down. we're not out of the woods yet. but my criteria in any decision i make, getting recommendations from the folks who are actually on the ground, is what's going to best protect our folks? and make sure that they can accomplish their mission? >> reporter: why are we having a dinner tonight? why are you having a dinner, a white house dinner? as opposed to a parade in the streets? >> well, because a bunch of our folks are still in harm's way. >> reporter: interview finished. it was finally time for some fun.

so, at 7:00 p.m., i changed my clothes, into my tuxedo, in this cramped press room. here in the east room, members from every branch of the military, donning their dress uniforms, a sea of medals. for dinner, the 78 iraq veterans and their guests dined on a salad of heirloom tomatoes, ribeye, and a chocolate creme brulee for dessert. all on white house china with the seal in the center. >> your commander in chief, barack obama. >> reporter: it was time to honor those who survived, remember those who did not, and take pride in all of them. >> america's greatest days are still to come. and they are great because of you. cheers. >> reporter: for "nightline," this is bob woodruff, in the white house. >> our thanks to our warrior for the warriors, bob woodruff. thanks for watching abc news. we hope you check in for "good morning america." they're working while you're sleeping. and we're always online at