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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[_manifest]]
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- 2026-09-22T1402 · [[John Palmer]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Remote Viewing]]
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- 2026-09-22T1402 · [[James Alcock]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[STARGATE PROJECT]]
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- 2026-09-22T1402 · [[_manifest]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Center Lane]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[USS Roosevelt]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Malcolm Wallop]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[USS Nimitz]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Ray Hyman]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[FOIMS]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Uri Geller]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Parapsychology]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Hella Hammid]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Crack Cocaine]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Pat Price]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[John Marsh]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Albert Stubblebine]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Parapsychological Association]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Claiborne Pell]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Richard Thornburgh]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Robert Jachim]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Charles Tart]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Sun Streak]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Jonathan Pollard]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[SCANATE]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Ingo Swann]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Charlie Rose]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Galo Plaza]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Andrija Puharich]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Edwin May]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Ray Hyman]]
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- 2026-09-22T0005 · [[Jessica Utts]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Michael Mumford]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[San Diego]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Margaret Mead]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Bay of Pigs]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Lincoln Moses]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[ECHELON]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Edwin May]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Project Monarch]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Edgar Mitchell]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Domestic Contact Service]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Scott Belsky]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[William Sargant]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Robert Byck]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Rolando Otero]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Hal Finney]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Ricky Ross]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[STARGATE PROJECT]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Guillermo Novo]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Robert Jahn]]
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- 2026-09-22T0000 · [[Eugene Propper]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Eugene Tighe]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Ronald McIntyre]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[David Goslin]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Nilo Floody]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Larry Combest]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Angela Dellafiora]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Letitia Long]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Vernon Walters]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Héctor Orozco]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Murray Watt]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Ricardo Morales Navarrete]]
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- 2026-09-22T1401 · [[Richard D'Amato]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Russell Targ]]
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- 2026-09-22T1355 · [[Eugene Tighe]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Dale Graff]]
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- 2026-09-22T1355 · [[Larry Combest]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Joe McMoneagle]]
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- 2026-09-22T1355 · [[Letitia Long]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[Robert Gates]]
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- 2026-09-22T1355 · [[Richard D'Amato]]
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- 2026-09-21T2359 · [[John B. Alexander]]
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- 2026-09-22T1353 · [[_NOTES_redlinks_government]]
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- 2026-09-21T2356 · [[Ingo Swann]]
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- 2026-09-22T1347 · [[Remote Viewing]]
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- 2026-09-21T2356 · [[Kenneth A. Kress]]
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- 2026-09-22T1347 · [[Walter LaBerge]]
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- 2026-09-21T2356 · [[David Brandwein]]
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- 2026-09-22T1347 · [[Hal Puthoff]]
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- 2026-09-21T2356 · [[David Brandwein]]
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- 2026-09-22T1347 · [[Edmund Thompson]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[_NOTES_Alexander_Targ_May_Nightline]]
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- 2026-09-22T1347 · [[Charlie Rose]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Mel Riley]]
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- 2026-09-22T1344 · [[_NOTES_Gale_followups]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Psychoenergetics]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[American Institutes for Research]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Extrasensory Perception]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Jessica Utts]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Jack Vorona]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Andrew Rose]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Lyn Buchanan]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[James Alcock]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Frederick Atwater]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[John Palmer]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Ed Dames]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Lincoln Moses]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Brian Buzby]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Andrew Rose]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Rob Cowart]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Michael Mumford]]
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- 2026-09-21T2353 · [[Sun Streak]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[David Goslin]]
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- 2026-09-21T2352 · [[_NOTES_SRI_era_1972_85]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Charles Tart]]
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- 2026-09-21T2351 · [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]
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- 2026-09-22T1342 · [[Robert Jahn]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[George H.W. Bush]]
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- 2026-09-22T1339 · [[_NOTES_redlinks_scientists]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Harry Soyster]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Fernand Gauvin]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[William Odom]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Leonid Vasiliev]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Lincoln D. Faurer]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Nancy Stern]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Robert Jachim]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Jeannie Betters]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Malcolm Wallop]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[MOC - Psychics & Remote Viewers]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[KEY INDIVIDUALS]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Center Lane]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Fern Gauvin]]
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- 2026-09-21T2350 · [[Brian Buzby]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Fernand Gauvin.md.pre-merge]]
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- 2026-09-21T2347 · [[_NOTES_Sun_Streak_operations]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Gerard Messadie]]
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- 2026-09-21T2347 · [[_NOTES_INSCOM_chronology_and_Congress]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Jacques Bergier]]
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- 2026-09-21T2336 · [[Edmund Thompson]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[MOC - Scientists & Researchers]]
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- 2026-09-21T2336 · [[Robert Keenan]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Leonid L. Vasilev]]
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- 2026-09-21T2336 · [[Hal Puthoff]]
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- 2026-09-22T1322 · [[Leonid Vasiliev.md.pre-merge]]
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- 2026-09-21T2336 · [[Jim Channon]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[Hartleigh Trent]]
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- 2026-09-21T2336 · [[First Earth Battalion]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[Kit Green]]
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- 2026-09-21T2336 · [[Project Deep Quest]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[Dale Graff]]
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- 2026-09-21T2329 · [[Andrija Puharich]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[David Morehouse]]
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- 2026-09-21T2328 · [[Monroe Institute]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[Richard Kennett]]
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- 2026-09-21T2328 · [[Robert Monroe]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[Tom McNear]]
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- 2026-09-21T2328 · [[Controlled Offensive Behavior - USSR]]
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- 2026-09-22T1314 · [[Jack Vorona]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Future Enterprises]]
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- 2026-09-22T1310 · [[Garrison Rapmund]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[David Morehouse]]
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- 2026-09-22T1310 · [[Bill Ray]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Murray Watt]]
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- 2026-09-22T1310 · [[Lyn Buchanan]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Office of Technical Service]]
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- 2026-09-22T1310 · [[Ken Bell]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Central Intelligence Agency]]
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- 2026-09-22T1310 · [[Paul H. Smith]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Peter Maris]]
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- 2026-09-22T1309 · [[Paul H. Smith]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Norm Everheart]]
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- 2026-09-22T1309 · [[William Richard Higgins]]
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- 2026-09-21T2325 · [[Nick Clancy]]
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- 2026-09-22T1305 · [[_NOTES_Stargate_people_documents]]
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- 2026-09-21T2323 · [[Jim Channon]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]]
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- 2026-09-21T2323 · [[First Earth Battalion]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Wolfgang Pauli]]
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- 2026-09-21T2317 · [[_NOTES_Parallel_psi_programs]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Pat Price]]
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- 2026-09-21T2317 · [[_NOTES_Stargate_people]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Eric Schmidt]]
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- 2026-09-21T2317 · [[_backup_STARGATE_PROJECT_pre_rewrite]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Hella Hammid]]
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- 2026-09-21T2316 · [[_NOTES_Stargate_program_documents]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Annie Jacobsen]]
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- 2026-09-21T2314 · [[American Institutes for Research]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Richard Bissell]]
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- 2026-09-21T2314 · [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Ernst David Bergmann]]
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- 2026-09-21T2310 · [[_NOTES_Stargate_AIR_and_science]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Richard Kammann]]
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- 2026-09-21T2259 · [[Raúl Iturriaga Neumann]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[David Marks]]
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- 2026-09-21T2259 · [[Cuban Nationalist Movement]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Sun Streak]]
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- 2026-09-21T2259 · [[DINA]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Harry Snyder]]
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- 2026-09-21T2259 · [[Rolando Mosqueira]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Russell Targ]]
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- 2026-09-21T2259 · [[Michael Townley]]
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- 2026-09-22T1304 · [[Douglas Tang]]
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@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ tags:
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summary: "Graff's interest in psi phenomena stemmed from a personal experience in 1968, where he had a profound out-of-body experience while caught in a rip current."
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summary: "Graff's interest in psi phenomena stemmed from a personal experience in 1968, where he had a profound out-of-body experience while caught in a rip current."
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born: 1934-12-13
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born: 1934-12-13
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location: "Lynn Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania"
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location: "Lynn Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania"
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updated: 2026-09-22
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---
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---
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@ -26,8 +27,19 @@ Graff attended the first meeting of the Defense Department's Grill Flame committ
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On *Nightline* in November 1995, identified as the physicist who had directed the DIA's project for five years, Graff said of the Dozier kidnapping, "we had one viewer come up with the name of the city, Padua. We had another one come up with the name of the building he was in," and of the Jordan search, "we like to count it as a success."[^3]
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On *Nightline* in November 1995, identified as the physicist who had directed the DIA's project for five years, Graff said of the Dozier kidnapping, "we had one viewer come up with the name of the city, Padua. We had another one come up with the name of the building he was in," and of the Jordan search, "we like to count it as a success."[^3]
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Graff attended the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee meeting of November 27, 1979, listed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, at which the working group moved to demand sight of the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]'s report "prior to it being given to any other party or group."[^900]
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Graff attended the meeting of the DoD Committee on Remote Viewing Activities in Vorona's conference room on August 24, 1978, as "Mr. Dale Graff, Air Force/FTD," with Vorona, Colonel Jack Capps of the Army staff and Charlie Carter of the Missile Intelligence Agency.[^901]
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### The Documents
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A cable from the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to the CIA's Office of Technical Service, "Request for OTS Report," held in two copies, one dated April 13, 1976, stated that "in recent discussion with OTS regarding Stanford Research Institute (SRI) investigations on remote sensing, we were informed of an OTS published study related to this effort. Our office is investigating intelligence estimates regarding possible USSR applications of such a technique," and named "the OPR within FTD for this subject" as "Mr. Dale E. Graff/XRQ"; the undated copy is filed with [[David Brandwein]]'s memorandum of February 20, 1976, terminating OTS support. A request of May 15, 1978, asked that "Mr. Dale Graff of your organization be made available to assist DIA in their presentation by conducting an informal discussion/briefing on your most recent publication," the FTD report "Paraphysics R&D - Warsaw Pact." He sat at the meeting of August 24, 1978, and on the DoD Grill Flame committee as "Dale Graff FTD/TQTR," where in May 1979 he "briefed the Committee on the FTD Special Search project," in July "volunteered that he had already produced an ICR," and at the committee's meeting of November 28, 1978, "suggested that a cover story be developed for the program." A meeting at SRI on September 13 and 14, 1978, "to discuss experiments to test tactical applications of the remote viewing phenomenon" listed him with John W. Kramar and Colonel Albert De Prospero of AMSAA, Marion Bryson of CDEC, Major [[William Stoner]], and SRI's Puthoff, Targ, [[Edwin May]], [[Charles Tart]] and [[Ingo Swann]]. A tasking record of December 1984 notes a "follow-up interview conducted (date unknown) by D. Graff at RVer's location."[^900]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
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[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
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[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^3]: "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.
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[^3]: "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.
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[^900]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^901]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the Meeting of the DoD Committee on Remote Viewing Activities," August 24, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140009-7; Vorona to the Army assistant chief of staff for intelligence, S-1862/DT-1, September 6, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410015-9; Commander, Naval Intelligence Command, to DIA, September 14, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410025-8; DIA to the 902d Military Intelligence Group, September 22, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140015-0; James L. Brown, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, USAF, to Vorona, September 29, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410026-7; Army ACSI (DAMI-ISH) to Vorona, October 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410024-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^900]: Foreign Technology Division (XRQ) to CIA/OTS, "Request for OTS Report," cable of April 13, 1976, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020005-5 and R000200020001-9; "Sensory Technology Assessment," November 14, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500120001-5; DoD Grill Flame Committee minutes of May 3, July 12 and September 25, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130022-3, R002000130020-5, R002000130009-8; "Paraphysics R&D - Warsaw Pact," May 15, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160008-6; minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140013-2; "QRT Tasking," December 4, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800220001-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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---
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category: "Scientists & Researchers"
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tags:
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- Person
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- DavidGoslin
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- AIR
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- NationalResearchCouncil
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alias:
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- David A. Goslin
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summary: "Sociologist who ran the National Research Council's behavioral sciences commission for thirteen years and then the American Institutes for Research, where he coordinated the 1995 evaluation of Star Gate."
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born: 1936-10-27
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died: 2024-12-28
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location: "Washington, D.C."
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created: 2026-09-22
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updated: 2026-09-22
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---
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David Alexander Goslin was born in [[New York City]] on October 27, 1936, grew up after his father's death in Berkeley, [[California]], graduated in psychology from [[Swarthmore College]] in 1958 and took his doctorate in sociology at [[Yale University]] in 1962. He joined the [[Russell Sage Foundation]] in New York, "held adjunct teaching positions at six different universities and published five books in the field of sociology over a 13-year period," moved to [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1974 and "spent 13 years as Executive Director of the Commission of Behavioral and Social Sciences of the [[National Research Council]]," the commission under which the 1988 report *Enhancing Human Performance* was produced. He was elected a fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1982. In 1987 he became the fourth president and chief executive of the [[American Institutes for Research]], serving until 2001; in his tenure AIR ran "a large-scale personnel evaluation of the U.S. Army that tracked the careers of more than 3 million Army personnel" and in 1994 acquired Pelavin Associates. He died on December 28, 2024.[^1]
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In 1995, after the National Research Council declined the CIA's request for a review of Star Gate, the CIA met "with president and representatives of American Institutes of Research (AIR)" on May 10 and signed a contract on June 12 ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]); the report records that "Dr. David A. Goslin, President of AIR, served as coordinator." [[Edwin May]]'s commentary of 1996 objected that Goslin had also administered the NRC's 1988 report.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "The American Institutes for Research Honors the Life and Legacy of David Goslin." American Institutes for Research, January 6, 2025. https://www.air.org/news/press-release/american-institutes-research-honors-life-and-legacy-david-goslin "David Goslin Obituary." Gamble Funeral Service, Savannah, Georgia, family notice, January 2025. https://www.gamblefuneralservice.com/obituaries/david-goslin
|
||||||
|
[^3]: May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-23.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. E-1 to E-2.
|
||||||
39
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Marks.md
Normal file
39
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Marks.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Skeptics & Critics"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- DavidMarks
|
||||||
|
- Skeptic
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- Otago
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- David F. Marks
|
||||||
|
summary: "University of Otago psychologist whose 1978 Nature letter with Richard Kammann argued that cues in the SRI transcripts, not remote viewing, explained the Price series, and who pursued the case through 1986."
|
||||||
|
location: "Dunedin, New Zealand"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
David F. Marks, of the department of psychology at the [[University of Otago]] in [[Dunedin]], [[New Zealand]], began "an investigation in 1975, in association with [[Richard Kammann]]," of the remote-viewing experiments of [[Russell Targ]] and [[Hal Puthoff]] at the [[Stanford Research Institute|Stanford Research Institute]]. Their letter to [[Nature (journal)|Nature]], received July 2, 1977, accepted May 31, 1978, and printed on August 17, 1978: "Targ and Puthoff have described investigations of an extrasensory remote viewing ability which they claim may be widely distributed in the general population. We have carried out duplicate experiments, but our results do not verify their conclusions." Its conclusion, as they later quoted it: "Our investigation of the SRI remote viewing experiment with [[Pat Price]] forces the conclusion that the successful identification of target sites by judges is impossible unless multiple extraneous cues which were available in the original unedited transcripts are utilized. Investigators of remote viewing should take much more care to ensure that such cues are not available. Furthermore, the listing of targets given to judges should be randomized and not presented in the same sequence as that which occurred in the experiments."[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Otago Experiments and the Cues
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Five series of experiments at Otago, "with completely negative results," preceded the critique: "Our decision to break normal protocol and accompany the subject to the target at the end of each experiment was an attempt to gain a better understanding of why our subjects consistently reported successful remote viewing while judges consistently failed to make correct matches," a process the authors named "subjective validation." The SRI judge, [[Arthur Hastings]], "agreed to let me see the Price transcripts" and, "in a letter dated 26 May 1977," told them "that, for the Price series of experiments, he had been given a typed list of targets in the same order as the table in Mind-Reach, i.e., in the correct order." Using "only the cues and the target list," a method they called "remote judging," judges in New Zealand matched the transcripts without visiting the sites: "If in the transcript the experimenter states 'Nothing like having three successes behind you' (Price, transcript 4), it would be irrational to place it earlier than fourth in the series." The book's remote-viewing chapters end: "it appears to us that the remote viewing effect is, at present, nothing more than a massive artifact of poor methodology and wishful thinking."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Puthoff wrote to Marks on July 10, 1978: "With regard to your assumption that the judges knew the order of target visitation, that is incorrect. Neither the single judge (Hastings) nor the panel of five judges were given the order; they were kept blind"; and on August 25, 1980: "You are correct that, in the case of the Price series, the published list of the targets was in the order of target usage, and that, furthermore, when the target list was provided to the judge, it was inadvertently (through an error) given in the same order." In May 1979 Puthoff declined to release the transcripts, "since premature disclosure would prevent further blind analysis work... I do not think it will be in 1979, however, as our analysis contracts extend beyond that; thus, I doubt it will be in time for your book." Hastings "loaned me a complete set of nine transcripts from the Price series and showed me six of the nine [[Hella Hammid|Hammid]] transcripts," then "said he felt 'paranoid' about releasing this information and soon requested their return as they had become 'confidential.'" Of the Hammid transcripts: "I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that four of the six Hammid transcripts actually carried dates. Hastings told me one transcript even carried the name of the associated target"; twenty-four cues in six transcripts ("This is the 18th of September," "Russell Targ has gone to the remote site," "Our second experiment of the morning," "Hal has gone to a second target") let a remote judge in New Zealand reach "a sum of ranks of 8 giving a p value of 0.001," which "exceeded that obtained by Hastings." Hastings had received "three target lists" for the Hammid series, one randomized and two not. Marks's 1982 conclusion: "Well-controlled experiments never find the RV effect, while poorly controlled experiments nearly always do. Data suppression, flawed methodology, and lack of replication lead to the conclusion that remote viewing is a cognitive illusion, an artifact of human error and wishful thinking."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Replies
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Puthoff and Targ's answer, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," dated January 1979 and "submitted for publication to Nature," survives in the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s files. It called the critique a "conjecture," reported that [[Charles Tart]] had the Price transcripts edited of "any additional phrases for which even the most remote post hoc cue argument could be made" and rejudged by a judge selected by a five-transcript test, with "seven of the nine" matched, and added: "We will have to await disclosure of the Marks-Kammann protocols to determine whether failure on their part can be traced to differences in procedure." Tart's accompanying note: "I would hypothesize that Marks and Kammann were unable to obtain significant results in their reanalysis of the subset of the Price series because their judges either lacked the necessary discriminative skills and/or were not sufficiently motivated to use them effectively." Marks replied in Nature in 1981 ("Sensory cues invalidate remote viewing experiments") and, with Christopher Scott, in 1986 ("Remote viewing exposed"). [[Ray Hyman]]'s review for the [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]] cited the book's account of judges convinced by wrong matches: "This phenomenon of subjective validation is pervasive, compelling and powerful."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Later Career
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Marks was senior lecturer in psychology at Otago in 1982, one of five founding members of the New Zealand Skeptics in February 1986, who "used his knowledge" of remote viewing "to test the claim" of a New Zealand psychic, and left "for a professional chair in a new university in London"; he became professor of psychology at [[City, University of London|City University London]], where he issued a second edition of the book in 2000 with three new chapters on remote viewing "including the 'psychic spying' attempted during Cold War days."[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information transmission in remote viewing experiments." *Nature,* vol. 274, August 17, 1978, pp. 680-681, received July 2, 1977, accepted May 31, 1978. https://www.nature.com/articles/274680a0 (abstract and dates only; the text is behind a paywall).
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. *The Psychology of the Psychic.* Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1980, pp. 12-41, 129, 151, 177, 185, read through the archive.org search index of the item psychologyofpsyc0000mark_j8m3 (page fragments only).
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Puthoff, H. E., and Russell Targ, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," and Tart, Charles T., "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," January 1979, "submitted for publication to Nature," CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5; published as Tart, Puthoff and Targ, *Nature,* vol. 284, 1980, p. 191, not seen. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena," September 11, 1995, in *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications,* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, p. 3-71, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180006-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Marks, D. F., "Sensory cues invalidate remote viewing experiments," *Nature,* vol. 292, 1981, p. 177, and Marks, D., and C. Scott, "Remote viewing exposed," *Nature,* vol. 319, 1986, p. 444, titles and authors from the journal's pages only.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Lippard, Jim, editorial note to Kammann, Richard, "Statistical Numerology in the Skeptics' Response to the Mars Effect," *Zetetic Scholar,* no. 10, December 1982, pp. 50-65, reprinted at discord.org/lippard/kammann.html (Wayback Machine copy); University of Otago, "Wellbeing at heart of annual prize" (Wayback Machine copy); Kammann, R., M. Farry and P. Herbison, "The analysis and measurement of happiness as a sense of well-being," *Social Indicators Research,* vol. 15, 1984, pp. 91-115; Howard, Bernard, "Ah Yes! I Remember It Well," NZ Skeptics, February 1, 1999, and "A Classic Updated," February 1, 2002, articles.skeptics.nz; Skeptical Inquirer author page for David F. Marks, skepticalinquirer.org/authors/david-f-marks/; MARC record of the archive.org item psychologyofpsyc0000mark_j8m3 ("Kammann, Richard, 1934-1984").
|
||||||
|
|
@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Bergmann's role in developing [[Israel]]'s nuclear arsenal remains a state secre
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
By mid-1960, when rumors of a possible French pullout from [[Dimona]] circulated, many Israelis, including Bergmann, were ready for the French to leave, believing they could complete the project themselves. Bergmann was a founding member of the Rafi party, and continued to influence [[David Ben-Gurion]] regarding the dangers of not initiating the production of a nuclear arsenal.[^2]
|
By mid-1960, when rumors of a possible French pullout from [[Dimona]] circulated, many Israelis, including Bergmann, were ready for the French to leave, believing they could complete the project themselves. Bergmann was a founding member of the Rafi party, and continued to influence [[David Ben-Gurion]] regarding the dangers of not initiating the production of a nuclear arsenal.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
By the spring of 1966, Bergmann resigned under pressure as director of the commissionerless Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, as well as from his two high-level defense science posts. Many in the [[Levi Eshkol]] cabinet viewed his departure as long overdue. A pouting Bergmann retreated, with the aid of [[Lewis L. Strauss]], to the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton University.[^2]
|
By the spring of 1966, Bergmann resigned under pressure as director of the commissionerless Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, as well as from his two high-level defense science posts. Many in the [[Levi Eshkol]] cabinet viewed his departure as long overdue. A pouting Bergmann retreated, with the aid of [[Lewis L. Strauss]], to the Institute of Advanced Studies at [[Princeton University]].[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
|
||||||
---
|
|
||||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
|
||||||
- Person
|
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
|
||||||
- Military
|
|
||||||
- Stargate
|
|
||||||
- SRI
|
|
||||||
summary: "Fernand 'Fern' Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex."
|
|
||||||
location: "Rhode Island"
|
|
||||||
---
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Fernand "Fern" Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex. He was one of the original six soldier psychics selected for the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] program in 1977.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Gauvin, a dark-haired, handsome Rhode Islander in his late forties, had a long history of psychic experiences and transcendental yearnings dating back to his childhood. He practiced yoga and meditation, experimented with altered states, and read books about spirit-mediums and auras. In 1975, he had an unusual out-of-body experience, an encounter with a "benevolent, luminous, loving entity" that profoundly affected him.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Gauvin was one of the six most promising members of the team selected to travel to [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) for further evaluation of their talents. He participated in the intense, round-the-clock remote viewing sessions during the Iran hostage crisis. Like [[Nancy Stern]], he was deeply affected by the failure of the rescue mission and subsequently left the unit, vowing never to remote-view again.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,19 +1,26 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
aliases:
|
||||||
|
- Fern Gauvin
|
||||||
|
- Fernand A. Gauvin
|
||||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
|
- Military
|
||||||
- Stargate
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- SRI
|
- SRI
|
||||||
summary: "Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more 'James Bond-ish' elements of the U.S."
|
summary: "Civilian counterintelligence specialist at Arlington Hall and one of the first six Gondola Wish remote viewers, who left the unit after the failed Iran hostage rescue of 1980."
|
||||||
location: "Rhode Island"
|
location: "Rhode Island"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fernand "Fern" Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex, home to some of the more "James Bond-ish" elements of the U.S. espionage community. He was among the initial group of ten or eleven candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]] for the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later Grill Flame) remote viewing unit in 1977, and one of the original six soldier psychics. A dark-haired, handsome Rhode Islander in his late forties, Gauvin had a long history of psychic experiences and transcendental yearnings dating back to his childhood; he practiced yoga and meditation, experimented with altered states, and read books about spirit-mediums and auras. In 1975 he had an unusual out-of-body experience, an encounter with a "benevolent, luminous, loving entity" that profoundly affected him.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Fernand Gauvin]] was a civilian counterintelligence specialist from Rhode Island and an early member of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]) remote viewing unit. He was among the initial group of ten or eleven candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]]. Gauvin had a long history of psychic experiences and transcendental yearnings, going back to his childhood. He practiced yoga and meditation, experimented with altered states, and read books about spirit-mediums and auras. In 1975, he had an unusual out-of-body-type experience, an encounter with a benevolent, luminous, loving entity.[^1]
|
Gauvin was one of the six most promising members of the team sent to [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] for two weeks of outbound remote-viewing experiments. He participated in the intense, round-the-clock remote viewing sessions during the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981). Like [[Nancy Stern]], he was deeply affected by the failure of the rescue mission in April 1980 and subsequently left the unit, vowing never to remote-view again.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more "James Bond-ish" elements of the U.S. espionage community. He was among the six most promising members sent to [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] for two weeks of outbound remote-viewing experiments. He was present during the intense and monotonous remote viewing taskings related to the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981). After the failed hostage rescue mission in April 1980, he left the unit, vowing never to remote-view again, highlighting the psychological toll of the relentless remote viewing operations.[^1]
|
The released personnel file of the Grill Flame unit holds a volunteer consent statement of October 4, 1979, another of February 28, 1980, and a statement of consent of April 22, 1980, whose signature lines the scan renders as "Eepatae A Caucie," "LEAUAWD F. GARVIN" and "FESVAML A. CAUCI," with an organization fragment reading "SSO, 902d MI Gp"; the body of one reads "Fernand A. Gauvin." No item title in the collection carries his name.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Grill Flame security agreements, volunteer consent statements, participant counseling statements, "Information About Remote Viewing for Participants" forms, and DIA Sun Streak access forms, 1977 to 1988, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100150005-8 to R002100150079-7; names as printed in the item titles, the signature lines being largely illegible in OCR. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. The three readings are inconsistent and the identification is not confirmed.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Harold Thomas Finney II (1956 to 2014), known as Hal Finney, was an American cry
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Cryptography and PGP
|
### Cryptography and PGP
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Finney graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1979 and joined APh Technological Consulting, the firm Mattel contracted to develop the Intellivision, where he programmed the console game Space Battle and its Atari 2600 port Space Attack, as well as Astroblast, the 2600 port of Astrosmash. He began volunteering on [[Phil Zimmermann]]'s Pretty Good Privacy in 1991, became a central contributor to PGP 2.0, and when the federal investigation into Zimmermann closed in 1996 Zimmermann hired him as an employee.[^1][^2][^8]
|
Finney graduated from the [[California Institute of Technology]] in 1979 and joined APh Technological Consulting, the firm Mattel contracted to develop the Intellivision, where he programmed the console game Space Battle and its Atari 2600 port Space Attack, as well as Astroblast, the 2600 port of Astrosmash. He began volunteering on [[Phil Zimmermann]]'s Pretty Good Privacy in 1991, became a central contributor to PGP 2.0, and when the federal investigation into Zimmermann closed in 1996 Zimmermann hired him as an employee.[^1][^2][^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Finney ran one of the early anonymous remailers, servers that stripped routing information so that a message could not be traced to its sender, and he was a frequent contributor to the cypherpunks list, where he introduced the idea of digital cash to the overlapping extropian community. He continued working on PGP under Zimmermann until ALS forced his retirement in 2011, by which point PGP had become the standard tool for encrypting email and the federal effort to suppress it had collapsed.[^3][^8]
|
Finney ran one of the early anonymous remailers, servers that stripped routing information so that a message could not be traced to its sender, and he was a frequent contributor to the cypherpunks list, where he introduced the idea of digital cash to the overlapping extropian community. He continued working on PGP under Zimmermann until ALS forced his retirement in 2011, by which point PGP had become the standard tool for encrypting email and the federal effort to suppress it had collapsed.[^3][^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ According to Bergier, the ESP experiment involved simple sender-receiver trials
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
An expanded version of his story, "The Secret of the Nautilus," was published in France's top science journal, *Science et Vie*, in February 1960. While no authors were identified, editor [[Gérald Messadié]] stated that multiple sources had confirmed the story. [[J. B. Rhine]] of the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] was identified as the civilian scientist assigned to the project, with reports of "about 75% of the telepathic tries are said to have been successful"[^1].
|
An expanded version of his story, "The Secret of the Nautilus," was published in France's top science journal, *Science et Vie*, in February 1960. While no authors were identified, editor [[Gérald Messadié]] stated that multiple sources had confirmed the story. [[J. B. Rhine]] of the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] was identified as the civilian scientist assigned to the project, with reports of "about 75% of the telepathic tries are said to have been successful"[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Whether Bergier's story was true or fabricated remains a debate, but it had real-world consequences. The Soviets used the news story to their strategic advantage, with [[Leonid L. Vasilev]], Russia's leading ESP researcher, claiming that Soviet parapsychology research was stimulated by the *Nautilus* reports[^1].
|
Whether Bergier's story was true or fabricated remains a debate, but it had real-world consequences. The Soviets used the news story to their strategic advantage, with [[Leonid Vasiliev|Leonid L. Vasilev]], Russia's leading ESP researcher, claiming that Soviet parapsychology research was stimulated by the *Nautilus* reports[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Publications
|
### Publications
|
||||||
* "Thought Transfer, Weapon of War" (*Constellation*, 1959)
|
* "Thought Transfer, Weapon of War" (*Constellation*, 1959)
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
21
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Alcock.md
Normal file
21
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Alcock.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Skeptics & Critics"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- JamesAlcock
|
||||||
|
- Skeptic
|
||||||
|
- CSICOP
|
||||||
|
- YorkUniversity
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- James E. Alcock
|
||||||
|
summary: "York University social psychologist, CSICOP founding participant and author of Parapsychology: Science or Magic?, named by the National Research Council in 1995 as a prospective reviewer of Star Gate."
|
||||||
|
location: "Toronto, Ontario"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
James E. Alcock, professor of psychology at [[York University]] in [[Toronto]] from 1973 and former director of its graduate program in psychology, took an honours physics degree at [[McGill University]] and a doctorate in social psychology at McMaster, with post-doctoral training in clinical psychology, and was a registered psychologist from 1974. He was "invited to the initial conference where the organization was formalized" of the [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]], later a fellow and member of its executive council, a member of the editorial board of the *Skeptical Inquirer* and of the advisory board of the American Council on Science and Health, and the author of *Parapsychology: Science or Magic?* (1981) and *Science and Supernature* (1990) and co-editor of *Psi Wars* (2003). Of the 1970s: "This led to such crazy things as 'spoon bending parties' among some American congressmen, the use of 'biorhythm analysis' by some companies with regard to vetting their employees, and even at one point the use of horoscopes to help a judge decide on terms of punishment." [[John Palmer]] answered his book in *Zetetic Scholar* in 1983. The CIA's chronology of the Star Gate transfer records that on March 15, 1995, "Jessica Utts, John Palmer, James Alcock, and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 the NRC "formally rejects" the study.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "James Alcock," speaker biography, European Skeptics Congress 2005, alpha.uhasselt.be/~gjb/esc2005/Alcock_James.html, Wayback Machine capture; Gerbic, Susan, "James Alcock - an Interview with Susan Gerbic," Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, September 6, 2017. https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/james_alcock_-_an_interview_with_susan_gerbic "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ summary: "Jeannie Betters was the unit secretary for the DIA's Remote Viewing pr
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Jeannie Betters was the unit secretary for the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]]'s [[Remote Viewing]] program at [[Fort Meade]]. She took notes during remote viewing sessions, including those conducted by [[Angela Dellafiora]][^1].
|
Jeannie Betters was the unit secretary for the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]]'s [[Remote Viewing]] program at [[Fort Meade]]. She took notes during remote viewing sessions, including those conducted by [[Angela Dellafiora]][^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In one notable session concerning the fugitive [[Charles Frank Jordan]], Betters recorded the exchange between [[Fern Gauvin]], the operations manager, and Dellafiora. When Dellafiora stated Jordan was in "Lowell, Wyoming," and Gauvin questioned if she meant Lowell, Massachusetts, Betters interjected, "She said Wyoming, Fern," confirming Dellafiora's specific location[^1].
|
In one notable session concerning the fugitive [[Charles Frank Jordan]], Betters recorded the exchange between [[Fernand Gauvin|Fern Gauvin]], the operations manager, and Dellafiora. When Dellafiora stated Jordan was in "Lowell, Wyoming," and Gauvin questioned if she meant Lowell, Massachusetts, Betters interjected, "She said Wyoming, Fern," confirming Dellafiora's specific location[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Stargate
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- SRI
|
- SRI
|
||||||
summary: "U.S. Army captain and original remote viewer in the Stargate Project known for extraordinary ability to connect with distressed or missing human targets."
|
summary: "U.S. Army captain and original remote viewer in the Stargate Project known for extraordinary ability to connect with distressed or missing human targets."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ken Bell was a U.S. Army captain and one of the original six remote viewers in the [[STARGATE PROJECT]]. He was recruited into the program, then codenamed [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]], in 1977 by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]].[^1]
|
Ken Bell was a U.S. Army captain and one of the original six remote viewers in the [[STARGATE PROJECT]]. He was recruited into the program, then codenamed Gondola Wish, in 1977 by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bell had a background in counterintelligence and was known for his interest in meditation. He was described as short, wiry, and somewhat intense. He believed that psi could never be used to make money, as psychics who tried to get rich often failed, suggesting a connection between psi and human morality. He was among the six most promising members sent to [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) for two weeks of outbound remote-viewing experiments, where SRI evaluated their talents and confirmed their suitability for operational remote viewing.[^1]
|
Bell had a background in counterintelligence and was known for his interest in meditation. He was described as short, wiry, and somewhat intense. He believed that psi could never be used to make money, as psychics who tried to get rich often failed, suggesting a connection between psi and human morality. He was among the six most promising members sent to [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) for two weeks of outbound remote-viewing experiments, where SRI evaluated their talents and confirmed their suitability for operational remote viewing.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -23,8 +24,13 @@ He was instrumental in the "telepathic interrogation" of a KGB agent in South Af
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
During the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981), Bell, along with other remote viewers, was tasked hundreds of times to provide information on the hostages. He experienced the intense pressure and monotony of these taskings, which contributed to mental burnout among the remote viewing team. He was present during the debriefing after the failed hostage rescue mission, and remained with the unit during the subsequent period of uncertainty.[^1]
|
During the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981), Bell, along with other remote viewers, was tasked hundreds of times to provide information on the hostages. He experienced the intense pressure and monotony of these taskings, which contributed to mental burnout among the remote viewing team. He was present during the debriefing after the failed hostage rescue mission, and remained with the unit during the subsequent period of uncertainty.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bell, along with [[Mel Riley]] and [[Joe McMoneagle]], became one of the three full-time remote viewers when the unit was officially designated the Special Action Branch and the program was codenamed [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]. He arranged to stay with the unit initially but left within a year to rejoin the regular Army career track, eventually retiring in the late 1980s as a lieutenant colonel.[^1]
|
Bell, along with [[Mel Riley]] and [[Joe McMoneagle]], became one of the three full-time remote viewers when the unit was officially designated the Special Action Branch and the program was codenamed Grill Flame. He arranged to stay with the unit initially but left within a year to rejoin the regular Army career track, eventually retiring in the late 1980s as a lieutenant colonel.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
### The Documents
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
The released personnel file holds his Grill Flame volunteer security agreement, listing him as "INSCOM" with a position the scan renders as "Grill Flame Agent," his "Information About Remote Viewing for Participants" form of May 9, 1979, and his statement of consent of April 21, 1980, "as a participant in the INSCOM GRILL FLAME Project (IGFP)," to "the tape recording, monitoring and transcribing of all session interviews." From March 1980 to May 1981 he signed the unit's session reports, memoranda for record and transcript summaries from HQ INSCOM (IAFM-OPS-HU-SA) as "CPT, MI, Special Actions Branch" (March 19, 1980), "Project Analyst" (the summary of Project 8003, July 14, 1980) and "CPT, MI, Control Analyst" (sessions DC-68 of January 23, 1981, and DCC-45 of May 8, 1981), twenty-eight documents in all.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Grill Flame security agreements, volunteer consent statements, participant counseling statements, "Information About Remote Viewing for Participants" forms, and DIA Sun Streak access forms, 1977 to 1988, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100150005-8 to R002100150079-7; names as printed in the item titles, the signature lines being largely illegible in OCR. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. INSCOM Grill Flame program session reports, memoranda for record and transcript summaries signed by Kenneth V. Bell, Jr., March 1980 to May 1981, among them CIA-RDP96-00788R000200470007-3 (March 19, 1980), R000200570001-8 (Project 8003 summary, July 14, 1980), R000500330001-1 (session DC-68, January 23, 1981) and R000500450001-8 (session DCC-45, May 8, 1981). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
|
||||||
- Kit Green
|
- Kit Green
|
||||||
- Christopher Green
|
- Christopher Green
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
|
@ -52,8 +52,11 @@ Following his departure from CIA, Green continued academic and research work in
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Green contributed as a consultant and scientific advisor to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program ([[AATIP]]), the Pentagon's UAP research program that operated from approximately 2007 to 2012 under the direction of [[Luis D. Elizondo III|Luis Elizondo]]. His contribution included review of reported physical and physiological effects on individuals claiming proximity to anomalous aerial phenomena. He published research examining injuries reported by people claiming UAP encounters - a category he termed "exotic wounds" - applying forensic neurological analysis to the reported symptom patterns. This work represented the extension of his long-standing interest in the medical and physiological dimensions of anomalous phenomena from the SRI era into the post-AATIP period.[^3]
|
Green contributed as a consultant and scientific advisor to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program ([[AATIP]]), the Pentagon's UAP research program that operated from approximately 2007 to 2012 under the direction of [[Luis D. Elizondo III|Luis Elizondo]]. His contribution included review of reported physical and physiological effects on individuals claiming proximity to anomalous aerial phenomena. He published research examining injuries reported by people claiming UAP encounters - a category he termed "exotic wounds" - applying forensic neurological analysis to the reported symptom patterns. This work represented the extension of his long-standing interest in the medical and physiological dimensions of anomalous phenomena from the SRI era into the post-AATIP period.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A Defense Electronics article of July 1993 in the CIA's Star Gate files, on closed briefings by the Russian scientist Igor Smirnov on "a computerized acoustic device allegedly capable of implanting thoughts in a person's mind," held from March 17 in northern Virginia and later at the University of Kansas Medical Center, lists among "the non-military attendees" "Dr. Richard Nakamura of the National Institute of Mental Health and Dr. Christopher Green, director of General Motors Corp. (GM) biomedical research department in Detroit"; whether this is the Green of this page the article does not say.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Puthoff, Harold E. Letter to Christopher Green, CIA, June 27, 1972. CIA FOIA Reading Room, cia.gov/readingroom. CIA document CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030006-8 (released). Kripal, Jeffrey J. *Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion*. University of Chicago Press, 2007, pp. 381-385.
|
[^1]: Puthoff, Harold E. Letter to Christopher Green, CIA, June 27, 1972. CIA FOIA Reading Room, cia.gov/readingroom. CIA document CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030006-8 (released). Kripal, Jeffrey J. *Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion*. University of Chicago Press, 2007, pp. 381-385.
|
||||||
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
[^3]: Lacatski, James T., Kelleher, Colm A., and Knapp, George. *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insider's Account of the Secret Government UAP Program*. RTMA, 2021. Elizondo, Luis. *IMMINENT: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs*. Morrow, 2024.
|
[^3]: Lacatski, James T., Kelleher, Colm A., and Knapp, George. *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insider's Account of the Secret Government UAP Program*. RTMA, 2021. Elizondo, Luis. *IMMINENT: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs*. Morrow, 2024.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: "DoD, Intel Agencies Look at Russian Mind Control Technology, Claims," July 1993, reprinted from *Defense Electronics,* CIA-RDP96-00792R000600150001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. The article gives no CIA affiliation and the identification is not confirmed.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
25
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Larry Combest.md
Normal file
25
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Larry Combest.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- LarryCombest
|
||||||
|
- Congress
|
||||||
|
- HPSCI
|
||||||
|
- Texas
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Larry Ed Combest
|
||||||
|
summary: "Texas Republican and former aide to John Tower who chaired the House intelligence committee in 1995-96, received the CIA's Star Gate transfer report, and produced the IC21 review."
|
||||||
|
born: 1945-03-20
|
||||||
|
location: "Lubbock, Texas"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Larry Ed Combest was born in Memphis, Hall County, [[Texas]], on March 20, 1945, graduated from West Texas State University in 1969, farmed, directed the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service office in 1971, and was legislative assistant to Senator [[John Tower]] from 1971 to 1978. Elected as a Republican in 1984, he sat in the House, a member from [[Lubbock]], from January 3, 1985, until his resignation on May 31, 2003, sat on the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]] from 1988, chaired it in the 104th Congress, and chaired the Agriculture Committee in the 106th and 107th.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
As chairman he was the addressee of the CIA's letter of March 28, 1995, transmitting DIA's and the CIA's responses to Congress's directed actions on the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]] program ([[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]). On April 9, 1996, he sent the Speaker the committee staff study *IC21: The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century,* "carefully edited in consultation with the appropriate agencies to remove any classified information." In 1996 "Mr. Combest was awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the Seal Medallion of the Central Intelligence Agency," and he served as vice chairman of the [[Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy|Moynihan Commission]] on secrecy.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "COMBEST, Larry Ed," History, Art and Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/C/COMBEST,-Larry-Ed-(C000653)/
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs to Larry Combest, March 28, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040002-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Combest, Larry, transmittal letter to the Speaker, April 9, 1996, in *IC21: The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century,* staff study, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, GPO, 1996. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-IC21/html/GPO-IC21-2.htm *Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy,* 1997, appendix D, biographical information. https://sgp.fas.org/library/moynihan/appd.html The commission's biography dates his chairmanship 1994 to 1996.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Lyn Buchanan
|
title: Lyn Buchanan
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Lyn Buchanan
|
- Lyn Buchanan
|
||||||
|
|
@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ After retiring from the Army, Buchanan founded Problems - Solutions - Innovation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 2003, Buchanan published *The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a "Psychic Spy" for the U.S. Military* (Hampton Roads Publishing), an account of his Army remote viewing experience and his understanding of the CRV process. The book drew on his experience as both viewer and unit data manager and provided one of the more technically detailed accounts of operational military remote viewing from the Fort Meade period.[^1]
|
In 2003, Buchanan published *The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a "Psychic Spy" for the U.S. Military* (Hampton Roads Publishing), an account of his Army remote viewing experience and his understanding of the CRV process. The book drew on his experience as both viewer and unit data manager and provided one of the more technically detailed accounts of operational military remote viewing from the Fort Meade period.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[Edwin May]] wrote from the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory on September 21, 1995, that he had obtained a tape of "an hour program that aired a few weeks ago in England," Channel 4's version of [[Jim Schnabel]]'s Independent article, which "features [[Mel Riley]] and [[Ed Dames]] but includes interviews with MG (ret) [[Edmund Thompson|Ed Thompson]] (former ARMY ACSI), Adm. [[Stansfield Turner|Turner]], Dr. [[Hal Puthoff|Puthoff]], Lyn Buchanan, and [[John B. Alexander|John Alexander]]"; "in my opinion, the show is sensational and makes no attempt to separate fact from fiction. By implication it attempts (and perhaps accomplishes) to raise the credibility of Dames, Riley, and Alexander by association with generals, admirals and the Intelligence community."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: May, Edwin, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, "Re: Publicity and things," September 21, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030077-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
27
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Manfred Gale.md
Normal file
27
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Manfred Gale.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- ManfredGale
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- Army
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- M. Gale
|
||||||
|
summary: "Army staff official who chaired the 1979 Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee and whose report and briefings the Defense Department's parapsychology working group rejected as misleading."
|
||||||
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Manfred Gale, of the Army staff at the Pentagon (office symbol DAMA-ZD, under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition), chaired the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]], appointed after "in June 1979 it was suggested by Dr. [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]], then Under Secretary of the Army, that a Scientific Evaluation Committee be appointed to review the Army's parapsychological activities." He "organized" the committee and invited its members, "carefully screened to avoid any persons with preconceived notions for or against the subject under investigation," and kept "a collection of all such documents" in his office. Its report of December 1979 found that remote-viewing research "thus far have not proved the existence of the phenomena," that "sole dependence on SRI-like protocols to resolve the RV issue will not be fruitful," and, by five votes to three, that [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]]'s operational work could continue under oversight.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Defense Department's Grill Flame committee under [[Jack Vorona]] of [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] heard on November 27, 1979, that the report "had not been completed," one member "questioned the substantive expertise of the Gale Committee," and the group asked to see it "prior to it being given to any other party or group." Gale briefed it on January 10, 1980: "Mr. Gale's briefing was not received favorably by the Grill Flame group. There were many substantive reservations based upon errors in both facts and analysis. The report was, in the view of the group, misleading and inadequate." Major [[William Stoner]], the committee's own coordinator, wrote after Gale's briefing of January 14 that Gale "has, in briefing the report here and elsewhere, done a great deal of verbalizing (shading) issues, personal opinion, 'faction,' and general guesswork not contained anywhere in the report. Some of it is just plain misleading"; that his claim of having "rejected two people who had pronounced tendencies to be nonobjective" was false as to [[Ray Hyman]], "rejected not because of any action by Gale, but because of a protest memo from MG [[Edmund Thompson|Thompson]] to Dr LaBerge"; that "the Gale report is big, but weak"; and that Gale, "selling the report around the Pentagon," "should be thanked by the DoD Steering Committee and allowed or told to quietly go his way." On January 25, 1980, Gale asked Stoner to distribute 27 copies of the report, with LaBerge's "official copy by Monday, 28 Jan."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Gale's Army title was "Advisor for RDA Analysis, ODCSRDA." On August 8, 1979, the Under Secretary's military assistant wrote that "the Under Secretary would like you to brief" [[Ruth Davis]] and a Mr. Nealsen "with the same informal briefing that you gave him," that Nealsen "will also ask that you brief Admiral Murphy in the same way," and that "Dr. LaBerge discussed your proposed change in test design with USAMSAA. They are taking action to implement the proposal at this time." A month earlier his office had been told that [[Harry Snyder]] "has been asked in place of Dr. Hyman." Lieutenant Colonel [[Murray Watt]]'s message of November 1979 from Fort Meade recorded that "Mr Manfred Gale (Team Chief) assured LTC Watt that INSCOM would be provided with a copy of the team's report when it was finalized," and that his office was "anxious to see their recommendations concerning our program in particular and the DoD program as a whole."[^903]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Gale, M., "Distribution of GRILL FLAME Reports," memorandum for Major Stoner, ACSI, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition, January 25, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230023-0; three CIA Reading Room items of February 13, 1980, are titled "Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) Grill Flame Report, Dated November 1979" (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250025-7, R001100080007-6, R001200230026-7), not read. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^903]: "Grill Flame Review Panel Members," undated roster, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230008-7; Office of the Under Secretary of the Army, memorandum for Mr. Manny Gale, July 17, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230004-1; K. Lytle, Major, Military Assistant, memorandum for Mr. Gale, Advisor for RDA Analysis, ODCSRDA, "Briefing for Dr. Ruth Davis and Mr. Nealsen," August 8, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230013-1; Snyder to Gale, undated (catalogued May 11, 1979, but referring to October and a visit of September 28), CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230038-4, and November 19, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230042-9; "Findings," "Recommendations," "Estimated Costs," unsigned, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230043-8; SSO Meade to SSO ACSI DA, "Grill Flame DoD Science Evaluation Team Report," LTC Watt, November 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230047-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Before his resignation, Bissell had authorized the development of ZR/RIFLE under
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Later Career
|
### Later Career
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After leaving the CIA, Bissell worked at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and other positions. He wrote his memoirs, *Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs*, which were published posthumously by Yale University Press in 1996. The memoir provided a careful but incomplete account of his CIA career; some of the most sensitive material about ZR/RIFLE and the organized crime relationships remained unaddressed.
|
After leaving the CIA, Bissell worked at the [[Institute for Defense Analyses]] (IDA) and other positions. He wrote his memoirs, *Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs*, which were published posthumously by Yale University Press in 1996. The memoir provided a careful but incomplete account of his CIA career; some of the most sensitive material about ZR/RIFLE and the organized crime relationships remained unaddressed.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bissell died in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 7, 1994.[^2]
|
Bissell died in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 7, 1994.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
39
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Richard D'Amato.md
Normal file
39
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Richard D'Amato.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- RichardDAmato
|
||||||
|
- Congress
|
||||||
|
- SenateAppropriations
|
||||||
|
- StarGate
|
||||||
|
- USChinaCommission
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- C. Richard D'Amato
|
||||||
|
- Dick D'Amato
|
||||||
|
- Charles Richard D'Amato
|
||||||
|
summary: "Senate Appropriations Committee counsel under Robert Byrd who wrote the 1995 language moving Star Gate to the CIA, later a Maryland delegate and chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission."
|
||||||
|
born: 1942-09-28
|
||||||
|
location: "Annapolis, Maryland"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Charles Richard D'Amato was born in Hackensack, [[New Jersey]], on September 28, 1942, took his degree in government at [[Cornell University]] in 1964 and a master's at the [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]], taught government at the [[United States Naval Academy]] from 1968 to 1971, served in the USS King in the Pacific, and took a law degree at [[Georgetown University]] in 1980. He was legislative director to Representative [[James Jeffords]] from 1975 to 1978, legislative assistant and chief of staff to Senator [[Abraham Ribicoff]] to 1980, "staff director and counsel to U.S. Senate Majority Leader [[Robert Byrd|Robert C. Byrd]]" from 1980 to 1987, "co-director of the Senate Arms Control Observer Group," and "chief democratic counsel, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, 1988-98," where, in his own description, he was "lead staff on Foreign Policy, National Defense Intelligence and Trade." The committee's hearing volume on the fiscal 1998 defense appropriation lists him among the minority staff of the defense subcommittee under Byrd. Over twenty-five years in the Navy Reserve, retiring as a captain, his assignments included "attaché duty at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China on proliferation issues and military-to-military initiatives in March 1997" and the battle group staff of the USS Eisenhower in Desert Shield.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Star Gate
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The CIA's papers on the transfer of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]] program in 1995 ([[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]) record that the Director of Congressional Affairs "described our approach to Mr. Richard D'Amato, the congressional staffer responsible for the language effecting the transfer, and Mr. D'Amato expressed concern about the DIA people, in particular the three remote viewers, during the period that the panel is conducting our review"; that on March 27, 1995, the CIA "briefed Richard D'Amato at Hart Senate Office bldg, on status of transfer; obtained agreement on previously submitted Terms of Reference"; and, in slides for the committee, that "CIA terms of reference requested that no resources be transferred until Blue Ribbon Panel completes directed review, SAC staffer agreed." His support for the program in the Senate is said to have been vital. [[Edwin May]] wrote to him in 1993 to complain that research reports sent to Fort Meade had never been read, and in 1995, dissatisfied with DIA's treatment of the project, he pressed for the transfer.[^4][^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A statement he posted on his own website, headed "1980's Inquiry into Unidentified Aerial Crash in New Mexico," reads: "In the 1980's and 1990's, I served on the staff of the Senate Democratic Leader, Senator Robert C. Byrd, and my responsibilities involved helping manage the budgets of the Department of Defense and the National Foreign Intelligence Program... In this context, a senior Senate Committee chairman asked me to conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations that came to his attention regarding unidentified aerial crashes in the 1940's in New Mexico. I met with a number of people who had made public statements on the matter. I reported my conclusion to the Senator that the basis for such allegations did not appear to merit any further Senate investigation. Beyond this inquiry on behalf of the Senator, I have no personal opinion on the matter and consider the inquiry to have been closed for over 20 years."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Afterward
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
By 1999, while a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates for Annapolis (1999-2003, Appropriations Committee), he was "President of a consulting firm that represents American corporations on strategic planning and international trade matters" and a member of the Trade Deficit Review Commission. He "developed the legislation creating" the [[U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission]] in 2001 and sat on it from 2001 to 2007 and 2011 to 2012, as chairman in 2002-03 and 2004-05, "appointed to serve for four terms by Senate Democratic Leaders," with "top security clearances." He was later vice president of Synergics Energy, a wind-power developer, a partner in McKenzie Environmental Recycling, and a trustee or commissioner of the Historic Annapolis Foundation, the Coast Guard Foundation, Maryland's climate change commission and its prosecutor selection commission; his wife, Dorothy Walsh, was senior staff to Senator [[Bill Nelson]].[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: D'Amato, C. Richard, resume, self-published at megalomediadesigns.com/dickdamatoresume.pdf, Wayback Machine capture of April 28, 2016; and "1980's Inquiry into Unidentified Aerial Crash in New Mexico," statement posted as an image on the same site, Wayback Machine capture of July 6, 2020 (on the site by April 2013). The resume dates the Fletcher degree to 1965 and adds "Harvard Law School, 1966"; the Maryland and commission biographies give 1967.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: "C. Richard D'Amato, MSA SC 3520-2771," Archives of Maryland, Biographical Series, msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002700/002771/html/2771bio.html; Maryland Manual On-Line, former members of the House of Delegates, msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/former/html/msa02771.html.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: "C. Richard D'Amato," Trade Deficit Review Commission member biography, c. 1999-2000, govinfo.library.unt.edu/tdrc/members/damato.html. *Department of Defense Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1998,* hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, 105th Congress, S. Hrg. 105-340, Washington: GPO, 1998, front matter. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-105shrg39834/html/CHRG-105shrg39834.htm
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Director of Research and Development, CIA, "Response to CDA on Stargate," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040020-2; "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9; briefing slides for the Senate Appropriations Committee, May 22, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100050001-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: The characterizations of his support, May's 1993 letter and the pressure for the transfer are those of Mörck, Nemo C. Review of *The Star Gate Archives, Volume 4,* *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 40, no. 1, Spring 2026, pp. 149-154, citing Smith, R. Jeffrey, "Senators kept psychic intelligence program alive, staff aides say," *Washington Post,* December 1, 1995, which was not seen.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ born: 1933-01-01
|
||||||
died: 1999-08-09
|
died: 1999-08-09
|
||||||
location: "Newark, New Jersey"
|
location: "Newark, New Jersey"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Dr. Robert Byck was a Yale University cocaine expert who testified before Congress in 1979 to warn of an impending drug epidemic from smokable cocaine, seven years before the 1986 crack panic. His warnings were completely ignored.[^1]
|
Dr. Robert Byck was a [[Yale University]] cocaine expert who testified before Congress in 1979 to warn of an impending drug epidemic from smokable cocaine, seven years before the 1986 crack panic. His warnings were completely ignored.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### 1979 Warning
|
### 1979 Warning
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
24
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ruth Davis.md
Normal file
24
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ruth Davis.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- RuthDavis
|
||||||
|
- Pentagon
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Ruth M. Davis
|
||||||
|
summary: "Deputy under secretary of defense for research and advanced technology who in 1978 set the managerial questions for the Pentagon's remote-viewing oversight and in 1979 widened the Gale Committee's mandate to the whole department."
|
||||||
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Ruth M. Davis was Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology) in 1978 and 1979. On October 25, 1978, Representative [[Charlie Rose]], chairman of the evaluation subcommittee of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]], wrote to her that he had "recently had occasion to become acquainted with some interesting research involving paranormal phenomena, specifically that relating to remote viewing," that "we have a strong obligation also to learn what Soviet research is underway," and that "I would therefore like to see the Department of Defense undertake those efforts deemed necessary and appropriate to investigate remote viewing and other related phenomena." On November 20, 1978, ahead of a [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] meeting on the subject set for November 28, she sent [[Jack Vorona]] eight "topics or issues that appear to me to demand immediate attention from the oversight groups you will establish": "a clear cut statement of objectives sought by the Intelligence Community"; "a rationale for continued exploration of remote viewing phenomena, e.g., in terms of understanding the impact of success by others on U.S. vulnerabilities"; "the scientific status of remote viewing experiments treating such issues as the apparent non-reproducibility of results, the lack of documented and/or accepted scientific protocols, the seeming lack of consistent criteria for accepting and treating subjects"; measures of progress "developed by other than the current experimenters" that "ensure that the magicians' processes of deception, feedback to subjects, etc. are not inadvertantly allowed"; evaluation "by other than the experimenters"; "a past, present and future funding profile justifiable in terms of DoD objectives"; "a stark clear statement of events, data, etc. that will justify termination of continued funding of the project"; and "the related legal issues of individual privacy, controlled surveillance, etc." "As you know, I have had highlighted to me both the potential afforded by success in remote viewing as well as the current scientific skepticism about the ongoing activity." Copies went to [[Walter LaBerge]], Jill Wine-Volner and Major General [[Edmund Thompson]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
She sat on the Grill Flame steering committee at its first meeting on February 13, 1979, with the service intelligence chiefs, LaBerge and Vorona, and "in early July 1979, Dr. Ruth Davis recommended that because of the special interest of the Secretary of Defense, that the Committee review the total DOD posture and report directly to the GRILL FLAME Oversight Committee," which set the mandate of the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]].[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Davis, Ruth M., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology), memorandum for Dr. Jack Vorona, "'Remote Viewing' Project," November 20, 1978, with the letter of Charlie Rose, Chairman, Subcommittee on Evaluation, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to Davis, October 25, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500240017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Scott Belsky (born 1980) is an American entrepreneur and investor who founded th
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Behance and 99U
|
### Behance and 99U
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Belsky took a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 2002 and an MBA from Harvard Business School, working at Goldman Sachs before founding Behance in 2006 with the designer Matías Corea. Behance built an online portfolio network for creative professionals, and Belsky paired it with the 99U conference, launched in 2009 and "devoted to the execution of ideas," and the Action Method, a productivity system and line of organizational products. The company raised a single outside round, a 6.5 million dollar Series A in May 2012, with investors including Union Square Ventures and Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions.[^2][^3]
|
Belsky took a bachelor's degree from [[Cornell University]] in 2002 and an MBA from Harvard Business School, working at Goldman Sachs before founding Behance in 2006 with the designer Matías Corea. Behance built an online portfolio network for creative professionals, and Belsky paired it with the 99U conference, launched in 2009 and "devoted to the execution of ideas," and the Action Method, a productivity system and line of organizational products. The company raised a single outside round, a 6.5 million dollar Series A in May 2012, with investors including Union Square Ventures and Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions.[^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The 99U brand and the *Making Ideas Happen* and *The Messy Middle* books extended Belsky's name beyond the product into the productivity-and-creativity commentary that accompanied his investing.[^4][^5]
|
The 99U brand and the *Making Ideas Happen* and *The Messy Middle* books extended Belsky's name beyond the product into the productivity-and-creativity commentary that accompanied his investing.[^4][^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ born: 1967-06-28
|
||||||
location: "Middletown, Connecticut"
|
location: "Middletown, Connecticut"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Annie Jacobsen is an American investigative journalist and author, known for her non-fiction books focusing on government secrecy, national security, and warfare. She is a graduate of Princeton University.
|
Annie Jacobsen is an American investigative journalist and author, known for her non-fiction books focusing on government secrecy, national security, and warfare. She is a graduate of [[Princeton University]].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Bibliography
|
### Bibliography
|
||||||
* [[Phenomena - The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis]] (2017)
|
* [[Phenomena - The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis]] (2017)
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
20
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arthur Hastings.md
Normal file
20
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arthur Hastings.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- ArthurHastings
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- SRI
|
||||||
|
summary: "Consultant to the SRI remote-viewing program and sole judge of the Price and Hammid series, whose target lists and transcripts, lent to David Marks, became the basis of the 1978 cueing critique."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Arthur Hastings was the consultant to the remote-viewing program of [[Russell Targ]] and [[Hal Puthoff]] at the [[Stanford Research Institute|Stanford Research Institute]] and the judge who ranked the transcripts of the [[Pat Price]] and [[Hella Hammid]] series, in the second obtaining "five direct hits and four second ranks." With David Hurt he published "A confirmatory remote viewing experiment in a group setting" in the Proceedings of the IEEE in October 1976, in which twenty of thirty-six participants chose the correct target from six named by Hastings, and with Vallee and Askevold an experiment "through computer conferencing."[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In a letter of May 26, 1977, to [[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]], he wrote that for the Price series "he had been given a typed list of targets in the same order as the table in Mind-Reach, i.e., in the correct order," and that for the Hammid series "I received three target lists," one randomized and two not; he "agreed to let me see the Price transcripts," "loaned me a complete set of nine transcripts from the Price series and showed me six of the nine Hammid transcripts," told Marks that "one transcript even carried the name of the associated target, although he returned this one to SRI," and then "said he felt 'paranoid' about releasing this information and soon requested their return as they had become 'confidential.'" Marks and Kammann described him as "a regularly paid consultant to Targ and Puthoff" who "staunchly believes in psychic phenomena including [[Uri Geller]] and remote viewing." The 1979 evaluation by Harry and Arlene Snyder held by the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]: "Hastings is an SRI employee, perhaps an SRI scientist, certainly a consultant, and also a coauthor. In addition, we understand (R. [[Ray Hyman|Hyman]], personal communication) that he is a professional magician and the sole judge used in the latter SRI local target studies and a consultant and judge for another organization in the Southwest currently conducting remote viewing studies. Should the above be as accurate as we believe it to be, significant changes are needed in future judging procedures and judge selection."[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. *The Psychology of the Psychic.* Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1980, pp. 12-41, 129, 151, 177, 185, read through the archive.org search index of the item psychologyofpsyc0000mark_j8m3 (page fragments only). Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: David Morehouse
|
title: David Morehouse
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- David Morehouse
|
- David Morehouse
|
||||||
|
|
@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ The reception among former unit colleagues was largely negative. [[Joe McMoneagl
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Despite these criticisms, *Psychic Warrior* introduced the Fort Meade program to a large popular audience and helped establish the commercial remote viewing training market that emerged after STAR GATE's 1995 declassification. Morehouse subsequently built a civilian career offering remote viewing training seminars.[^1]
|
Despite these criticisms, *Psychic Warrior* introduced the Fort Meade program to a large popular audience and helped establish the commercial remote viewing training market that emerged after STAR GATE's 1995 declassification. Morehouse subsequently built a civilian career offering remote viewing training seminars.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
An undated memorandum in the CIA's Star Gate files, headed "Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?," records: "[[Ed Dames|Edward A. Dames]] serves as President of [[Psi Tech]], and David A. Morehouse is Vice President. They are based in [[Jessup, Maryland]], but there are rumors that they are planning to move to [[New Mexico]]." No other legible mention of him appears in the released collection.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997. Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Morehouse, David. *Psychic Warrior: Inside the CIA's Stargate Program, the True Story of a Soldier's Espionage and Awakening.* St. Martin's Press, 1996.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997. Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Morehouse, David. *Psychic Warrior: Inside the CIA's Stargate Program, the True Story of a Soldier's Espionage and Awakening.* St. Martin's Press, 1996.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: "Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?," undated memorandum, CIA-RDP96-00792R000400300004-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ died: 2016-02-04
|
||||||
location: "Hereford, Texas"
|
location: "Hereford, Texas"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Edgar Mitchell was an American astronaut, best known as the lunar module pilot for Apollo 14, making him the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Following his NASA career, Mitchell became a prominent advocate for psychic research and consciousness studies, founding the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS).[^1]
|
Edgar Mitchell was an American astronaut, best known as the lunar module pilot for Apollo 14, making him the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Following his NASA career, Mitchell became a prominent advocate for psychic research and consciousness studies, founding the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] (IONS).[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Mitchell was a strong believer in psi phenomena and was involved in the early stages of the U.S. government's psychic research programs. He was present during some of [[Uri Geller]]'s tests at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI), even driving Geller while blindfolded in a demonstration of Geller's alleged abilities.[^1]
|
Mitchell was a strong believer in psi phenomena and was involved in the early stages of the U.S. government's psychic research programs. He was present during some of [[Uri Geller]]'s tests at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI), even driving Geller while blindfolded in a demonstration of Geller's alleged abilities.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Edwin May
|
title: Edwin May
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Edwin May
|
- Edwin May
|
||||||
|
|
@ -34,11 +34,13 @@ In 1991, SRI withdrew from the remote viewing research contract. May negotiated
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### AIR Evaluation and Termination
|
### AIR Evaluation and Termination
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
When the CIA, which had taken custody of the program from the DIA in 1995 at the direction of Congress, contracted the American Institutes for Research in June 1995 to evaluate it ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]), May, as principal investigator, was asked "to list those studies which he believes provide the strongest evidence" and every unique study since the 1988 National Research Council report. His memorandum of July 25, 1995, listed ten SAIC experiments, among them "Entropy II" (90 trials, effect size 0.550, p = 9.1 × 10^-8), "ERD AC Behavior" (70 trials, 0.303), "Remote observation" (48 trials, 0.361), and "AC with binary coding" (40 trials, −0.067). [[Jessica Utts]] took them, with the 1988 analysis of the SRI database, as establishing that "psychic functioning has been well established"; [[Ray Hyman]] agreed the effects were "too large and consistent to be dismissed as statistical flukes" but held that ten experiments from one laboratory could not establish a phenomenon. May told the panel that "approximately 20 percent of the information supplied by a viewer is accurate," and AIR noted that throughout the experiments "only one judge, apparently the Principal Investigator, was used in assessing matches." The report of September 29, 1995, recommended against continuing the operational program. May's commentary in the *Journal of Parapsychology* the next year described the review as the result of "a Congressionally Directed Activity" and gave the report's public release as November 28, 1995.[^1]
|
When the CIA, which had taken custody of the program from the DIA in 1995 at the direction of Congress, contracted the American Institutes for Research in June 1995 to evaluate it ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]), May, as principal investigator, was asked "to list those studies which he believes provide the strongest evidence" and every unique study since the 1988 [[National Research Council]] report. His memorandum of July 25, 1995, listed ten SAIC experiments, among them "Entropy II" (90 trials, effect size 0.550, p = 9.1 × 10^-8), "ERD AC Behavior" (70 trials, 0.303), "Remote observation" (48 trials, 0.361), and "AC with binary coding" (40 trials, −0.067). [[Jessica Utts]] took them, with the 1988 analysis of the SRI database, as establishing that "psychic functioning has been well established"; [[Ray Hyman]] agreed the effects were "too large and consistent to be dismissed as statistical flukes" but held that ten experiments from one laboratory could not establish a phenomenon. May told the panel that "approximately 20 percent of the information supplied by a viewer is accurate," and AIR noted that throughout the experiments "only one judge, apparently the Principal Investigator, was used in assessing matches." The report of September 29, 1995, recommended against continuing the operational program. May's commentary in the *Journal of Parapsychology* the next year described the review as the result of "a Congressionally Directed Activity" and gave the report's public release as November 28, 1995.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The CIA's chronology of the transfer records for February 28, 1995: "CIA met with DIA principal investigator at SAIC, Dr. Ed May. All-day technical exchange." An ORD memorandum for the record of April 20, 1995, its author redacted, states that "Ed May of SAIC called this morning and volunteered to send me unsolicited information he had obtained from a 'remote viewer' named 'Joe' relating to the [[Oklahoma City bombing|Oklahoma City Bombing]]," that ORD had no means of "tasking or disseminating this type of information," that May asked for a law-enforcement contact and, told to send it to his former contracting officer's representative at DIA, "said they didn't get along"; given an FBI number that evening, "he asked if this would be a 'cold call' because he didn't want to sound like a 'lunatic,'" and "agreed reluctantly" to call. The Director of Research and Development's covering memorandum to the [[Counterterrorist Center]] the same day: "We attach no credibility to this information, and currently have no way to evaluate it. We have asked Dr. Ed May of SAIC to forward this information to you directly. Please direct any questions regarding how the information was acquired to Dr. May. He has been the primary contract investigator in this area, and we have not completed our evaluation of his past efforts."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 1996 Commentary
|
### The 1996 Commentary
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
May "was asked by the CIA to provide administrative support, technical documents, and briefings on an as-needed basis for the review," under a small contract to SAIC, from which he resigned on November 28, 1995, the day the report was released. His commentary in the *Journal of Parapsychology* argued that "there is compelling evidence that the CIA set the outcome with regard to intelligence usage before the evaluation had begun," by "limiting the research and operations data sets to exclude positive findings, by purposefully not interviewing historically significant participants, by ignoring previous extensive Department of Defense program reviews, and by using the questionable National Research Council's investigation of parapsychology as the starting point." He noted that AIR's president, David Goslin, had also overseen the NRC's 1988 report; that of the seventeen members of the SRI and SAIC oversight committees and review board "only one was contacted by the CIA"; that his memorandum of June 6, 1995, "the existence of anomalous mental phenomena cannot be statistically determined from the results of a single laboratory," was "ignored by fiat"; and that a Senate staff member told him the CIA's briefing to Congress gave eight bullet points to Hyman's conclusions and four to Utts's. He quoted Jessica Utts's letter of December 19, 1995: "I was explicitly asked by AIR staff NOT to mention the NRC report in my review!" and "we were shown very little of the 'operational' remote-viewing work"; and [[Robert Rosenthal]] on the NRC's 1988 request that he omit his ganzfeld section, "censorship did not occur." He quoted [[Joe McMoneagle]]'s 1984 Legion of Merit citation, "more than 200 missions, addressing over 150 essential elements of information," reported "at the highest echelons," and traced a line from ARPA's George Lawrence and Hyman being refused access at SRI in 1974, through Lawrence's commissioning of the NRC study in 1985, to Goslin's AIR review. Of the program's last years: a 1993 attempt to move it to the CIA "found no willing recipient," the last DIA officer "had little knowledge of the program," and "the program was in shambles." "I am forced to conclude that either the AIR investigators were not competent to conduct a proper review of such a complex program, a view to which I do not subscribe, or they knew exactly what they were doing: They wanted to demonstrate that AC lacked usefulness for intelligence operations. They did so by construction rather than by careful analysis." On *Nightline* that November he said: "I think about 15% of our data, over 1500 separate remote viewing trials, are of such a quality that you might think they were sketched," and, after [[Robert Gates]] said the work was "better done on the outside": "I couldn't agree with Director Gates more."[^2]
|
May "was asked by the CIA to provide administrative support, technical documents, and briefings on an as-needed basis for the review," under a small contract to SAIC, from which he resigned on November 28, 1995, the day the report was released. His commentary in the *Journal of Parapsychology* argued that "there is compelling evidence that the CIA set the outcome with regard to intelligence usage before the evaluation had begun," by "limiting the research and operations data sets to exclude positive findings, by purposefully not interviewing historically significant participants, by ignoring previous extensive Department of Defense program reviews, and by using the questionable National Research Council's investigation of parapsychology as the starting point." He noted that AIR's president, [[David Goslin]], had also overseen the NRC's 1988 report; that of the seventeen members of the SRI and SAIC oversight committees and review board "only one was contacted by the CIA"; that his memorandum of June 6, 1995, "the existence of anomalous mental phenomena cannot be statistically determined from the results of a single laboratory," was "ignored by fiat"; and that a Senate staff member told him the CIA's briefing to Congress gave eight bullet points to Hyman's conclusions and four to Utts's. He quoted Jessica Utts's letter of December 19, 1995: "I was explicitly asked by AIR staff NOT to mention the NRC report in my review!" and "we were shown very little of the 'operational' remote-viewing work"; and [[Robert Rosenthal]] on the NRC's 1988 request that he omit his ganzfeld section, "censorship did not occur." He quoted [[Joe McMoneagle]]'s 1984 Legion of Merit citation, "more than 200 missions, addressing over 150 essential elements of information," reported "at the highest echelons," and traced a line from ARPA's George Lawrence and Hyman being refused access at SRI in 1974, through Lawrence's commissioning of the NRC study in 1985, to Goslin's AIR review. Of the program's last years: a 1993 attempt to move it to the CIA "found no willing recipient," the last DIA officer "had little knowledge of the program," and "the program was in shambles." "I am forced to conclude that either the AIR investigators were not competent to conduct a proper review of such a complex program, a view to which I do not subscribe, or they knew exactly what they were doing: They wanted to demonstrate that AC lacked usefulness for intelligence operations. They did so by construction rather than by careful analysis." On *Nightline* that November he said: "I think about 15% of our data, over 1500 separate remote viewing trials, are of such a quality that you might think they were sketched," and, after [[Robert Gates]] said the work was "better done on the outside": "I couldn't agree with Director Gates more."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Post-STARGATE Research
|
### Post-STARGATE Research
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -50,3 +52,4 @@ May continued to serve as a consultant on anomalous cognition research for acade
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. 2-3, 3-18, 3-67, 5-2. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB438/docs/doc_57.pdf May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-23, abstract only.
|
[^1]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. 2-3, 3-18, 3-67, 5-2. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB438/docs/doc_57.pdf May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-23, abstract only.
|
||||||
[^2]: May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, March 1996, pp. 3-23. The letter of December 19, 1995, is printed at pp. 15-17 as Utts's reply to May's e-mail of December 17, checked against the page images. "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.
|
[^2]: May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, March 1996, pp. 3-23. The letter of December 19, 1995, is printed at pp. 15-17 as Utts's reply to May's e-mail of December 17, checked against the page images. "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," memorandum for the record, undated, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Memorandum for the record and memorandum for CTC from the Director, Research and Development, "Star Gate Program Issues," April 20, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030036-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Gérald Messadié was the editor of *Science et Vie*, a top French science journ
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Messadié stated in an interview that his information for the article came from Bergier and "other sources," who confirmed the story on condition of anonymity. The article identified [[J. B. Rhine]] of the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] as the civilian scientist assigned to the project, reporting a high success rate for telepathic communication[^1].
|
Messadié stated in an interview that his information for the article came from Bergier and "other sources," who confirmed the story on condition of anonymity. The article identified [[J. B. Rhine]] of the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] as the civilian scientist assigned to the project, reporting a high success rate for telepathic communication[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Despite the [[U.S. Navy]]'s denial of the story as a hoax, Messadié's publication contributed to the widespread attention given to the alleged ESP experiments aboard the [[USS Nautilus]]. This, in turn, had significant real-world consequences, as the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] used the news to stimulate their own [[Parapsychology|parapsychology]] research. [[Leonid L. Vasilev]], Russia's leading ESP researcher, claimed that Soviet parapsychology research was stimulated by the *Nautilus* reports[^1].
|
Despite the [[U.S. Navy]]'s denial of the story as a hoax, Messadié's publication contributed to the widespread attention given to the alleged ESP experiments aboard the [[USS Nautilus]]. This, in turn, had significant real-world consequences, as the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] used the news to stimulate their own [[Parapsychology|parapsychology]] research. [[Leonid Vasiliev|Leonid L. Vasilev]], Russia's leading ESP researcher, claimed that Soviet parapsychology research was stimulated by the *Nautilus* reports[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
21
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Harry Holloway.md
Normal file
21
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Harry Holloway.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- HarryHolloway
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- Army
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Harry C. Holloway
|
||||||
|
summary: "Army colonel and chairman of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University who sat on the 1979 Gale Committee and joined its minority opinion against operational remote viewing."
|
||||||
|
location: "Bethesda, Maryland"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Colonel Harry C. Holloway, professor and chairman of the department of psychiatry at the [[Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences]] in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], served on the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] under [[Manfred Gale]] in 1979, one of the members whose fields the report listed as "Psychiatry, Biostatistics, Psychology, Physics, Engineering, and Operations Research." With [[Jesse Orlansky]] and [[Douglas Tang]] he signed the minority opinion holding that "a test program in an operation-like environment is not likely to provide useful or reliable data," that "such tests can also be dangerous," and that "by encouraging the conduct of operational tests, this Committee endorses actions which have dubious scientific validity at best and can have dangerous implications for those, who may rely on its products."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Hella Hammid
|
title: Hella Hammid
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Hella Hammid
|
- Hella Hammid
|
||||||
|
|
@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ Hammid was a subject in the formal SRI remote viewing experiments described in P
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The SRI protocol for Hammid and other subjects involved an outbound experimenter who traveled to a randomly selected location within thirty minutes' driving distance. The subject remained at SRI with Puthoff or Targ and attempted to describe the target location through spontaneous description and drawing. Independent judges matched the descriptions to the target locations blind, without knowing which description came from which trial.[^1]
|
The SRI protocol for Hammid and other subjects involved an outbound experimenter who traveled to a randomly selected location within thirty minutes' driving distance. The subject remained at SRI with Puthoff or Targ and attempted to describe the target location through spontaneous description and drawing. Independent judges matched the descriptions to the target locations blind, without knowing which description came from which trial.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[David Marks]] wrote in 1982 that of the six transcripts of her series shown to him by the SRI judge [[Arthur Hastings]], "four of the six Hammid transcripts actually carried dates" and "one transcript even carried the name of the associated target"; he listed twenty-four cues ("This is the 18th of September," "Russell Targ has gone to the remote site," "Hal has gone to a second target," "Hella has made a drawing of Hal's first location") from which a judge in [[New Zealand]], using no descriptive material, matched the transcripts better than Hastings had, and reported that Hastings had received three target lists, one randomized and two not. Targ and Puthoff's own account of her had been that she was "a friend: 'I (R.T.) had known Hella for more than a dozen years.'"[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 1974 Record
|
### The 1974 Record
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
SRI's first progress report of March 1974 records "a preliminary remote viewing pilot experiment" with "a subject (H.H.) previously screened by the EEG correlates experiment": "The target chosen at random was a small red clapboard schoolhouse structure with a bell steeple on top in a miniature golf course. The subject's response was that she saw a red clapboard structure with a steeple that seemed to be artificial as in a movie set." An outside reviewer noted that of six subjects in the EEG work, "one of the six subjects, HH, showed a consistent alpha blocking effort. Therefore, this subject was studied further and most of the data recorded is based on HH's performance." A CIA officer who observed her in 1974 wrote: "Hella is very alert and outgoing; although not insightful. She is very concerned with her performance. Her aim seems to be pleasing the experimenters rather than proving anything to herself." "She does very badly on absolute size estimates. She does very well on indicating lighting conditions, including the presence of steady or pulsing lights. She does not often describe colors, but is very accurate when she does." "There can be no question that Hella can repeatably, although not reliably, produce information not available through normal means." Set to describe an electric typewriter on which the officer had typed for ten minutes, she missed, while [[Russell Targ]], who had been questioning her throughout, "gave a nearly perfect account of the target." Called in by a police lieutenant named Konar, who "had exhausted all available leads" in the murder of a young woman in the [[Stanford University|Stanford]] chapel, she "gave details of the crime location, described the victim and her assailant, indicated the exact location of the fatal wound, alluded to the ritualistic tone of the crime, and traced the victim's movements before the crime as well as the relocation of the body afterwards," the only known error being earrings; Konar wrote SRI a letter and followed her leads; but "none of the data that Hella generated, that has been verified, was unknown to Lt. Konar at the time of this experiment. Therefore, it is possible that Hella received all of her information from the Lt., by some unknown means." The same officer warned that if funding lapsed Puthoff and Targ "will publish everything they have generated," including "their association with unreliable subjects." A cassette of September 19, 1974, is catalogued "Tape 'N' Text Editor and Drill Press, Beacon Russell Targ, Viewer Hella Hammid."[^2]
|
SRI's first progress report of March 1974 records "a preliminary remote viewing pilot experiment" with "a subject (H.H.) previously screened by the EEG correlates experiment": "The target chosen at random was a small red clapboard schoolhouse structure with a bell steeple on top in a miniature golf course. The subject's response was that she saw a red clapboard structure with a steeple that seemed to be artificial as in a movie set." An outside reviewer noted that of six subjects in the EEG work, "one of the six subjects, HH, showed a consistent alpha blocking effort. Therefore, this subject was studied further and most of the data recorded is based on HH's performance." A CIA officer who observed her in 1974 wrote: "Hella is very alert and outgoing; although not insightful. She is very concerned with her performance. Her aim seems to be pleasing the experimenters rather than proving anything to herself." "She does very badly on absolute size estimates. She does very well on indicating lighting conditions, including the presence of steady or pulsing lights. She does not often describe colors, but is very accurate when she does." "There can be no question that Hella can repeatably, although not reliably, produce information not available through normal means." Set to describe an electric typewriter on which the officer had typed for ten minutes, she missed, while [[Russell Targ]], who had been questioning her throughout, "gave a nearly perfect account of the target." Called in by a police lieutenant named Konar, who "had exhausted all available leads" in the murder of a young woman in the [[Stanford University|Stanford]] chapel, she "gave details of the crime location, described the victim and her assailant, indicated the exact location of the fatal wound, alluded to the ritualistic tone of the crime, and traced the victim's movements before the crime as well as the relocation of the body afterwards," the only known error being earrings; Konar wrote SRI a letter and followed her leads; but "none of the data that Hella generated, that has been verified, was unknown to Lt. Konar at the time of this experiment. Therefore, it is possible that Hella received all of her information from the Lt., by some unknown means." The same officer warned that if funding lapsed Puthoff and Targ "will publish everything they have generated," including "their association with unreliable subjects." A cassette of September 19, 1974, is catalogued "Tape 'N' Text Editor and Drill Press, Beacon Russell Targ, Viewer Hella Hammid."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -51,3 +53,4 @@ Hammid was not herself a CIA employee or contractor; she was a civilian research
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research." *Proceedings of the IEEE* 64, no. 3 (March 1976): 329-354 (the primary published SRI remote viewing experimental results).
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research." *Proceedings of the IEEE* 64, no. 3 (March 1976): 329-354 (the primary published SRI remote viewing experimental results).
|
||||||
[^2]: Puthoff, Harold E. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* progress report no. 1, March 12, 1974, SRI Project 3183, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Review of Perceptual Augmentation Techniques," unsigned review of SRI progress reports 1 to 3, c. August 1974, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200230001-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Experiments with Hella Hammid," CIA memoranda of 1974 with an officer's trip report of November 1974, author's name redacted, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200070006-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000200070002-3; cassette catalogue card of September 19, 1974, CIA-RDP79-00999A000400040013-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: Puthoff, Harold E. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* progress report no. 1, March 12, 1974, SRI Project 3183, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Review of Perceptual Augmentation Techniques," unsigned review of SRI progress reports 1 to 3, c. August 1974, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200230001-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Experiments with Hella Hammid," CIA memoranda of 1974 with an officer's trip report of November 1974, author's name redacted, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200070006-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000200070002-3; cassette catalogue card of September 19, 1974, CIA-RDP79-00999A000400040013-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -5,14 +5,18 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- Soviet
|
- Soviet
|
||||||
summary: "Kogan, like many Soviet researchers, hypothesized that psi was a low-frequency radio system built into human brains."
|
summary: "Kogan, like many Soviet researchers, hypothesized that psi was a low-frequency radio system built into human brains."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
I. M. Kogan was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] electrical engineer and parapsychologist who approached psi research from a communications perspective. Unlike some other Soviet researchers, his work was considered relatively serious by Western intelligence agencies.[^1]
|
I. M. Kogan was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] electrical engineer and parapsychologist who approached psi research from a communications perspective. Unlike some other Soviet researchers, his work was considered relatively serious by Western intelligence agencies.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Kogan, like many [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] researchers, hypothesized that psi was a low-frequency radio system built into human brains. He conducted experiments to characterize psi data transmission, concluding that it could transmit about 0.1 "bit" of information per second within a laboratory, decreasing to 0.005 bits per second over six hundred miles.[^1]
|
Kogan, like many Soviet researchers, hypothesized that psi was a low-frequency radio system built into human brains. He conducted experiments to characterize psi data transmission, concluding that it could transmit about 0.1 "bit" of information per second within a laboratory, decreasing to 0.005 bits per second over six hundred miles.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
His work gained further attention when it suddenly disappeared from public view around 1969, coinciding with reports that the [[Soviet Union|KGB]] had begun to fund and direct his laboratory at the Popov Society. This suggested a heightened interest from Soviet intelligence in the practical applications of psi.[^1]
|
His work gained further attention when it suddenly disappeared from public view around 1969, coinciding with reports that the KGB had begun to fund and direct his laboratory at the Popov Society. This suggested a heightened interest from Soviet intelligence in the practical applications of psi.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
A [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] briefing on "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," given to the Air Force in July 1987, dated Kogan's work to 1965 and about 1975 under the headings "communication," "symbols, digits," "long distance (3,000 km)," "information access," "screening for talented people," "hypnosis not used" and a "low frequency electromagnetic hypothesis."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Henry E. Shinol, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Studies and Analyses, Headquarters USAF, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Soviet Parapsychology Research Briefing," June 12, 1987, and cover note of July 14, 1987, with paper briefing slides "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600320001-8 to -004-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
27
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Letitia Long.md
Normal file
27
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Letitia Long.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- LetitiaLong
|
||||||
|
- DIA
|
||||||
|
- NGA
|
||||||
|
- NavalIntelligence
|
||||||
|
- StarGate
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Letitia A. Long
|
||||||
|
summary: "Career naval and defense intelligence official who signed DIA's 1995 Star Gate response as director of its military intelligence staff and rose to direct the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, then joined defense-contractor boards."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Letitia A. Long entered civilian federal service with the [[United States Navy|Navy]] in 1978 as a project engineer in training at the David Taylor Research Center, took her electrical engineering degree at [[Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University|Virginia Tech]] in 1982, worked six years "on various submarine acoustic sensor programs," and joined the staff of the Director of Naval Intelligence in 1988 to manage its research and development programs. Selected into the Senior Intelligence Executive Service in July 1994, she was "on rotational assignment from ONI to the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]" from 1994 to 1996 as director of the Military Intelligence Staff, in which capacity she signed, as "Director, DMI Staff," DIA's response of March 1995 to the Senate's directed action on [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]], transmitting its retrospective review, technical analysis and declassification status to the CIA ([[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]). She joined DIA in 1996 as deputy director for information systems and services and its first chief information officer; was the Director of Central Intelligence's Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs from January 1998 to June 2000, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence from 2000 to 2003, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (Policy, Requirements and Resources) from 2003 to 2006, Deputy Director of DIA from May 2006 to July 2010, and fifth director of the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] from August 9, 2010, to 2014.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Boards
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Raytheon elected her a director on March 18, 2015; she chaired its public policy and corporate responsibility committee from 2017 and was to serve until its merger with United Technologies. Parsons Corporation nominated her in March 2020, listing her as a director of Noblis, Quadrint and HyperSat, formerly of UrtheCast, D-Wave Government and Sonatype, vice rector of the Virginia Tech board of advisors, chairman of the [[Intelligence and National Security Alliance]] and a director of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. Corporate Office Properties Trust, which described its portfolio as "in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology," added her to its board in October 2020. T-Mobile US, "required to have a 'National Security Director' pursuant to our national security commitments entered into in connection with the Sprint Combination," appointed her to that seat on June 22, 2021, in succession to [[Stephen Kappes]].[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Letitia A. Long," National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, https://www.nga.mil/about/Letitia_Long.html (site build of August 5, 2026).
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, transmittal memorandum signed Letitia A. Long, Director, DMI Staff, faxed March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010002-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Raytheon Company, proxy statement, April 27, 2015; Parsons Corporation, proxy statement, March 10, 2020; Corporate Office Properties Trust, proxy statement, April 1, 2021; T-Mobile US, Inc., proxy statement, April 27, 2022; all SEC Form DEF 14A, www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar.
|
||||||
25
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lincoln Moses.md
Normal file
25
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lincoln Moses.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- LincolnMoses
|
||||||
|
- Stanford
|
||||||
|
- Statistics
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Lincoln E. Moses
|
||||||
|
summary: "Stanford biostatistician and Carter's head of the Energy Information Administration who advised the 1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate on statistics."
|
||||||
|
born: 1921-12-21
|
||||||
|
died: 2006-12-17
|
||||||
|
location: "Stanford, California"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Lincoln E. Moses was born in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], on December 21, 1921, took his bachelor's degree at [[Stanford University]] in 1941 and, after Navy service in the Second World War and two years at Columbia, his Stanford doctorate in statistics in 1950, returning to the faculty in 1952 with "a split appointment between the Department of Statistics and the medical school's Department of Health Research and Policy," where he founded the Division of Biostatistics. He chaired the statistics department from 1964 to 1968, was dean of graduate studies from 1969 to 1975 and a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1975-76, and "headed the [[Energy Information Administration]] in the Department of Energy under President [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] from 1978 to 1980." He died at home in Portola Valley on December 17, 2006.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
For the [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]], "Dr. Lincoln Moses, an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, provided statistical advice." [[Jessica Utts]] wrote to [[Edwin May]] on December 19, 1995, that the [[National Research Council]]'s 1988 "vote-counting" method "has been completely discredited," that "I raised this point at the July meeting Ray Hyman and I attended with the AIR staff at their Palo Alto office, and it was substantiated by Stanford Statistics Professor Lincoln Moses."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Lincoln E. Moses, pioneer in biostatistics, dies at 84." Stanford Medicine News Center, December 2006. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2006/12/lincoln-e-moses-pioneer-in-biostatistics-dies-at-84.html
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. E-1 to E-2. Utts, Jessica, letter to Edwin May, December 19, 1995, in May, Edwin C., "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, 1996, p. 14.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Margaret Mead was a renowned American cultural anthropologist. In 1969, she delivered a rousing conference speech that contributed to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's decision to admit the [[Parapsychological Association]] to its ranks of approved disciplines. Her support helped lend a degree of legitimacy to the field of parapsychology, which had long struggled for scientific acceptance.[^1]
|
Margaret Mead was a renowned American cultural anthropologist. In 1969, she delivered a rousing conference speech that contributed to the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]'s decision to admit the [[Parapsychological Association]] to its ranks of approved disciplines. Her support helped lend a degree of legitimacy to the field of parapsychology, which had long struggled for scientific acceptance.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
22
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Michael Mumford.md
Normal file
22
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Michael Mumford.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- MichaelMumford
|
||||||
|
- AIR
|
||||||
|
- IndustrialPsychology
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Michael D. Mumford
|
||||||
|
summary: "Industrial psychologist at the American Institutes for Research, directing Army leadership and NSA skills projects, who was lead author of the 1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Michael D. Mumford took his bachelor's degree in psychology at Bucknell in 1979 and his master's (1981) and doctorate (1983) in industrial psychology and measurement at the University of Georgia, where he was research assistant to William A. Owens. He worked at the Advanced Research Resources Organization from 1983 to 1985, "primary responsibility for the design of a system to be used in modeling Air Force technical training" and "a design specialist on an Army project concerned with specification of key leader performance requirements"; taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1985 to 1989; and at [[George Mason University]] from 1989 to 1994 "directed research sponsored by the [[Office of Naval Research]] concerned with the development of background data measure to assessing adaptability and integrity." He joined the [[American Institutes for Research]] in 1994 as senior research scientist and associate director of its Personnel Assessment Group, where by 1995 he was "directing three projects concerned with the assessment and development of leadership potential for the [[United States Army]]" and "a series of projects concerned with the assessment of training program content in relation to job skill requirements sponsored by the Department of Labor and the [[National Security Agency]]," and sat on Defense Department panels on the national skills infrastructure and officer selection.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
His curriculum vitae is held in the CIA's Star Gate files. As lead author of the [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]] he read the one document that "remained classified during the period of this review" and gave the panel a synopsis, and on September 22, 1995, sent two copies of "the draft Remote Viewing report" to a redacted addressee at the Ames Building in Rosslyn: "The conclusions are solid. However, we do need to have Ray and Jessica check the material... We hope to have a final draft to you by next Friday."[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Curriculum Vitae - Michael D. Mumford," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030046-5, and "Curriculum Vitae - Andrew M. Rose," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030047-4, released 2003; Mumford, Michael D., to a redacted addressee at the Ames Building, Rosslyn, "Transmittal of Draft Remote Viewing Report," September 22, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180003-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. E-1 to E-2.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -23,5 +23,8 @@ Another experiment involved Kulagina attempting to increase the heart rate of a
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Kulagina's alleged abilities contributed to the [[Pentagon]]'s decision to launch a joint intelligence assessment of the "Soviet psychoenergetic threat," a term coined to encompass Soviet research into anomalous mental phenomena and [[Electromagnetic Weapons|electromagnetic weapons]] programs[^1]. Her work, along with that of [[Qian Xuesen|H. S. Tsien]] in [[China]], highlighted the perceived need for the U.S. to invest in its own psychic research programs.
|
Kulagina's alleged abilities contributed to the [[Pentagon]]'s decision to launch a joint intelligence assessment of the "Soviet psychoenergetic threat," a term coined to encompass Soviet research into anomalous mental phenomena and [[Electromagnetic Weapons|electromagnetic weapons]] programs[^1]. Her work, along with that of [[Qian Xuesen|H. S. Tsien]] in [[China]], highlighted the perceived need for the U.S. to invest in its own psychic research programs.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A DIA briefing on Soviet psychoenergetics given to the Air Force in 1987 quoted [[Yuri Kobzarev|Yu. B. Kobzerev]], "radar pioneer, member USSR Academy of Science": "I am persuaded that the phenomena demonstrated by N. Kulagina (psychokinesis), and by L. Korabelnikova (extrasensory perception), are by no means tricks but rather the existence of the manifestation of unusual capabilities in man. My conviction is shared by many people including a group of professors and academicians," and [[Vladimir Kotelnikov|V. A. Kotel'nikov]], vice president of the Academy: "Psychokinetic abilities of N. Kulagina are real."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Henry E. Shinol, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Studies and Analyses, Headquarters USAF, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Soviet Parapsychology Research Briefing," June 12, 1987, and cover note of July 14, 1987, with paper briefing slides "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600320001-8 to -004-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,11 +6,15 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
summary: "Hawke documented the results of one of these tests, stating that 'The magnetic pattern stored in the iron oxide layer of a magnetic program card was erased.' He concluded that 'Further experiments are warranted,' indicating a measurable effect from Geller's alleged abilities."
|
summary: "Hawke documented the results of one of these tests, stating that 'The magnetic pattern stored in the iron oxide layer of a magnetic program card was erased.' He concluded that 'Further experiments are warranted,' indicating a measurable effect from Geller's alleged abilities."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
R. S. Hawke was one of the scientists at [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] who conducted classified [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] tests with [[Uri Geller]] in the winter of 1975. These tests aimed to determine if Geller could interfere with high-quality lasers and affect magnetic computer program cards[^1].
|
R. S. Hawke was one of the scientists at [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] who conducted classified [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] tests with [[Uri Geller]] in the winter of 1975. These tests aimed to determine if Geller could interfere with high-quality lasers and affect magnetic computer program cards[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Hawke documented the results of one of these tests, stating that "The magnetic pattern stored in the iron oxide layer of a magnetic program card was erased." He concluded that "Further experiments are warranted," indicating a measurable effect from Geller's alleged abilities[^1].
|
Hawke documented the results of one of these tests, stating that "The magnetic pattern stored in the iron oxide layer of a magnetic program card was erased." He concluded that "Further experiments are warranted," indicating a measurable effect from Geller's alleged abilities[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] visited "Dr. Hawke" at Lawrence Livermore in November 1979 and wrote that "Committee members who visited Dr. Hawke's laboratory were very impressed by the scientific approach used in his investigations." Its annex on his work: "Highly specific physical phenomena are recovered by instruments while PK 'intent' is being 'exerted' by a Subject. Thus a definite 'result' is measured in terms of a physical phenomenon (e.g., grain fracture measured by physical measuring apparatus commonly used for such metallurgical experiments)." "Hawke's experiments are the most objective and scientific of the investigations we have reviewed... His type of PK experiments are, in my view, vastly more valuable than the PK effects on random number generators." "A means exists for conduct of these experiments on a compartmentalized basis: Since the experiments utilize measuring equipment commonly used in weapons development, 'cover' and access restrictions are relatively straightforward. As an example, NWC China Lake is just now initiating development of contact fuzing utilizing (for the first time in the fuzing community) acoustic emission of materials transitioning the plastic deformation regime. A small development project on 'AE applications to guided missile fuzing' would provide easily administered and controlled PK experiments by Hawke."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Ray Hyman
|
title: Ray Hyman
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Ray Hyman
|
- Ray Hyman
|
||||||
|
|
@ -25,13 +25,17 @@ Hyman, along with [[Martin Gardner]], joined forces in an anti-Geller crusade. H
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1983, Hyman weighed in on the [[James Randi]] hoax against the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research, stating that Randi was "very upset by Geller’s using trickery to deceive scientists. He thought it was very immoral. And he felt that it was a prostitution of his beloved magic"[^1].
|
In 1983, Hyman weighed in on the [[James Randi]] hoax against the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research, stating that Randi was "very upset by Geller’s using trickery to deceive scientists. He thought it was very immoral. And he felt that it was a prostitution of his beloved magic"[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Hyman was considered for the Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] in 1979. Its coordinator, Major [[William Stoner]], wrote in January 1980, against the chairman's claim to have "rejected two people who had pronounced tendencies to be nonobjective," that "one person himself declined the offer to participate, claiming potential flak from his corporation. The other, Dr Ray Hyman, was rejected not because of any action by Gale, but because of a protest memo from MG [[Edmund Thompson|Thompson]] to Dr [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]]."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A memorandum from the Under Secretary of the Army's office to Gale of July 17, 1979, reads: "Reference the 'few additional experts,' Dr. Orlansky has accepted. Dr. [[Harry Snyder|Snyder]] of VPI has been asked in place of Dr. Hyman - at this time he has not accepted the invitation." Snyder's own evaluation of remote-viewing research, delivered that June, cited "R. Hyman, personal communication" for its statement that [[Arthur Hastings]], the SRI judge, "is a professional magician."[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 1995 Evaluation
|
### The 1995 Evaluation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1995 the [[American Institutes for Research]], under contract to the CIA, engaged Hyman and the statistician [[Jessica Utts]] to review the research of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate program]] ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]). His report of September 11, 1995, took the ten [[Science Applications International Corporation|SAIC]] experiments as "the only ones for which we have adequate documentation," agreed with Utts that they "were free of the methodological weaknesses that plagued the early SRI research" and that "the effect sizes reported in the SAIC experiments are too large and consistent to be dismissed as statistical flukes," and then answered no to three questions: whether the effects established anomalous cognition, whether "the possibility of methodological flaws" had been "completely eliminated," and whether the results were consistent with other laboratories. "Ten experiments, especially from one laboratory," he wrote, "is far too few to establish reliable relationships in almost any area of inquiry." He compared the field's negatively defined anomaly with the discovery of Neptune from the perturbations of Uranus, and told anyone relying on operational hits to read [[David Marks]] and Richard Kammann on subjective validation. Of operations he recorded [[Edwin May]]'s estimate that "approximately 20 percent of the information supplied by a viewer is accurate": "If May is correct, then 80% of all the information supplied by this talented viewer will be erroneous."[^2]
|
In 1995 the [[American Institutes for Research]], under contract to the CIA, engaged Hyman and the statistician [[Jessica Utts]] to review the research of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate program]] ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]). His report of September 11, 1995, took the ten [[Science Applications International Corporation|SAIC]] experiments as "the only ones for which we have adequate documentation," agreed with Utts that they "were free of the methodological weaknesses that plagued the early SRI research" and that "the effect sizes reported in the SAIC experiments are too large and consistent to be dismissed as statistical flukes," and then answered no to three questions: whether the effects established anomalous cognition, whether "the possibility of methodological flaws" had been "completely eliminated," and whether the results were consistent with other laboratories. "Ten experiments, especially from one laboratory," he wrote, "is far too few to establish reliable relationships in almost any area of inquiry." He compared the field's negatively defined anomaly with the discovery of Neptune from the perturbations of Uranus, and told anyone relying on operational hits to read [[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]] on subjective validation. Of operations he recorded [[Edwin May]]'s estimate that "approximately 20 percent of the information supplied by a viewer is accurate": "If May is correct, then 80% of all the information supplied by this talented viewer will be erroneous."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Writing in the *Skeptical Inquirer* in 1996, he said the CIA "abandoned this program in the late 1970s because it showed no promise," that under the DIA it "consisted of three components," one tracking foreign work, an operations program of "six, and later three, psychics on the government payroll," and the laboratory research at SRI and SAIC; that "because of some controversies within the program, a Senate committee decided to transfer the program from the DIA back to the CIA"; that "May helped identify the ten best studies for Utts and me to evaluate"; and that the panel "all agreed that any scientifically meaningful evaluation of these operational psychic intelligence uses was impossible." He ended: "It is premature to draw any conclusions. We will simply have to wait and see. If history is a guide, then this will be a long wait, indeed."[^3]
|
Writing in the *Skeptical Inquirer* in 1996, he said the CIA "abandoned this program in the late 1970s because it showed no promise," that under the DIA it "consisted of three components," one tracking foreign work, an operations program of "six, and later three, psychics on the government payroll," and the laboratory research at SRI and SAIC; that "because of some controversies within the program, a Senate committee decided to transfer the program from the DIA back to the CIA"; that "May helped identify the ten best studies for Utts and me to evaluate"; and that the panel "all agreed that any scientifically meaningful evaluation of these operational psychic intelligence uses was impossible." He ended: "It is premature to draw any conclusions. We will simply have to wait and see. If history is a guide, then this will be a long wait, indeed."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On *Nightline* on November 28, 1995, he said: "My considered judgment, if someone pushed me hard right now, I'd have to say the odds are 99 to 1 that there's nothing to remote viewing." Edwin May's commentary of 1996 traced "a thread of bias" from the visit to SRI (1973 or 1974, the accounts differ) at which Hyman, George Lawrence of ARPA, and Robert Van de Castle were refused access to an experiment in progress, and *Time* quoted Hyman on the tests' "incredible sloppiness," through Lawrence's commissioning of the National Research Council study in 1985 with Hyman leading its parapsychology section, to the AIR review under David Goslin, who had administered the NRC report.[^4]
|
On *Nightline* on November 28, 1995, he said: "My considered judgment, if someone pushed me hard right now, I'd have to say the odds are 99 to 1 that there's nothing to remote viewing." Edwin May's commentary of 1996 traced "a thread of bias" from the visit to SRI (1973 or 1974, the accounts differ) at which Hyman, George Lawrence of ARPA, and Robert Van de Castle were refused access to an experiment in progress, and *Time* quoted Hyman on the tests' "incredible sloppiness," through Lawrence's commissioning of the [[National Research Council]] study in 1985 with Hyman leading its parapsychology section, to the AIR review under [[David Goslin]], who had administered the NRC report.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -39,3 +43,5 @@ On *Nightline* on November 28, 1995, he said: "My considered judgment, if someon
|
||||||
[^2]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena," September 11, 1995, reproduced in the AIR report, pp. 3-41 to 3-75, and published in *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 31-58. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB438/docs/doc_57.pdf
|
[^2]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena," September 11, 1995, reproduced in the AIR report, pp. 3-41 to 3-75, and published in *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 31-58. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB438/docs/doc_57.pdf
|
||||||
[^3]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying," *Skeptical Inquirer,* March-April 1996, pp. 21-23.
|
[^3]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying," *Skeptical Inquirer,* March-April 1996, pp. 21-23.
|
||||||
[^4]: "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room. May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, March 1996, pp. 3-23.
|
[^4]: "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room. May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, March 1996, pp. 3-23.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: "Grill Flame Review Panel Members," undated roster, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230008-7; Office of the Under Secretary of the Army, memorandum for Mr. Manny Gale, July 17, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230004-1; K. Lytle, Major, Military Assistant, memorandum for Mr. Gale, Advisor for RDA Analysis, ODCSRDA, "Briefing for Dr. Ruth Davis and Mr. Nealsen," August 8, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230013-1; Snyder to Gale, undated (catalogued May 11, 1979, but referring to October and a visit of September 28), CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230038-4, and November 19, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230042-9; "Findings," "Recommendations," "Estimated Costs," unsigned, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230043-8; SSO Meade to SSO ACSI DA, "Grill Flame DoD Science Evaluation Team Report," LTC Watt, November 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230047-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
24
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Richard Kammann.md
Normal file
24
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Richard Kammann.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Skeptics & Critics"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- RichardKammann
|
||||||
|
- Skeptic
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- Otago
|
||||||
|
summary: "University of Otago psychologist who with David Marks failed to replicate the SRI remote-viewing experiments, co-wrote the 1978 Nature critique and The Psychology of the Psychic, and died in 1984."
|
||||||
|
died: 1984
|
||||||
|
location: "Dunedin, New Zealand"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Richard Kammann was associate professor of psychology at the [[University of Otago]] in [[Dunedin]], [[New Zealand]]. From 1975 he and [[David Marks]] attempted to replicate the remote-viewing experiments of [[Russell Targ]] and [[Hal Puthoff]] at the [[Stanford Research Institute|Stanford Research Institute]]; their letter to [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] of August 17, 1978, reported that "we have carried out duplicate experiments, but our results do not verify their conclusions," and their book *The Psychology of the Psychic* (Prometheus, 1980, with a foreword by [[Martin Gardner]]) divided the work: "David Marks undertook to examine the SRI remote viewing experiments, while Dick Kammann undertook to review psychological experiments that might help explain the origins of psychic beliefs." Kammann visited SRI in December 1975, where "he was told by Puthoff that the results didn't always depend upon the on-site experimenter(s) actually looking at the source of information relayed on to the subject. According to Puthoff, each observer was like a 'beacon.'" His chapters set out "subjective validation," which "occurs when two unrelated events are perceived to be related because a belief, expectancy, or hypothesis demands or requires a relationship."[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
He was a fellow of the [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]] until his resignation in 1981 over the "Mars Effect" controversy, on which his paper "Statistical Numerology in the Skeptics' Response to the Mars Effect" appeared in *Zetetic Scholar* in December 1982 after *The Humanist,* *Psychology Today* and the *Skeptical Inquirer* declined it. He published on the measurement of happiness from Otago in 1984 and died that year (a library catalogue record gives his years as 1934 to 1984); the university founded the Richard Kammann Wellbeing Prize in his memory in 1986.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information transmission in remote viewing experiments." *Nature,* vol. 274, August 17, 1978, pp. 680-681, received July 2, 1977, accepted May 31, 1978. https://www.nature.com/articles/274680a0 (abstract and dates only; the text is behind a paywall).
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. *The Psychology of the Psychic.* Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1980, pp. 12-41, 129, 151, 177, 185, read through the archive.org search index of the item psychologyofpsyc0000mark_j8m3 (page fragments only).
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Lippard, Jim, editorial note to Kammann, Richard, "Statistical Numerology in the Skeptics' Response to the Mars Effect," *Zetetic Scholar,* no. 10, December 1982, pp. 50-65, reprinted at discord.org/lippard/kammann.html (Wayback Machine copy); University of Otago, "Wellbeing at heart of annual prize" (Wayback Machine copy); Kammann, R., M. Farry and P. Herbison, "The analysis and measurement of happiness as a sense of well-being," *Social Indicators Research,* vol. 15, 1984, pp. 91-115; Howard, Bernard, "Ah Yes! I Remember It Well," NZ Skeptics, February 1, 1999, and "A Classic Updated," February 1, 2002, articles.skeptics.nz; Skeptical Inquirer author page for David F. Marks, skepticalinquirer.org/authors/david-f-marks/; MARC record of the archive.org item psychologyofpsyc0000mark_j8m3 ("Kammann, Richard, 1934-1984").
|
||||||
|
|
@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Skeptic
|
- Skeptic
|
||||||
summary: "Richard Kennett was a CIA analyst in the Office of Scientific Intelligence in the early 1970s."
|
summary: "Richard Kennett was a CIA analyst in the Office of Scientific Intelligence in the early 1970s."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Richard Kennett was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] analyst in the Office of Scientific Intelligence in the early 1970s. In his early thirties, with a wife and two young sons, he held a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and was pursuing an M.D., making him uniquely qualified to evaluate the scientific aspects of psychic research. Kennett was a man of eclectic interests, drawn to the wild extremes of human behavior and fascinated by religion and mysticism. He spent some of his CIA time monitoring the fringes of medicine and psychology, looking for unconventional approaches that might be useful in the Cold War. By the time of the *Remote Viewers* narrative, Kennett was slated to become the assistant national intelligence officer for chemical and biological warfare issues, indicating his rising prominence within the intelligence community.[^1]
|
Richard Kennett was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] analyst in the Office of Scientific Intelligence in the early 1970s. In his early thirties, with a wife and two young sons, he held a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and was pursuing an M.D., making him uniquely qualified to evaluate the scientific aspects of psychic research. Kennett was a man of eclectic interests, drawn to the wild extremes of human behavior and fascinated by religion and mysticism. He spent some of his CIA time monitoring the fringes of medicine and psychology, looking for unconventional approaches that might be useful in the Cold War. By the time of the *Remote Viewers* narrative, Kennett was slated to become the assistant national intelligence officer for chemical and biological warfare issues, indicating his rising prominence within the intelligence community.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -12,6 +13,9 @@ In May 1973, [[Hal Puthoff]] contacted Kennett regarding [[Ingo Swann]]'s coordi
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Kennett became a key figure in the CIA's oversight of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] program, monitoring the work at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) and later at [[Fort Meade]]. He was involved in tasking remote viewers with sensitive intelligence problems and evaluating their results. He was also the recipient of unusual psychic phenomena himself, including a precognitive experience related to [[Uri Geller]] that involved a shattered glass globe and a white bulldog, and a strange encounter with a one-armed man in a gray suit.[^1]
|
Kennett became a key figure in the CIA's oversight of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] program, monitoring the work at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) and later at [[Fort Meade]]. He was involved in tasking remote viewers with sensitive intelligence problems and evaluating their results. He was also the recipient of unusual psychic phenomena himself, including a precognitive experience related to [[Uri Geller]] that involved a shattered glass globe and a white bulldog, and a strange encounter with a one-armed man in a gray suit.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
The released CIA collection on the program carries no legible mention of Kennett.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: The archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection, about 13,000 items under the identifiers cia-rdp96-*, searched by title and OCR text; the OCR is imperfect and some fifty items could not be read.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
38
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Robert Jahn.md
Normal file
38
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Robert Jahn.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- RobertJahn
|
||||||
|
- Princeton
|
||||||
|
- Parapsychology
|
||||||
|
- PEAR
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Robert G. Jahn
|
||||||
|
- Dean Jahn
|
||||||
|
summary: "Princeton dean of engineering and plasma-propulsion physicist who founded the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory in 1979 on private money and ran it until 2007."
|
||||||
|
born: 1930-04-01
|
||||||
|
died: 2017-11-15
|
||||||
|
location: "Princeton, New Jersey"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Robert George Jahn was born in Kearny, [[New Jersey]], on April 1, 1930, took his Princeton degree in mechanical engineering in 1951 and his physics doctorate there in 1955, taught at Lehigh and [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]], returned to [[Princeton University|Princeton]] in 1962 and was appointed the fourth dean of its School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1971, serving until 1986. His research lay in "fluid mechanics, ionized gases, plasmadynamics, and most recently, electric propulsion"; "during the 1960s as student protests roiled campus, Jahn became active in guiding revisions to University governance, particularly in managing research sponsored by the U.S. military." He died on November 15, 2017.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Laboratory
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In his own account, "late in the spring of 1977, [[Carol Kay Curry]] '79, an electrical engineering and computer science major from Pasco, Washington, came to me to ask whether she might undertake some independent work in psychic phenomena"; "in an attempt to table the issue, I asked, somewhat rhetorically, which faculty member could conceivably supervise this work, and Carol, with her characteristic bluntness, responded that, obviously, I would." She brought him the paper in the Proceedings of the IEEE "in which two physicists from SRI, [[Russell Targ]] and [[Hal Puthoff|Harold Puthoff]], claimed it was possible for relatively untrained persons to transmit significant amounts of information over long distances by a technique they called 'remote viewing.'" "That winter I happened to be on leave at Stanford, where more interest is shown in this field than at most universities. Carol was able to join me there for a few weeks, and together we talked with faculty and staff, and worked with a small research group at the nearby SRI International laboratory," where in one trial "Carol, confined in an office at SRI, again sketched an outdoor scene: the front of the chapel, complete with its arches," and in another, with Jahn as percipient, "I sketched an accurate simulation of the entrance of the inn." Of Curry's random-event generator he printed "a significant excess of 'heads' during a PK effort (the first 1,700 flips)," and concluded: "The results we have in hand are typical of the experience of others in this field: i.e., we find suggestive anecdotal effects on isolated occasions; but routine reproducibility has not been achieved." In November 1979 he told science writers: "To proceed with the effort, I obtained the appropriate approval from my university, assembled a small staff, and secured the requisite funding from a few private sources"; "some of the results are suggestive, some even provocative; none is fully convincing in the traditional scientific sense"; "it is far too early to claim any definitive results."[^1][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
"By 1979, Jahn started the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab and hired [[Brenda Dunne]] to run it," under "an agreement with University administrators by which he could continue the work but only with private funding and without graduate students." "He relied not on university or government money but on private donations, more than $10 million over the years, he estimated. The first and most generous donor was his friend [[James S. McDonnell]], a founder of the [[McDonnell Douglas]] Corporation. For a time, the philanthropist [[Laurance Rockefeller]] visited regularly and donated money for research." PEAR "published more than 60 research reports, most appearing in the journal of the [[Society for Scientific Exploration]]," of which Jahn and Dunne were officers; "one editor famously told Dr. Jahn that he would consider a paper 'if you can telepathically communicate it to me.'" It closed in 2007: "If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will."[^2][^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Army and the Senator
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] visited "Dean Jahn" at Princeton on September 8, 1979, and listed "the investigations by Dr. Hawke at Livermore Laboratories, Dr. Jahn at Princeton University, and Dr. Phillips at Washington University" among the psychokinesis work it had seen. Its coordinator, Major [[William Stoner]], recorded the chairman's claim that "Dean Jahn at Princeton has a two-year leash on his PK program and had to invoke freedom of inquiry, the academic Magna Carta, before the University President allowed him to go ahead," and answered: "In fact, Dean Jahn does not have a drop dead time two years out. He explained, and twice reconfirmed that the two year marker is when he expects to have some credible results to report." When [[Claiborne Pell]] was briefed on Grill Flame on September 29, 1982, the record noted that "he was also acquainted with the work of Dr. Robert Jahn, Dean, College of Engineering, Princeton University."[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schultz, Steven. "Robert Jahn, pioneer of deep space propulsion and mind-machine interactions, dies at 87." Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science, November 30, 2017. https://engineering.princeton.edu/news/2017/11/30/robert-jahn-pioneer-deep-space-propulsion-and-mind-machine-interactions-dies-87
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Carey, Benedict. "A Princeton Lab on ESP Plans to Close Its Doors." *New York Times,* February 10, 2007, read in a mirror copy at physics.smu.edu/pseudo/10princeton.html.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Jahn, Robert G. "Psychic Process, Energy Transfer, and Things that Go Bump in the Night." *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* special report, December 4, 1978, CIA copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000500070001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Jahn, Robert G. "Psychic Research: New Dimensions or Old Delusions?" Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, New Horizons in Science briefing, Palo Alto, November 8, 1979, CIA copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000500380001-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Schultz, Steven. "Robert Jahn, pioneer of deep space propulsion and mind-machine interactions, dies at 87." Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science, November 30, 2017. https://engineering.princeton.edu/news/2017/11/30/robert-jahn-pioneer-deep-space-propulsion-and-mind-machine-interactions-dies-87
|
||||||
|
[^5]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Stoner, William L., memorandum of conversation, January 14, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7; Jachim, Robert J., "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -3,10 +3,11 @@ category: "Skeptics & Critics"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Skeptic
|
- Skeptic
|
||||||
summary: "He eventually conducted some of his own informal remote viewing experiments and became convinced of its reality, stating, 'Psychic stuff is really not much more far-fetched than some of the physics behind the laser.' His decision to publish the paper in a respected scientific journal contributed to"
|
summary: "Bell Labs engineer and editor of the Proceedings of the IEEE who published Targ and Puthoff's 1976 remote-viewing paper and ran his own inconclusive trials."
|
||||||
born: 1936-01-09
|
born: 1936-01-09
|
||||||
died: 2022-03-10
|
died: 2022-03-10
|
||||||
location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
|
location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -14,6 +15,9 @@ location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He eventually conducted some of his own informal remote viewing experiments and became convinced of its reality, stating, "Psychic stuff is really not much more far-fetched than some of the physics behind the laser." His decision to publish the paper in a respected scientific journal contributed to the growing, albeit controversial, recognition of remote viewing within the scientific community.[^1]
|
He eventually conducted some of his own informal remote viewing experiments and became convinced of its reality, stating, "Psychic stuff is really not much more far-fetched than some of the physics behind the laser." His decision to publish the paper in a respected scientific journal contributed to the growing, albeit controversial, recognition of remote viewing within the scientific community.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] visited him at Bell Labs in Holmdel on September 8, 1979, and recorded a different account: "At Bell we spoke with Dr. Robert Lucky, the man who probably started the whole (serious) PSI debate. He did this during his tenure as editor of the IEEE Journal 'Proceedings', by publishing the now famous Targ and Puthoff article." "Bell has no on-going PSI research and given conservative management's feelings against the subject, never will." "Dr. Lucky believes that SRI does not have a bona fide scientific approach. He feels that good research is necessary, but should be carried out by a group of fully qualified scientists and engineers, with very tight experimental protocols." "In 1975, Dr. Lucky attempted a series of six RV tests, following the SRI protocol. Using in-house Bell volunteers, the tests were for the most part failures. But, enough correlations of Subject transcript to actual target were present in one or two trials, that he calls the whole thing ambiguous. He concluded that the issue should be pursued further, but Bell's management called it quits." "Lucky commented that he once proposed to Targ and Puthoff that they allow a 'debugger' like [[James Randi|Randy the Magician]] to watch an SRI RV session. They refused on the grounds that no one believes them anyhow, and did not feel that permitting an extremely vocal critic to intrude into their lives/work would accomplish anything." He held that "legitimate, scientific research should be going on, but the best approach is to do it openly, perhaps with a sponsor like NSF."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. The pages on Bell Labs belong to an annex whose heading is withheld from the released copy.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Tom McNear
|
title: Tom McNear
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Tom McNear
|
- Tom McNear
|
||||||
|
|
@ -26,5 +26,8 @@ Despite his proficiency, McNear did not want to remain part of the viewer unit a
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1985, the [[Department of Defense]] published a forty-one-page how-to manual, "Coordinate Remote Viewing, Stages I–VI and Beyond." The author of this manual, declassified in 2000, was Tom McNear[^1].
|
In 1985, the [[Department of Defense]] published a forty-one-page how-to manual, "Coordinate Remote Viewing, Stages I–VI and Beyond." The author of this manual, declassified in 2000, was Tom McNear[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The released CIA collection on the program carries no legible mention of McNear.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: The archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection, about 13,000 items under the identifiers cia-rdp96-*, searched by title and OCR text; the OCR is imperfect and some fifty items could not be read.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
24
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Walter LaBerge.md
Normal file
24
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Walter LaBerge.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- WalterLaBerge
|
||||||
|
- Army
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Walter B. LaBerge
|
||||||
|
summary: "Under secretary of the Army who proposed the 1979 scientific review of the Army's parapsychology programs and to whom the resulting Gale report was delivered over the objections of the Pentagon's working group."
|
||||||
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Walter B. LaBerge was Under Secretary of the [[United States Army|Army]] in 1979. He received a copy of [[Ruth Davis]]'s memorandum of November 20, 1978, on the oversight of the remote-viewing project, sat on the Grill Flame steering committee at its first meeting on February 13, 1979, and "in June 1979 it was suggested by Dr. LaBerge, then Under Secretary of the Army, that a Scientific Evaluation Committee be appointed to review the Army's parapsychological activities," the origin of the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] under [[Manfred Gale]]. According to Major [[William Stoner]], the candidacy of [[Ray Hyman]] for the committee ended "because of a protest memo from MG [[Edmund Thompson|Thompson]] to Dr LaBerge." When the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee rejected Gale's briefing on January 10, 1980, "it was suggested that General [[Eugene Tighe|Tighe]] contact Dr. Laberge to obtain copies of the report and to stop any further distribution"; [[Jack Vorona]] wrote to Tighe on January 11 urging him "to intercede with Dr LaBerge on the report," and Stoner wrote that "by pushing to have the report quickly accepted by Dr LaBerge" Gale "will have an effective shield from tough questions and criticism," noting that LaBerge was "now on a TDY until o/a 21 Jan." Gale's distribution memorandum of January 25 ends: "Dr. LaBerge expects his official copy by Monday, 28 Jan."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Puthoff's letter to Gale of August 3, 1979, enclosed copies of SRI's procedures "for Maj. Gen. E. R. Thompson, Dr. Ruth Davis, and the Hon. Walter Laberge." On March 19, 1980, Puthoff, Targ and May wrote to him as "Principal Deputy, Undersecretary of Defense, Research & Engineering" that "based on a recommendation of the Gale Committee, ODDR&E will not provide support for R&D efforts in the Grill Flame area," asking "that steps be taken to prevent losing the initiative and momentum we had just begun to achieve."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Davis, Ruth M., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology), memorandum for Dr. Jack Vorona, "'Remote Viewing' Project," November 20, 1978, with the letter of Charlie Rose, Chairman, Subcommittee on Evaluation, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to Davis, October 25, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500240017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Gale, M., "Distribution of GRILL FLAME Reports," memorandum for Major Stoner, ACSI, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition, January 25, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230023-0; three CIA Reading Room items of February 13, 1980, are titled "Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) Grill Flame Report, Dated November 1979" (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250025-7, R001100080007-6, R001200230026-7), not read. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Puthoff, H. E., to Manfred Gale, "SRI/Gale Committee Meeting of 24-25 July," August 3, 1979, with the enclosure "Standard Remote Viewing (RV) Procedures: Local Sites," by H. E. Puthoff, R. Targ and E. C. May, August 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100060001-6 (memorandum alone at CIA-RDP96-00788R002000240028-5). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, H. E., R. Targ and E. C. May, Radio Physics Laboratory, SRI International, to Walter B. LaBerge, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, March 19, 1980, SRI 0-4132, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230031-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -3,16 +3,18 @@ aliases:
|
||||||
- William Richard Higgins
|
- William Richard Higgins
|
||||||
- Colonel Higgins
|
- Colonel Higgins
|
||||||
- Rich Higgins
|
- Rich Higgins
|
||||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
- Hostage
|
||||||
|
- Lebanon
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Military
|
||||||
- Stargate
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
summary: "William Richard Higgins was a Marine Lieutenant Colonel who served as chief of the United Nations Military Observer Group Lebanon."
|
summary: "William Richard Higgins was a Marine Lieutenant Colonel who served as chief of the United Nations Military Observer Group Lebanon."
|
||||||
born: 1945-01-15
|
born: 1945-01-15
|
||||||
died: 1989-07-31
|
died: 1989-07-31
|
||||||
location: "Danville, Kentucky, USA"
|
location: "Danville, Kentucky, USA"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
William Richard Higgins was a [[U.S. Marine Corps|Marine]] Lieutenant Colonel who served as chief of the [[United Nations Military Observer Group Lebanon]]. On February 17, 1988, he was abducted in [[Lebanon]] after meeting with the [[Amal Militia]] in the coastal city of Tyre[^1].
|
William Richard Higgins was a [[U.S. Marine Corps|Marine]] Lieutenant Colonel who served as chief of the [[United Nations Military Observer Group Lebanon]]. On February 17, 1988, he was abducted in [[Lebanon]] after meeting with the [[Amal Militia]] in the coastal city of Tyre[^1].
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|
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|
|
@ -20,11 +22,16 @@ Higgins's abduction became an international incident, generating a crisis at the
|
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|
|
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It was feared that Higgins would be tortured to death by [[Hezbollah]] terrorists in their effort to extract classified information. The [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] believed his abduction had been carefully orchestrated by [[Imad Mughniyah]], the leader of Hezbollah's terrorist operations[^1].
|
It was feared that Higgins would be tortured to death by [[Hezbollah]] terrorists in their effort to extract classified information. The [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] believed his abduction had been carefully orchestrated by [[Imad Mughniyah]], the leader of Hezbollah's terrorist operations[^1].
|
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|
|
||||||
The [[STARGATE PROJECT|Project 8808]] remote viewers, including [[Angela Dellafiora]], [[Paul Smith]], and [[Ed Dames]], were tasked with helping to determine if Higgins was alive and to locate him. Dellafiora perceived him to be alive and held in a "small structure" on a hill near a major road, a location later corroborated by a released hostage, [[Rudolf Cordes]], who confirmed he had been held in a specially constructed shed near the area Dellafiora identified[^1].
|
The [[Sun Streak|Project 8808]] remote viewers, including [[Angela Dellafiora]], [[Paul H. Smith|Paul Smith]], and [[Ed Dames]], were tasked with helping to determine if Higgins was alive and to locate him. Dellafiora perceived him to be alive and held in a "small structure" on a hill near a major road, a location later corroborated by a released hostage, [[Rudolf Cordes]], who confirmed he had been held in a specially constructed shed near the area Dellafiora identified[^1].
|
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|
|
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Despite initial perceptions, Higgins was likely killed between four and six weeks after his capture. His body was kept on ice by the terrorists. In the summer of 1989, after [[Israel]] captured Hezbollah leader [[Sheik Obeid]], Hezbollah released a video of Higgins's dead body with a noose around his neck, demanding Obeid's return. An [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] forensics team determined Higgins had died before he was hanged, based on the position of his feet[^1].
|
Despite initial perceptions, Higgins was likely killed between four and six weeks after his capture. His body was kept on ice by the terrorists. In the summer of 1989, after [[Israel]] captured Hezbollah leader [[Sheik Obeid]], Hezbollah released a video of Higgins's dead body with a noose around his neck, demanding Obeid's return. An [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] forensics team determined Higgins had died before he was hanged, based on the position of his feet[^1].
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|
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Higgins's body was not recovered for another two and a half years, when his mummified remains were found in a bag left in a school parking lot in southern Beirut[^1].
|
Higgins's body was not recovered for another two and a half years, when his mummified remains were found in a bag left in a school parking lot in southern Beirut[^1].
|
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|
|
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|
### The Documents
|
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|
|
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|
The DIA's Sun Streak file on Project 8808 opens with tasking sheets of February 17, 1988, and an interim operational report of February 24 on a redacted Amal officer, "a 47 to 50 year-old Lebanese christian" with "the rank of Major," whom viewer 079 found "aware of the abduction" but "not directly involved in the planning or execution of the kidnapping," the information "shielded from the remote viewers and maintained by the customer at the DIAC, Bolling AFB." Sessions continued into June 1989. A viewer on February 19, 1988, placed him "next to BEAUFORT CASTLE"; one on February 25 had him "blind-folded, hands tied behind his back and placed in a canvas-covered cargo truck" and moved east; a tasking sheet of May 17 recorded that "the intelligence community reportedly has all but given up on the status of LTC Higgins" while DIA's counterterrorism analysts "have found Sun Streak input consistent with their own" information; on May 21 two viewers put him aboard a fishing vessel off Tyre, one describing "the hold of a fishing vessel which looks something like a tug boat in form" and his emotions as "akin to 'confused contentment.'" On September 29, 1988, a viewer reported that "the release of LTC Higgins remains a foregone conclusion"; through 1989 the summaries placed him "alive, secluded" in a succession of villages; a session that discussed "the Obeid" as a prisoner of the Israelis found "that the group who claim that LTC Higgins was executed is not the terrorist group who is currently holding him"; and an undated solo session "to determine whether USMC LTC William Richard Higgins is dead or alive" reported "an extremely rotten smell" and that he "died between 8-10 months after he was captured." No document in the released file names the viewers.[^2]
|
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|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "SUN STREAK Operational Report - 8808," February 24, 1988, CIA-RDP96-00789R003400980001-7; Project 8808 task papers and handwritten papers, CIA-RDP96-00789R003400940003-9, -006-6, -012-9, -013-8 and -014-7; session reports of February 19, 1988 (CIA-RDP96-00789R003400600001-8), February 25 (R003401100001-2), February 28 (R003401110001-1), May 21 (R003400590001-0 and R003401310001-9), September 29 (R000400080001-9, read from the page images), and the summaries of information of viewer 079 of 1988 and 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000400780001-2 to R000401000001-6 and R000400960001-2), and the undated solo session on Higgins's death (CIA-RDP96-00789R000401050001-1). Session dates and viewer numbers are as typed on the cover sheets; the handwritten transcripts are largely illegible in OCR. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
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|
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18
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Andrew Rose.md
Normal file
18
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Andrew Rose.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- AndrewRose
|
||||||
|
- AIR
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Andrew M. Rose
|
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|
summary: "Chief scientist of the American Institutes for Research's Washington office and co-author of the 1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate."
|
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|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
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|
---
|
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|
|
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|
Andrew M. Rose took his bachelor's degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1969 and his master's (1970) and doctorate (1974) in psychology at the University of Michigan, and joined the [[American Institutes for Research]] in 1973, rising to principal research scientist, director of its Communication Research Group and "Chief Scientist of the Washington Research Center," "responsible for ensuring the quality of proposals and project deliverables, and for ensuring scientific rigor in the conduct of all projects." His projects of the early 1990s included a study of clinical guideline development for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, "recommendations to improve the safety of the blood supply, for the World Health Organization," a task-order contract to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Internal Revenue Service, and the Document Design Project for the National Institute of Education; he sat on the [[National Research Council]]'s Panel on Human Error. His curriculum vitae is held in the CIA's Star Gate files, and he was second author of the [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]], the CIA's briefing slides listing him as "Dr. Andrew Rose, Ph.D. Psychology."[^1]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Curriculum Vitae - Michael D. Mumford," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030046-5, and "Curriculum Vitae - Andrew M. Rose," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030047-4, released 2003; Mumford, Michael D., to a redacted addressee at the Ames Building, Rosslyn, "Transmittal of Draft Remote Viewing Report," September 22, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180003-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. E-1 to E-2.
|
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|
|
@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Henry Karel "Andrija" Puharich (1918-1995) was a prominent American physician, r
|
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|
|
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Born in Chicago on February 19, 1918, to poor Yugoslavian immigrants, Puharich had an early experience that shaped his future. As a milk delivery boy, he claimed to have calmed a vicious dog by sending "feelings of calmness and peace," leading him to believe in [[Telepathy|mind-to-mind telepathy]] and inspiring him to pursue medicine to understand the biological basis of such phenomena[^1]. He excelled academically, attending [[Northwestern University]] for philosophy and premedical studies before entering medical school. During his studies, he deeply contemplated the nature of the mind and consciousness, stating, "Understanding the nature of man’s consciousness... is my lifelong quest"[^1].
|
Born in Chicago on February 19, 1918, to poor Yugoslavian immigrants, Puharich had an early experience that shaped his future. As a milk delivery boy, he claimed to have calmed a vicious dog by sending "feelings of calmness and peace," leading him to believe in [[Telepathy|mind-to-mind telepathy]] and inspiring him to pursue medicine to understand the biological basis of such phenomena[^1]. He excelled academically, attending [[Northwestern University]] for philosophy and premedical studies before entering medical school. During his studies, he deeply contemplated the nature of the mind and consciousness, stating, "Understanding the nature of man’s consciousness... is my lifelong quest"[^1].
|
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|
|
||||||
After completing his medical degree in 1947, Puharich worked with leading physicians, including his mentor, Dr. Andrew C. Ivy. During his residency at the Permanente Research Foundation, he formulated the Puharich Theory, which posited an unknown energy force linking the brain and nervous system to cells, with instructions flowing between them as "dynamics." He believed this energy radiated on the [[Electromagnetic Spectrum|electromagnetic spectrum]] but was beyond current measurement technology. His theory gained traction when [[Lloyd H. Beck]] and [[Walter S. Miles]] of Yale University reported that the olfactory nerve of a bee radiated energy in the infrared spectrum[^1].
|
After completing his medical degree in 1947, Puharich worked with leading physicians, including his mentor, Dr. Andrew C. Ivy. During his residency at the Permanente Research Foundation, he formulated the Puharich Theory, which posited an unknown energy force linking the brain and nervous system to cells, with instructions flowing between them as "dynamics." He believed this energy radiated on the [[Electromagnetic Spectrum|electromagnetic spectrum]] but was beyond current measurement technology. His theory gained traction when [[Lloyd H. Beck]] and [[Walter S. Miles]] of [[Yale University]] reported that the olfactory nerve of a bee radiated energy in the infrared spectrum[^1].
|
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|
|
||||||
Inspired by microbiologist [[Paul De Kruif]], who warned him to "Beware the Establishment!"[^1], Puharich began lecturing on his ideas, merging philosophy, mysticism, and science. This attracted wealthy benefactors, notably [[Joyce Borden Balokovic]] and [[Zlatko Balokovic]], and later [[Alice Astor Bouverie]] and [[Marcella Miller du Pont]]. With their financial backing, Puharich established the [[Round Table Foundation]] in Glen Cove, Maine, in 1949. The foundation, named in homage to King Arthur, aimed to conduct experiments on ESP and related phenomena[^1].
|
Inspired by microbiologist [[Paul De Kruif]], who warned him to "Beware the Establishment!"[^1], Puharich began lecturing on his ideas, merging philosophy, mysticism, and science. This attracted wealthy benefactors, notably [[Joyce Borden Balokovic]] and [[Zlatko Balokovic]], and later [[Alice Astor Bouverie]] and [[Marcella Miller du Pont]]. With their financial backing, Puharich established the [[Round Table Foundation]] in Glen Cove, Maine, in 1949. The foundation, named in homage to King Arthur, aimed to conduct experiments on ESP and related phenomena[^1].
|
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|
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
@ -6,9 +6,15 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
summary: "Bill Ray was one of the five remote viewers from INSCOM who remained in the program when the DIA took over the psychoenergetics program."
|
summary: "Bill Ray was one of the five remote viewers from INSCOM who remained in the program when the DIA took over the psychoenergetics program."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bill Ray was one of the five remote viewers from [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] who remained in the program when the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] took over the [[Psychoenergetics|psychoenergetics]] program. He was sent to New York City to be trained in the six stages of [[Coordinate Remote Viewing|CRV]] with [[Ingo Swann]][^1].
|
Bill Ray was one of the five remote viewers from [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] who remained in the program when the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] took over the [[Psychoenergetics|psychoenergetics]] program. He was sent to New York City to be trained in the six stages of [[Coordinate Remote Viewing|CRV]] with [[Ingo Swann]][^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Documents
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
"CPT William G. Ray, presently G-2, 11th Signal Bde, Ft Huachuca, AZ, and currently on orders for assignment to HQ INSCOM, Ft Meade, effective 1 January 1984," was listed for [[Center Lane]]'s personnel spaces on August 2, 1983. On May 17, 1984, the project office recorded that "William G. Ray of this office reported that Congressman [[Charlie Rose|Rose]] had called Ingo Swann at SRI-I New York, 16 May 1984," and that Rose had told Swann that Dale Van Atta, "associate of [[Jack Anderson]]," had said "that although they had recently been under the influence of McRae, that this is no longer the case," and that "there would be a series of articles" in "a favorable vain, i.e., 'Why hasn't more been done?'" By December 10, 1985, he signed a memorandum on a telephone conversation with [[Hal Puthoff]] as "MAJ, MI, Ch, SSPD."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: "Center Lane Personnel Spaces," August 2, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700300001-1; "Recent Jack Anderson 'Grill Flame' Articles," May 17, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200030001-6; "Conversation via Telephone with Puthoff," December 10, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700030002-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ aliases:
|
||||||
- Charles G. Rose III
|
- Charles G. Rose III
|
||||||
- Charles Rose
|
- Charles Rose
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
|
@ -42,13 +42,17 @@ In October 1993, private consultant [[Henry "Skip" Clements]] provided Rose and
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Charles Rose, a Democrat, represented North Carolina's seventh district in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] from 1973 to 1997 and chaired the evaluation subcommittee of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]. He died on September 3, 2012, at 73.[^4]
|
Charles Rose, a Democrat, represented North Carolina's seventh district in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] from 1973 to 1997 and chaired the evaluation subcommittee of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]. He died on September 3, 2012, at 73.[^4]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
On October 25, 1978, as chairman of the Subcommittee on Evaluation, Rose wrote to [[Ruth Davis]], Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Advanced Technology: "I have recently had occasion to become acquainted with some interesting research involving paranormal phenomena, specifically that relating to remote viewing. Clearly, while this phenomenon might well result in opportunities for the collection of intelligence otherwise denied us, we have a strong obligation also to learn what Soviet research is underway and what emergent capabilities they may have so that we may protect our own classified activities from this potential source of surveillance. I would therefore like to see the Department of Defense undertake those efforts deemed necessary and appropriate to investigate remote viewing and other related phenomena. As research continues in such areas it will be incumbent on us to understand and safeguard our citizens' proper concerns about their individual rights and the appropriate role of government. I am ready to assist in this venture as best I can." Davis forwarded the letter to Jack Vorona with her memorandum of November 20 setting the questions for the oversight groups DIA was to establish.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Briefings
|
### Briefings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On February 9, 1978, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s legislative counsel met Rose and his aide Dick Giza at the agency's front entrance for four briefings, one of them at the [[CIA Office of Technical Service|Office of Technical Service]], the office that had funded the SRI remote-viewing work, "largely handled by the Chief of OTS, Mr. David S. Brandwein." In July 1979 the chairman of the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee, Jack Vorona of the DIA, missed its meeting because he "was briefing Congressman Rose on DoD efforts and interest in parapsychology"; Rose and Representative Young "were primarily interested in the funding of such projects within the DoD." The committee's minutes of January 10, 1980, recorded that "as a result of that interest, arrangements were made to present the INSCOM briefing," that "Congressional concern and support were expressed for funding the program in FY 80, 81, and 82," and that "Congressman Rose will be on the CIA Life Science Panel." The Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence, Major General Edmund Thompson, wrote in an eyes-only memorandum: "Congressman Rose is a topic worth discussion. It has been about three months since he was briefed on program specifics, and we should keep in mind his oft-repeated desire to be kept up to date on a continuing basis. A situation as before in which the last briefing was done at his instigation, forcing us to be reactors rather than action takers, should be avoided." INSCOM's chronology lists him briefed on January 16, 1980, February 11, 1981, and, "on human use issue," April 16, 1981 (Watt's memorandum of the April briefing says he had last briefed Rose in January 1980, so the February briefing was given by someone else).[^5][^6][^7]
|
On February 9, 1978, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s legislative counsel met Rose and his aide Dick Giza at the agency's front entrance for four briefings, one of them at the [[CIA Office of Technical Service|Office of Technical Service]], the office that had funded the SRI remote-viewing work, "largely handled by the Chief of OTS, Mr. David S. Brandwein." In July 1979 the chairman of the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee, Jack Vorona of the DIA, missed its meeting because he "was briefing Congressman Rose on DoD efforts and interest in parapsychology"; Rose and Representative Young "were primarily interested in the funding of such projects within the DoD." The committee's minutes of January 10, 1980, recorded that "as a result of that interest, arrangements were made to present the INSCOM briefing," that "Congressional concern and support were expressed for funding the program in FY 80, 81, and 82," and that "Congressman Rose will be on the CIA Life Science Panel." The Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence, Major General Edmund Thompson, wrote in an eyes-only memorandum: "Congressman Rose is a topic worth discussion. It has been about three months since he was briefed on program specifics, and we should keep in mind his oft-repeated desire to be kept up to date on a continuing basis. A situation as before in which the last briefing was done at his instigation, forcing us to be reactors rather than action takers, should be avoided." INSCOM's chronology lists him briefed on January 16, 1980, February 11, 1981, and, "on human use issue," April 16, 1981 (Watt's memorandum of the April briefing says he had last briefed Rose in January 1980, so the February briefing was given by someone else).[^5][^6][^7]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
At 2 p.m. on January 16, 1980, Lieutenant Colonel [[Murray Watt]] "briefed Congressman Charlie Rose (Chairman, Evaluation Subcommittee of The House Permanent Committee on Intelligence) on the INSCOM GRILL FLAME Project," at Rose's request "via Dr. Jack Vorona," with Major General Thompson, Vorona, "Jake Stewart, NSC Staff Member," and "Dick Giza, Office of Congressman Rose" present. "Congressman Rose stated that he wanted the briefing taped so that other members of the House Subcommittee would have the opportunity to review the proceedings"; "Page 3 of Incl 1 was not provided to the audience at the direction of MG Thompson." Rose "was very receptive to the briefing (which lasted a little over an hour). He stated that we had made more progress than he had realized and encouraged us to continue with our program. He expressed strong concern about the Soviet threat that might be posed in this field and hoped that the U.S. Intelligence Community would rapidly make some 'break-throughs' of parapsychology."[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### April 16, 1981
|
### April 16, 1981
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
At 10:30 that morning Lieutenant Colonel [[Murray Watt]], the project manager, briefed him at Fort Meade with Thompson, Giza, a committee staffer, Annette Smiley, and officers of the Army's congressional liaison. "Congressman Rose opened the meeting with the comments that he was concerned that research into this field had to continue in an orderly manner and that the program had to be funded properly." He had lately visited SRI and been briefed by [[Hal Puthoff]] and the DIA representative there, and "had come away with the impression that perhaps the Army would like to break off future contacts with SRI-I"; Thompson and Watt "informed the Congressman that Army was still very much interested in working with SRI-I," and Thompson said that [[Ingo Swann]] "had expressed similar thoughts to him." Rose "stated, again, that Remote Viewing potentially was a most valuable asset for the intelligence community and that work in that area had to continue," was "willing to help in any way that he could, but mentioned the commitment one makes when one 'signs his name on the line,'" and "expressed concern with us being operational on what might be a premature basis." He "told us to keep-up the outstanding work," and the meeting ended at 11:45.[^6]
|
At 10:30 that morning Lieutenant Colonel Murray Watt, the project manager, briefed him at Fort Meade with Thompson, Giza, a committee staffer, Annette Smiley, and officers of the Army's congressional liaison. "Congressman Rose opened the meeting with the comments that he was concerned that research into this field had to continue in an orderly manner and that the program had to be funded properly." He had lately visited SRI and been briefed by [[Hal Puthoff]] and the DIA representative there, and "had come away with the impression that perhaps the Army would like to break off future contacts with SRI-I"; Thompson and Watt "informed the Congressman that Army was still very much interested in working with SRI-I," and Thompson said that [[Ingo Swann]] "had expressed similar thoughts to him." Rose "stated, again, that Remote Viewing potentially was a most valuable asset for the intelligence community and that work in that area had to continue," was "willing to help in any way that he could, but mentioned the commitment one makes when one 'signs his name on the line,'" and "expressed concern with us being operational on what might be a premature basis." He "told us to keep-up the outstanding work," and the meeting ended at 11:45.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Afterward
|
### Afterward
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -69,3 +73,5 @@ In October 1993 the Florida consultant [[Henry Skip Clements|Henry "Skip" Clemen
|
||||||
[^7]: Thompson, E. R., Major General, memorandum "GRILL FLAME Steering Committee" to Dr. La Berge, eyes only, undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250013-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^7]: Thompson, E. R., Major General, memorandum "GRILL FLAME Steering Committee" to Dr. La Berge, eyes only, undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250013-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^8]: *Omni,* 1979, and press accounts of the November 1995 disclosure, seen only in search summaries; the CIA file quoting him was not read.
|
[^8]: *Omni,* 1979, and press accounts of the November 1995 disclosure, seen only in search summaries; the CIA file quoting him was not read.
|
||||||
[^9]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation," *U.S. News & World Report,* December 27, 1993; Keeney, John C., memorandum to Larry A. Potts, October 26, 1993, as cited on the vault pages for Clements and The Finders.
|
[^9]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation," *U.S. News & World Report,* December 27, 1993; Keeney, John C., memorandum to Larry A. Potts, October 26, 1993, as cited on the vault pages for Clements and The Finders.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Davis, Ruth M., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology), memorandum for Dr. Jack Vorona, "'Remote Viewing' Project," November 20, 1978, with the letter of Charlie Rose, Chairman, Subcommittee on Evaluation, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to Davis, October 25, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500240017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Title only for the 1980 briefing.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 January 1980," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190001-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ summary: "Claiborne Pell (1918-2009) was a powerful Democratic Senator from Rhod
|
||||||
born: 1918-11-22
|
born: 1918-11-22
|
||||||
died: 2009-01-01
|
died: 2009-01-01
|
||||||
location: "New York City, USA"
|
location: "New York City, USA"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Claiborne Pell (1918-2009) was a powerful Democratic Senator from Rhode Island and a ranking member of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]. A former [[Foreign Service]] officer who had worked behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Hungary, Pell was a firm supporter and proponent of [[Extrasensory Perception|extrasensory perception]] and the [[Remote Viewing]] program[^1].
|
Claiborne Pell (1918-2009) was a powerful Democratic Senator from Rhode Island and a ranking member of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]. A former [[Foreign Service]] officer who had worked behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Hungary, Pell was a firm supporter and proponent of [[Extrasensory Perception|extrasensory perception]] and the [[Remote Viewing]] program[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
@ -27,7 +28,10 @@ Pell also played a role in the 1987 Geneva disarmament talks. He was present at
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
From five to six that afternoon, in his office at the Capitol, Pell received "a GRILL FLAME information briefing" arranged by [[Jack Vorona]] of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] and given with Major Gerald Fox of the Army staff and representatives of [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]], whose project manager, Lieutenant Colonel [[Robert Jachim]], wrote the record, with two of his aides present; "although Senator Pell had invited 8 members of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] to attend the briefing none were present." The Army's part covered the history of its involvement, "how remote viewing is used for intelligence collection," and four projects whose names are redacted. "The briefing was well received. Senator Pell had had previous briefings concerning parapsychology from Dr. Vorona. He was also acquainted with the work of Dr. [[Robert Jahn]], Dean, College of Engineering, [[Princeton University]]. Senator Pell stated that while he could not assist in FY83, he offered to try to help in the future." Two days later the Army's operations lost their funding in the National Foreign Intelligence Program. In November 1983 INSCOM's chief of staff "asked for a status report on the Senator Pell project," and the [[Center Lane]] manager answered "that we were developing an operational plan to support the project, but as yet we had not collected any information."[^2]
|
From five to six that afternoon, in his office at the Capitol, Pell received "a GRILL FLAME information briefing" arranged by [[Jack Vorona]] of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] and given with Major Gerald Fox of the Army staff and representatives of [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]], whose project manager, Lieutenant Colonel [[Robert Jachim]], wrote the record, with two of his aides present; "although Senator Pell had invited 8 members of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] to attend the briefing none were present." The Army's part covered the history of its involvement, "how remote viewing is used for intelligence collection," and four projects whose names are redacted. "The briefing was well received. Senator Pell had had previous briefings concerning parapsychology from Dr. Vorona. He was also acquainted with the work of Dr. [[Robert Jahn]], Dean, College of Engineering, [[Princeton University]]. Senator Pell stated that while he could not assist in FY83, he offered to try to help in the future." Two days later the Army's operations lost their funding in the National Foreign Intelligence Program. In November 1983 INSCOM's chief of staff "asked for a status report on the Senator Pell project," and the [[Center Lane]] manager answered "that we were developing an operational plan to support the project, but as yet we had not collected any information."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The chief of staff who asked Buzby for the status report on November 30, 1983, was Colonel Partridge; no later record in Buzby's memoranda names the project again. An undated DIA letter to Pell, S-22,600/DTI-S, refers to "your recent visit to DIA," at which "you raised the issue of the accuracy and reliability of certain journalistic claims regarding the possible existence of Russian psychoenergetic devices," and encloses "Psychoenergetics Devices: A Review and Assessment," with "a list of possible options and recommendations for your consideration" should "the journalist decide to go public with his allegations."[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
[^2]: Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5; Buzby, Brian, information paper "GRILL FLAME Briefing Presented to Senator Pell," February 6, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320004-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Briefing for MG A.N. Stubblebine III," October 8, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220022-7; Buzby, Brian, memoranda "CENTER LANE Briefing for CG, USAINSCOM," August 29, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220011-9), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983," December 6, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984," January 17, 1984 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2); letter of the ACSI to Stubblebine, "CENTER LANE," April 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220002-9). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5; Buzby, Brian, information paper "GRILL FLAME Briefing Presented to Senator Pell," February 6, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320004-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Briefing for MG A.N. Stubblebine III," October 8, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220022-7; Buzby, Brian, memoranda "CENTER LANE Briefing for CG, USAINSCOM," August 29, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220011-9), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983," December 6, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984," January 17, 1984 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2); letter of the ACSI to Stubblebine, "CENTER LANE," April 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220002-9). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Buzby, Brian, "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983," memorandum for record, December 6, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0; Defense Intelligence Agency, S-22,600/DTI-S, letter to Senator Claiborne Pell, undated, with enclosure "Psychoenergetics Devices: A Review and Assessment," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600010004-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
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|
|
@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American engineer, billionaire
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Google and the Fortune
|
### Google and the Fortune
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Schmidt took a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, worked at [[Sun Microsystems]] and ran the software firm Novell, then was recruited in 2001 by Google founders [[Larry Page]] and [[Sergey Brin]] to provide what their investors at [[Kleiner Perkins]] and [[Sequoia Capital]] called "adult supervision." He served as chief executive through the company's 2004 initial public offering and its growth into the dominant search and advertising company in the world, stepping into the executive chairman role in 2011 when Page resumed the chief-executive title.[^1]
|
Schmidt took a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from [[Princeton University]] and a doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, worked at [[Sun Microsystems]] and ran the software firm Novell, then was recruited in 2001 by Google founders [[Larry Page]] and [[Sergey Brin]] to provide what their investors at [[Kleiner Perkins]] and [[Sequoia Capital]] called "adult supervision." He served as chief executive through the company's 2004 initial public offering and its growth into the dominant search and advertising company in the world, stepping into the executive chairman role in 2011 when Page resumed the chief-executive title.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The bulk of Schmidt's wealth derives from his roughly one-percent economic interest in Alphabet. According to a February 2025 securities filing he held about 49 million Alphabet Class A and Class B shares, and an analysis of company filings found he had collected roughly 7.9 billion dollars from sales of Google stock over the years. His net worth has been reported in a wide range depending on method and timing, commonly cited near 30 to 40 billion dollars and placed higher by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as Alphabet's share price climbed through 2025 and 2026.[^2]
|
The bulk of Schmidt's wealth derives from his roughly one-percent economic interest in Alphabet. According to a February 2025 securities filing he held about 49 million Alphabet Class A and Class B shares, and an analysis of company filings found he had collected roughly 7.9 billion dollars from sales of Google stock over the years. His net worth has been reported in a wide range depending on method and timing, commonly cited near 30 to 40 billion dollars and placed higher by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as Alphabet's share price climbed through 2025 and 2026.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Plaza was born on February 17, 1906, in New York City, at the Marlton House, dur
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Education and Early Career
|
### Education and Early Career
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Plaza studied agriculture at the [[University of Maryland]], economics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and diplomacy at the [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service]] at Georgetown University. He returned to Ecuador and managed the family property, [[Hacienda Zuleta]] in [[Imbabura Province]], importing Holstein cattle and introducing systematic seed selection and mechanized tractors to Ecuadorian highland agriculture.
|
Plaza studied agriculture at the [[University of Maryland]], economics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and diplomacy at the [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service]] at [[Georgetown University]]. He returned to Ecuador and managed the family property, [[Hacienda Zuleta]] in [[Imbabura Province]], importing Holstein cattle and introducing systematic seed selection and mechanized tractors to Ecuadorian highland agriculture.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He entered politics in 1937, elected as a councilman of [[Quito]], then as mayor in 1938. In December 1938 he was appointed Minister of National Defense, a post he held through 1939. In 1929 he had served as attaché at the Ecuadorian legation in Washington. In July 1944, President [[José María Velasco Ibarra]] appointed him ambassador to the United States, a posting that placed him in Washington precisely as the major inter-American and international conferences of 1945 were being organized.[^1]
|
He entered politics in 1937, elected as a councilman of [[Quito]], then as mayor in 1938. In December 1938 he was appointed Minister of National Defense, a post he held through 1939. In 1929 he had served as attaché at the Ecuadorian legation in Washington. In July 1944, President [[José María Velasco Ibarra]] appointed him ambassador to the United States, a posting that placed him in Washington precisely as the major inter-American and international conferences of 1945 were being organized.[^1]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
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|
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|
|
@ -9,10 +9,14 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Military
|
||||||
- RemoteViewer
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
summary: "Garrison Rapmund was a Major General and the Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S."
|
summary: "Garrison Rapmund was a Major General and the Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Garrison Rapmund was a Major General and the Assistant Surgeon General of the [[U.S. Army]]. In July 1984, after [[Albert Stubblebine]] was forced into early retirement and the [[Remote Viewing]] program was up for grabs, Rapmund engaged in discussions to move the program under his command within the [[Army Medical Research and Development Command]] at [[Fort Detrick]], Maryland[^1].
|
Garrison Rapmund was a Major General and the Assistant Surgeon General of the [[U.S. Army]]. In July 1984, after [[Albert Stubblebine]] was forced into early retirement and the [[Remote Viewing]] program was up for grabs, Rapmund engaged in discussions to move the program under his command within the [[Army Medical Research and Development Command]] at [[Fort Detrick]], Maryland[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
His intention was to emphasize testing the physiology of the viewers. However, after several rounds of negotiations, the Office of the Surgeon General ultimately declined to take over the program[^1].
|
His intention was to emphasize testing the physiology of the viewers. However, after several rounds of negotiations, the Office of the Surgeon General ultimately declined to take over the program[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On August 27, 1981, "at DIA, Pomponio Plaza," Rapmund, then "BG(P), CDR, USAMRDC, Ft Detrick," met [[Jack Vorona]] "to discuss the issue of human use and the need for a DoD research and development effort in the GRILL FLAME area"; he "stated that as long as the Perry letter... remained as DoD policy, R&D funds could not be spent in the field of parapsychology. However, in his opinion there was a need to begin a serious effort in this field." Vorona told the Center Lane office on August 31, 1984, that he and "MG Rapmund of the Army Medical R&D Command" had signed a memorandum of understanding under which Rapmund "will provide one million dollars during FY85, two million during FY86, and four million during FY87."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: "Project Contacts," August 1, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190048-5; "Key Players," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200270002-9; "Scientific Oversight Committee," CIA-RDP96-00789R003200130001-2; bibliography citing Vorona's testimony to the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee of April 12, 1983, in "RV Reliability Enhancement and Evaluation," 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800150001-7; "OACSI Meeting About Grill Flame," April 13, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200060003-1; "Recent Actions Concerning Project Grill Flame," February 21, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100350001-2; "Center Lane Briefing 3-7 October 1983," CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270013-2; "Discussion with Dr. Jack Vorona," August 31, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001500090055-8; "Meeting With Dr. Vorona, 11 March 1985," CIA-RDP96-00788R001700290007-7; "Sun Streak Oversight Panel, Minutes of First Meeting," January 1986, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100200001-6; "Special Intelligence Support Relating to the Kidnapping of BG Dozier," December 22, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00789R002600180016-8; "Grill Flame Briefing for Director, NSA," June and July 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700230004-6; May, Edwin C., memorandum "Contacts," February 23, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190073-7; Jachim, R. J., "Meeting Between BG Rapmund and Dr. Jack Vorona," September 1, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100440071-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,5 +13,8 @@ During the experiment, Sergeyev monitored Kulagina's physiological responses, wh
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Sergeyev also oversaw an experiment where Kulagina attempted to increase the heart rate of a skeptical physician, which reportedly reached dangerous levels. While some U.S. analysts suspected these demonstrations were part of a Soviet disinformation campaign, others in the U.S. military, particularly the Medical Intelligence Office of the [[U.S. Army]], considered the potential military applications of such abilities to be highly significant[^1].
|
Sergeyev also oversaw an experiment where Kulagina attempted to increase the heart rate of a skeptical physician, which reportedly reached dangerous levels. While some U.S. analysts suspected these demonstrations were part of a Soviet disinformation campaign, others in the U.S. military, particularly the Medical Intelligence Office of the [[U.S. Army]], considered the potential military applications of such abilities to be highly significant[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A DIA briefing on "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," given to the Air Force in July 1987, dated Sergeyev's work to 1965-1970 in "Vasil'yev's lab," under the headings "communication (EEG code)," "remote action" and "N. Kulagina."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Henry E. Shinol, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Studies and Analyses, Headquarters USAF, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Soviet Parapsychology Research Briefing," June 12, 1987, and cover note of July 14, 1987, with paper briefing slides "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600320001-8 to -004-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Hal Puthoff
|
title: Hal Puthoff
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Hal Puthoff
|
- Hal Puthoff
|
||||||
|
|
@ -65,6 +65,12 @@ Puthoff and Targ published the SRI program's experimental results in two major p
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The *Nature* paper represented an unusual case of a mainstream scientific journal publishing parapsychology research; the editorial board attached a statement acknowledging the reviewers' uncertainty about publication. The IEEE paper presented data across multiple subjects and sessions, including [[Hella Hammid]], a German-American photographer included specifically to test whether anomalous results were limited to self-identified psychics.
|
The *Nature* paper represented an unusual case of a mainstream scientific journal publishing parapsychology research; the editorial board attached a statement acknowledging the reviewers' uncertainty about publication. The IEEE paper presented data across multiple subjects and sessions, including [[Hella Hammid]], a German-American photographer included specifically to test whether anomalous results were limited to self-identified psychics.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] of 1979 reviewed a paper of Puthoff's, "Potential Criticisms and Responses," setting out nine criticisms of the SRI work with his answers (experiment selection, data selection, cueing, "educated guess," target limitations, target generality, "read-in" matches, handling of judging materials, and post hoc photography), and found most "at least partially valid": SRI "ran 7000+ experiments with Swann" of which "only a fraction appear in the literature"; of the term "double-blind," "the word clearly does not apply in either the traditional, or in a meaningful, sense to the SRI protocol"; and "was the San Andres airfield photograph taken after the judging? Why do aspect angles of photographs always coincide with the direction from which the Subject 'views' the target?" Against the authors' claim to have "in five years of self- and other criticism... not found a way to fault either the experimental protocols or the conclusions derived therefrom," the annex answered: "I do not agree, and I believe that careful evaluation amply documents numerous such faults."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The 1979 evaluation by Harry and Arlene Snyder of Systemetrics, held by the CIA, reproduced his protocol "as described in a written communication from H. Puthoff to a sponsor in late 1977," noted that in the alphabet-letter experiments "Puthoff did the judging," quoted his letter of March 28, 1978, to Karnes and Susman of Denver ("We have found remote viewing to be extremely sensitive to the feedback parameters"), and of his and Targ's claim to have found no fault in five years, "we do not agree." To [[David Marks]] he wrote on July 10, 1978, that "neither the single judge (Hastings) nor the panel of five judges were given the order; they were kept blind," in May 1979 that the transcripts could not be released "since premature disclosure would prevent further blind analysis work," and on August 25, 1980, that "the published list of the targets was in the order of target usage, and that, furthermore, when the target list was provided to the judge, it was inadvertently (through an error) given in the same order."[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
His "Standard Remote-Viewing Protocol (Local Targets)" with Targ, of November 1978, held by the CIA, prescribed a target list prepared "by an experimenter who will not interact with the subject after that," selection by "a Texas Instruments SR-51 hand calculator, which has a random-number function," fifteen-minute viewings, "no hypnosis, strobe lights, or sensory-deprivation procedures," feedback at the site "for each experiment to ensure success," and judging by direct matching or rank ordering. On August 3, 1979, he wrote to [[Manfred Gale]] that the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee had "all but skipped Part 2 on scientific questions" at its SRI visit and that "it is incumbent on the committee members to obtain a more thorough grounding in the technical details," enclosing a revised procedure with Targ and May; on March 19, 1980, he, Targ and May wrote to [[Walter LaBerge]] that "based on a recommendation of the Gale Committee, ODDR&E will not provide support for R&D efforts in the Grill Flame area," that "we were not mandated to undertake formal proof-of-principle research," and that their results had been described by clients "as being of vital importance to the national interests."[^902]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Transition and Departure from SRI
|
### Transition and Departure from SRI
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
When the Army established its own remote viewing unit at [[Fort Meade]] in 1977 under the code names Gondola Wish and later Grill Flame, it contracted SRI for protocol guidance and training under Puthoff's supervision. Puthoff continued as SRI's principal investigator through this period, overseeing both the research program at SRI and consulting on the operational program at Fort Meade. In 1985, Puthoff departed SRI; the research contract subsequently moved to [[Science Applications International Corporation|SAIC]] under [[Edwin May]].
|
When the Army established its own remote viewing unit at [[Fort Meade]] in 1977 under the code names Gondola Wish and later Grill Flame, it contracted SRI for protocol guidance and training under Puthoff's supervision. Puthoff continued as SRI's principal investigator through this period, overseeing both the research program at SRI and consulting on the operational program at Fort Meade. In 1985, Puthoff departed SRI; the research contract subsequently moved to [[Science Applications International Corporation|SAIC]] under [[Edwin May]].
|
||||||
|
|
@ -81,3 +87,6 @@ Puthoff became a founding member and scientific advisor to To the Stars Academy
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Puthoff, H. E. "CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 63-76. Read in a mirror copy; the journal's own site refused the fetch.
|
[^1]: Puthoff, H. E. "CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 63-76. Read in a mirror copy; the journal's own site refused the fetch.
|
||||||
[^2]: Puthoff, H. E., memorandum to Dave Johnson, "Proxmire Response Re Psychoenergetics," September 26, 1977, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020042-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: Puthoff, H. E., memorandum to Dave Johnson, "Proxmire Response Re Psychoenergetics," September 26, 1977, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020042-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^902]: Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "Standard Remote-Viewing Protocol (Local Targets)." SRI International, November 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500400001-4 (copy at CIA-RDP96-00788R001300050001-3). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, H. E., to Manfred Gale, "SRI/Gale Committee Meeting of 24-25 July," August 3, 1979, with the enclosure "Standard Remote Viewing (RV) Procedures: Local Sites," by H. E. Puthoff, R. Targ and E. C. May, August 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100060001-6 (memorandum alone at CIA-RDP96-00788R002000240028-5). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, H. E., R. Targ and E. C. May, Radio Physics Laboratory, SRI International, to Walter B. LaBerge, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, March 19, 1980, SRI 0-4132, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230031-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
32
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Harry Snyder.md
Normal file
32
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Harry Snyder.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- HarrySnyder
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- VirginiaTech
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Harry L. Snyder
|
||||||
|
summary: "Virginia Tech professor of industrial engineering whose 1979 critical evaluation of remote-viewing research is held by the CIA, and who then sat on the Army's Gale Committee in place of Ray Hyman."
|
||||||
|
location: "Blacksburg, Virginia"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Harry L. Snyder, professor of industrial engineering and operations research at [[Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University|Virginia Tech]], and Arlene G. Snyder, working as Systemetrics, Inc., of [[Blacksburg, Virginia]], delivered "Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing," Report RV-79-1, the final technical report under contract 77F104420, on June 1, 1979, in two parts. Its purposes were to "summarize all known controlled experimental research in remote viewing, at SRI and elsewhere," to "evaluate this research in terms of the appropriateness of its methodology and conclusions," and to "recommend experimental or procedural safeguards and protocols"; "this report does not, deliberately, address the question 'Is remote viewing a real phenomenon or ability?'" The sponsor is not named in the text. Both parts were released by the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Report
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The report's chronology of the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] work ran from [[Hal Puthoff]]'s arrival in 1971 and [[Ingo Swann]]'s first visit in June 1972 to [[Pat Price]]'s call of June 4, 1973, and his departure in June 1974, keyed to the subject numbers of SRI's publications (S1 Price, S2 [[Duane Elgin]], S3 Swann, S4 [[Hella Hammid]], S6 [[Marshall Pease]], S8 [[Phyllis Cole]]). Of the SCANATE island target: "the coordinates of this target were given by a scientist (unnamed) challenging the SRI work. Puthoff gave Swann the coordinates... Response indicated an island, which was confirmed by experimenter. [Thus, experimenter knew nature of target prior to subject's response.]" Of a target at the Sylvania laser laboratory: "[[Russell Targ]], who selected the coordinates, had also worked for Sylvania. After five years of research effort together, it is difficult to believe that some sort of information did not flow between the two experimenters, and therefore, this target can hardly be considered 'double-blind.'" Of the West Virginia site: "It is alleged, although unverified by the authors, that Price had once worked for the organization that had control over that particular site." Of the judging of the alphabet-letter experiments: "Puthoff did the judging in this experiment"; the chosen judge "did significantly better, at odds of 500:1, than the backup judges. No reason for this difference (or acknowledgement of its existence) is given by the authors"; and [[Arthur Hastings]] "is an SRI employee, perhaps an SRI scientist, certainly a consultant, and also a coauthor. In addition, we understand (R. Hyman, personal communication) that he is a professional magician and the sole judge used in the latter SRI local target studies." Of Targ: "That this type of behavior is used is not unremarkable considering that Targ was an accomplished amateur magician," followed by Targ's own pages on "sleights" and "illusions" from Mind-Reach. Of a published transcript set against the computer log: "'RUSSEL... I SAW A TREE ON YOUR LEFT IN A BRICK PLAZA - IT SEEMED TO BE IN FRONT OF A WRONG BUTTON - BUILDING YOU WERE ENTERING' has become 'A brick plaza seemed to be in front of a building you were entering.'" Of an airport drawing: "Where was the drawing made? Was it drawn by Russell Targ? When was it made? How does it happen that the vantage point of the subject's sketch corresponds so well to the (previously taken?) photograph of the airport from an airplane window." Of the unpublished trials: "'We have carried out more than one hundred experiments of this sort, most of them successful, as determined by independent judging.' (Mind-Reach, pp. 9-10) If so, one might assume that these total results would be published. As of this writing, we cannot account for 100 such experiments." Its summary found that "research reports are of behavioral data, yet are not presented with sufficient, rigorous experimental detail," that "conflicting, inaccurate reporting of experimental 'facts' detracts from the acceptability of the results," and that "methodological weaknesses in the local target and long-distance U.S. target procedures provide alternate (i.e., nonparanormal) possibilities of explanation."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Part 2 reviewed twelve other studies, among them Bisaha and Dunne in [[Chicago]], Hastings and Hurt, Karnes and Susman in [[Denver]] (with Puthoff's letter to them of March 28, 1978: "We have found remote viewing to be extremely sensitive to the feedback parameters"), Rauscher, Sarfatti and others, [[Charles Tart]], and Vallee, Hastings and Askevold; took Puthoff's paper "Potential Criticisms and Responses" ("It is well done, although our reservations tend to disagree with some of his 'responses'"), finding "the 7000+ experiments run with Swann" unreported, "the authors use the term 'double-blind' frequently. Yet, they are quite naive as to the behavioral science meaning of this term," and "the authors have 'in five years of self- and other criticism, not found a way to fault either the experimental protocols or the conclusions derived therefrom.' We do not agree"; and set out a protocol under headings from target pool to reporting: the pool "selected by someone not involved with the experiment and unknown to the experimenters, investigators, subjects, or judges," an investigator who "remains 'hands off,'" judges who "should not be magicians, consultants to the project, coauthors, fellow researchers, etc.," and "for geographical-coordinate scanning" a list "greater than 5000" of "worldwide targets of interest." "If all figures are accepted without question, on balance the fidelity of the remote viewing channel appears to be of limited intelligence value, however that conclusion may be totally premature due to the insufficient methodologies used." Appendix B reproduced Puthoff's own protocol "as described in a written communication from H. Puthoff to a sponsor in late 1977." The section "Overall Summary of SRI Studies to Date" was circulated separately within the Army's Grill Flame files, and the report of the Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] of December 1979 reproduces the Snyders' chapter on SRI, their nine criticisms and replies, and their protocol as its chapter 9 and annexes 8 to 10, unsigned.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Gale Committee
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On July 17, 1979, the Under Secretary of the Army's office told [[Manfred Gale]]: "Reference the 'few additional experts,' Dr. [[Jesse Orlansky|Orlansky]] has accepted. Dr. Snyder of VPI has been asked in place of Dr. [[Ray Hyman|Hyman]] - at this time he has not accepted the invitation." The panel roster listed "Dr. Harry Snyder, Systemetrics, Inc. (VA Polytechnical Institute), P.O. Drawer S, Blacksburg." He sent Gale revisions of "pages 7 and 8 of my previous report" and "comments as per your request on the AMSAA effort, based upon our visit of 28 September" (the committee's own visit log puts AMSAA on November 6), "for our final wrapup." On November 19, 1979, he wrote to Gale on "what was obviously a minority viewpoint on the need for further, better, more-controlled R&D on RV. I find myself still in favor of recommending such": "Everything we are taught in scientific inquiry, in both the physical and the behavioral sciences, suggests that such a phenomenon cannot and should not exist. Nonetheless, I believe there is enough anecdotal 'evidence' to prevent our disregarding its possibility of existence"; "the major argument AGAINST seems to be the combination of notoriety, disbelief, incredulity, and loss of scientific reputation of the proponents. (I can certainly identify with the latter.) Cost has really very little to do with it... To hide behind the cost cloak is, I think, convenient but invalid"; "I'm willing to stick my neck out, perhaps too far"; "while I would certainly agree with Jesse that no unequivocal scientific evidence for the existence of RV is available, we deal in a probabilistic world. My subjective impression of the probabilities of the existence of RV is that p (existence) is greater than zero." His postscript: "If we choose not to recommend further work, how would we explain a possible positive result on the shipbuilding details to be evaluated on 1/1/80?" An unsigned paper of "Findings," "Recommendations" and "Estimated Costs" in the same file, matching the "Findings and Recommendations" he said he attached, held that "RV research conducted to date lacks the necessary scientific control needed to demonstrate conclusively the existence of the phenomenon," listed as its first anecdotal support "Scale accuracy in PNUTS," recommended terminating "efforts at MICOM, AMSAA, and FTD" and establishing "at the national level (e.g., NSC), a coordinated program," and estimated the research at "$3 million" a year with a professional staff of twenty.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: "Grill Flame Review Panel Members," undated roster, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230008-7; Office of the Under Secretary of the Army, memorandum for Mr. Manny Gale, July 17, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230004-1; K. Lytle, Major, Military Assistant, memorandum for Mr. Gale, Advisor for RDA Analysis, ODCSRDA, "Briefing for Dr. Ruth Davis and Mr. Nealsen," August 8, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230013-1; Snyder to Gale, undated (catalogued May 11, 1979, but referring to October and a visit of September 28), CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230038-4, and November 19, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230042-9; "Findings," "Recommendations," "Estimated Costs," unsigned, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230043-8; SSO Meade to SSO ACSI DA, "Grill Flame DoD Science Evaluation Team Report," LTC Watt, November 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230047-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Whether the Blacksburg professor on the roster and the Systemetrics author are one man is taken from the roster's own parenthesis.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Ingo Swann
|
title: Ingo Swann
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Ingo Swann
|
- Ingo Swann
|
||||||
|
|
@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ After Price's death in 1975, Swann returned to SRI and worked with Puthoff to fo
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
SRI's SCANATE report records that "as a result of the experimentation carried out on what might be termed micro-abilities, Swann expressed the opinion that the insights obtained had strengthened a macro-ability which had been researched prior to his joining the SRI program; namely, the ability to view remote locations." In a training series "100 targets on the earth's surface, ten per day for ten days, were chosen at random," Swann "being given a target location by latitude and longitude only," each run of ten finished "in less than thirty minutes"; the report itself cautioned that "an individual could, in principle, obtain good results on the basis of memory" or "subliminally from an experimenter who knows the target location." On May 29, 1973, at 4:34 in the afternoon, Hal Puthoff gave him coordinates supplied by the sponsor, 38°23'N, 79°25'W, "described simply as being in West Virginia," with no maps, on videotape: "This seems to be some sort of mounds or rolling hills. There is a city to the north (I can see the taller buildings and some smog). This seems to be a strange place, somewhat like the lawns that one would find around a military base, but I get the impression that there are either some old bunkers around, or maybe this is a covered reservoir. There must be a flagpole, some highways to the west, possibly a river over to the far east, to the south more city." The next morning: "Cliffs to the east, fence to the north. There's a circular building (a tower?), buildings to the south. Is this a former Nike base or something like that? I seem to get the impression of something underground, but I'm not sure." On July 21, 1973, given 49°20'S, 70°14'E, he said: "My initial response is that it's an island, maybe a mountain sticking up through a cloud cover," with buildings "rather mathematically laid out," one orange, "something like a radar antenna, a round disc," two white cylindrical tanks, and "to the northwest a small airstrip," and the next day mapped its coastline. Later, surprised in a New York hotel room with an abacus locked in the adjoining room, bought as "a target analogous to a cipher machine of particular interest," he drew its outline "in approximately one minute" and called it "a game box with little balls." The 1975 final report's West Virginia sessions are coded to subject S3.[^1]
|
SRI's SCANATE report records that "as a result of the experimentation carried out on what might be termed micro-abilities, Swann expressed the opinion that the insights obtained had strengthened a macro-ability which had been researched prior to his joining the SRI program; namely, the ability to view remote locations." In a training series "100 targets on the earth's surface, ten per day for ten days, were chosen at random," Swann "being given a target location by latitude and longitude only," each run of ten finished "in less than thirty minutes"; the report itself cautioned that "an individual could, in principle, obtain good results on the basis of memory" or "subliminally from an experimenter who knows the target location." On May 29, 1973, at 4:34 in the afternoon, Hal Puthoff gave him coordinates supplied by the sponsor, 38°23'N, 79°25'W, "described simply as being in West Virginia," with no maps, on videotape: "This seems to be some sort of mounds or rolling hills. There is a city to the north (I can see the taller buildings and some smog). This seems to be a strange place, somewhat like the lawns that one would find around a military base, but I get the impression that there are either some old bunkers around, or maybe this is a covered reservoir. There must be a flagpole, some highways to the west, possibly a river over to the far east, to the south more city." The next morning: "Cliffs to the east, fence to the north. There's a circular building (a tower?), buildings to the south. Is this a former Nike base or something like that? I seem to get the impression of something underground, but I'm not sure." On July 21, 1973, given 49°20'S, 70°14'E, he said: "My initial response is that it's an island, maybe a mountain sticking up through a cloud cover," with buildings "rather mathematically laid out," one orange, "something like a radar antenna, a round disc," two white cylindrical tanks, and "to the northwest a small airstrip," and the next day mapped its coastline. Later, surprised in a New York hotel room with an abacus locked in the adjoining room, bought as "a target analogous to a cipher machine of particular interest," he drew its outline "in approximately one minute" and called it "a game box with little balls." The 1975 final report's West Virginia sessions are coded to subject S3.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
At Maimonides Medical Center, in an experiment reported to the American Physical Society in February 1976, [[Edwin May]] and Charles Honorton had him attempt to influence a noise-driven binary random generator: 29 runs gave a mean of 493 against 500 expected (p = 0.011), improving as he was moved twelve feet away behind "two double steel walls," while a control run after he left gave 499.7. "We conclude that Mr. Swann was successful in exerting a psychokinetic influence on the instrument." The SRI final report's instrumented magnetometer series of 1974 and 1975, thirteen ten-trial runs on a Develco gradiometer at four metres giving p = 0.004, was run with subject S1, the code that matches Pat Price's sessions, not S3; the "early research (1972)" perturbation "of a Josephson effect magnetometer" is described there as a pilot study of "a few hours" that "prevented a proper investigation." He visited the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity on October 17, 1978, and was still reporting to Puthoff as a consultant in April 1984.[^2]
|
At Maimonides Medical Center, in an experiment reported to the American Physical Society in February 1976, [[Edwin May]] and [[Charles Honorton]] had him attempt to influence a noise-driven binary random generator: 29 runs gave a mean of 493 against 500 expected (p = 0.011), improving as he was moved twelve feet away behind "two double steel walls," while a control run after he left gave 499.7. "We conclude that Mr. Swann was successful in exerting a psychokinetic influence on the instrument." The SRI final report's instrumented magnetometer series of 1974 and 1975, thirteen ten-trial runs on a Develco gradiometer at four metres giving p = 0.004, was run with subject S1, the code that matches Pat Price's sessions, not S3; the "early research (1972)" perturbation "of a Josephson effect magnetometer" is described there as a pilot study of "a few hours" that "prevented a proper investigation." He visited the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity on October 17, 1978, and was still reporting to Puthoff as a consultant in April 1984.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The report of the Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] of December 1979 recorded that "in July 1978, DIA sponsored a series of four unique experiments" in which "the DIA Project Officer had prepared three sets of Soviet/Bloc target coordinates, and one US control set," and that "Swann provided a 'moderate to high', lengthy description of the last target, a Soviet strategic missile field east of Moscow... Swann passed through a silo cover, 'traveling' down until reaching a connecting tunnel. Going through this passageway he entered a command and control room. One comment, among many, stands out: 'The floors are paved in "white tiles".'" The same report put SRI's experiments with him at "7000+," "only a fraction" of them published.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Training the Army Program
|
### Training the Army Program
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -66,3 +68,4 @@ Swann maintained an active painting career throughout his life, exhibiting abstr
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Stanford Research Institute, "Project SCANATE, Exploratory Research in Remote Viewing," 1973, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100480002-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^1]: Stanford Research Institute, "Project SCANATE, Exploratory Research in Remote Viewing," 1973, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100480002-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^2]: May, Edwin C., and Charles Honorton. "A Dynamic PK Experiment with Ingo Swann," Maimonides Medical Center, abstract for the American Physical Society meeting of February 1976, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part one, executive summary, SRI Project 3183, covering January 1974 to February 1975, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100420001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Visit of Ingo Swann to AMSAA, 17 October 1978," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200240010-3, and "Memo to Dr. H.E. Puthoff from I. Swann, Consultant, Subject: Work Report," April 15, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00792R000100140033-6, titles only.
|
[^2]: May, Edwin C., and Charles Honorton. "A Dynamic PK Experiment with Ingo Swann," Maimonides Medical Center, abstract for the American Physical Society meeting of February 1976, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part one, executive summary, SRI Project 3183, covering January 1974 to February 1975, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100420001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Visit of Ingo Swann to AMSAA, 17 October 1978," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200240010-3, and "Memo to Dr. H.E. Puthoff from I. Swann, Consultant, Subject: Work Report," April 15, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00792R000100140033-6, titles only.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ summary: "James Randi (1928–2020), known as 'The Amazing Randi,' was a Canadia
|
||||||
born: 1928-08-07
|
born: 1928-08-07
|
||||||
died: 2020-10-20
|
died: 2020-10-20
|
||||||
location: "Toronto, Ontario, Canada"
|
location: "Toronto, Ontario, Canada"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
James Randi (1928–2020), known as "The Amazing Randi," was a Canadian-American stage magician, escape artist, and a prominent scientific skeptic. He dedicated much of his life to investigating and debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, often challenging individuals who claimed to possess supernatural abilities[^1].
|
James Randi (1928–2020), known as "The Amazing Randi," was a Canadian-American stage magician, escape artist, and a prominent scientific skeptic. He dedicated much of his life to investigating and debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, often challenging individuals who claimed to possess supernatural abilities[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
@ -28,5 +29,8 @@ In 2011, Randi was involved in a scandal when it was revealed that his Carlos-th
|
||||||
### Publications
|
### Publications
|
||||||
* *The Magic of Uri Geller* (1975)
|
* *The Magic of Uri Geller* (1975)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] recorded in 1979 that [[Robert Lucky]] of Bell Labs "once proposed to Targ and Puthoff that they allow a 'debugger' like Randy the Magician to watch an SRI RV session. They refused on the grounds that no one believes them anyhow, and did not feel that permitting an extremely vocal critic to intrude into their lives/work would accomplish anything."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. The name is spelled "Randy" in the report.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
19
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jesse Orlansky.md
Normal file
19
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jesse Orlansky.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- JesseOrlansky
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- IDA
|
||||||
|
summary: "Institute for Defense Analyses scientist on the 1979 Gale Committee who joined the minority opinion against operational tests of remote viewing."
|
||||||
|
location: "Arlington, Virginia"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Jesse Orlansky, of the science and technology division of the [[Institute for Defense Analyses]] in [[Arlington, Virginia]], served on the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] under [[Manfred Gale]] in 1979. With [[Harry Holloway]] and [[Douglas Tang]] he signed the minority opinion against the majority's recommendation that [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]]'s operational remote viewing continue under oversight: "Full evaluation of operational tests of 'Remote Viewing' would require valid ground truth data, reliable scoring procedures, preliminary trials to establish adequate experimental procedures and whatever lead times are needed to conduct adequate tests wherever and whenever they may occur. Since operational tests can occur with little warning, it is difficult to assure that most of the conditions noted above can be satisfied in that type of program. A minority of the Committee believes that a test program in an operation-like environment is not likely to provide useful or reliable data. We see little to be gained by recommending operational tests. Such tests can also be dangerous. By encouraging the conduct of operational tests, this Committee endorses actions which have dubious scientific validity at best and can have dangerous implications for those, who may rely on its products. At the very least, this Committee would be giving scientific credibility to operational activities exploiting phenomena that it elsewhere notes have not been proven or disproven."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
19
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John Palmer.md
Normal file
19
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John Palmer.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- JohnPalmer
|
||||||
|
- Parapsychology
|
||||||
|
- RhineResearchCenter
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- John A. Palmer
|
||||||
|
summary: "Parapsychologist and Rhine Research Center research director, three times president of the Parapsychological Association, who wrote a 1985 assessment of the field for the Army Research Institute and was among the reviewers the NRC named for Star Gate in 1995."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
John A. Palmer graduated from [[Duke University]] in psychology, took his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin, spent two years on the psychology faculty at [[McGill University]] and "entered parapsychology on a full-time basis," heading the graduate program in parapsychology at John F. Kennedy University from 1977 to 1981 and holding research posts at the [[University of Virginia]], the [[University of California, Davis]] and the University of Utrecht. He was president of the Parapsychological Association in 1971, 1979 and 1992, and became director of research at the [[Rhine Research Center]] in Durham, editor of the *Journal of Parapsychology* and director of its summer study program. His publications include, with Whitson, Bogart and [[Charles Tart]], "Preliminary experiments in group 'remote viewing'" (Proceedings of the IEEE, 1976), "In defense of parapsychology: A reply to [[James Alcock|James E. Alcock]]" (*Zetetic Scholar,* 1983), "An evaluative report on the current status of parapsychology," under contract DAJA 45-84-M-0405 for the [[United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences|U.S. Army Research Institute]] (1985), and, with [[Charles Honorton]] and [[Jessica Utts]], the Parapsychological Association's reply to the [[National Research Council]]'s 1988 report. The CIA's chronology of the Star Gate transfer records that on March 15, 1995, "Jessica Utts, John Palmer, James Alcock, and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 the NRC "formally rejects" the study.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Who is John Palmer?" Parapsychological Association member directory, archived.parapsych.org/members/j_palmer.html, Wayback Machine capture of 2020. "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ location: "Galveston, Texas"
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Early Life and Motivation
|
### Early Life and Motivation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Pollard was an unhappy child in [[South Bend]], [[Indiana]], tormented and beaten in grade school for being Jewish. He told an interviewer that the "turning point" of his life came as a result of the [[Six-Day War]], when he was thirteen. [[Israel]]'s victory was "emotionally intoxicating" and triggered his lifelong obsession with Israeli security, and his fantasies of being part of it. He told fellow undergraduates at [[Stanford University]] that he had dual citizenship and was a colonel in the Israeli Army. Bragging and fanciful claims marked his years at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at [[Tufts University]] in [[Boston]], where he enrolled in 1977. He failed to earn his degree, and also failed in an attempt to join the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. In early 1981, Pollard sought a job as a defense analyst with the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee|AIPAC]], but AIPAC officials found his bragging about access to top-secret information inappropriate and "weird," and "got rid of him." There was a feeling that Pollard was part of a "sting" operation attempting to set up AIPAC, and he was clearly seen as trouble.[^2]
|
Pollard was an unhappy child in [[South Bend]], [[Indiana]], tormented and beaten in grade school for being Jewish. He told an interviewer that the "turning point" of his life came as a result of the [[Six-Day War]], when he was thirteen. [[Israel]]'s victory was "emotionally intoxicating" and triggered his lifelong obsession with Israeli security, and his fantasies of being part of it. He told fellow undergraduates at [[Stanford University]] that he had dual citizenship and was a colonel in the Israeli Army. Bragging and fanciful claims marked his years at [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] at [[Tufts University]] in [[Boston]], where he enrolled in 1977. He failed to earn his degree, and also failed in an attempt to join the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. In early 1981, Pollard sought a job as a defense analyst with the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee|AIPAC]], but AIPAC officials found his bragging about access to top-secret information inappropriate and "weird," and "got rid of him." There was a feeling that Pollard was part of a "sting" operation attempting to set up AIPAC, and he was clearly seen as trouble.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Recruitment and Scope of Espionage
|
### Recruitment and Scope of Espionage
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,11 +6,15 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Military
|
||||||
- Stargate
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
summary: "Stern was present during the intense and monotonous remote viewing taskings related to the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981)."
|
summary: "Stern was present during the intense and monotonous remote viewing taskings related to the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981)."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
[[Nancy Stern]] was an Army civilian photo-interpreter and one of the original members of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]) remote viewing unit. She was among the initial group of ten or eleven candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]] for the experimental program, with a heavy emphasis on photo-interpreters due to their visual skills.[^1]
|
[[Nancy Stern]] was an Army civilian photo-interpreter and one of the original members of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later Grill Flame) remote viewing unit. She was among the initial group of ten or eleven candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]] for the experimental program, with a heavy emphasis on photo-interpreters due to their visual skills.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Stern was present during the intense and monotonous remote viewing taskings related to the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981). After the failed hostage rescue mission in April 1980, she became emotionally distraught, crying and expressing anger at the debacle, and subsequently left the unit. Her departure, along with that of [[Fern Gauvin]], highlighted the psychological toll of the relentless remote viewing operations.[^1]
|
Stern was present during the intense and monotonous remote viewing taskings related to the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981). After the failed hostage rescue mission in April 1980, she became emotionally distraught, crying and expressing anger at the debacle, and subsequently left the unit. Her departure, along with that of [[Fernand Gauvin|Fern Gauvin]], highlighted the psychological toll of the relentless remote viewing operations.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
The released CIA collection on the program carries no legible mention of a Nancy Stern; the Grill Flame personnel file of February 1979 contains security and consent forms for a "Nancy K. Stout," whose relation to Nancy Stern is not established.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Grill Flame security agreements, volunteer consent statements, participant counseling statements, "Information About Remote Viewing for Participants" forms, and DIA Sun Streak access forms, 1977 to 1988, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100150005-8 to R002100150079-7; names as printed in the item titles, the signature lines being largely illegible in OCR. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. The archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection, about 13,000 items under the identifiers cia-rdp96-*, searched by title and OCR text; the OCR is imperfect and some fifty items could not be read.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Pat Price
|
title: Pat Price
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Pat Price
|
- Pat Price
|
||||||
|
|
@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ SRI's SCANATE report introduces him without a surname: "As a backup test, the co
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Semipalatinsk experiment ran in three phases "under direct control of the COTR": Phase I with coordinates and the words "R&D test facility" only, Phase II after "the subject being made 'witting' (of the client) by client representatives who introduced themselves to the subject," and Phase III "the generation of unverifiable data concerning the Semipalatinsk site not available to the client, but of operational interest nonetheless," over two weeks. The Los Alamos analyst who reviewed the tapes of July 9 to 15, 1974, found that on the first day he "successfully evaded drawing a perimeter of the area even though he was asked to do this twice" and produced a 500-foot antenna, a swimming pool "for underwater testing," an array of telephone poles, and an airstrip that did not exist; that on the second "Price supplied the most positive evidence yet for the remote-viewing experiment with his sketch of the rail-mounted gantry crane. It seems inconceivable to imagine how he could have drawn such a likeness to the actual crane at URDF-3 unless: 1) he actually saw it through remote viewing, or 2) he was informed of what to draw by someone knowledgeable of URDF-3," adding, "I only mention this second possibility because the experiment was not controlled to discount the possibility that Price could talk to other people, such as the Disinformation Section of the KGB"; that on the third, shown the surface features of the underground Building 1, he said "No, that's a concrete apron, and there's nothing subterranean right in that particular area," which "was his most negative evidence yet"; and on the fourth admitted "he had been trying to force-fit a space-oriented situation to the target location." The conclusion: "I consider Price's remote-viewing experiment of URDF-3 to be unsuccessful. I recommend that the tapes be considered for use with the psychological stress evaluator." An outside reviewer of the SRI progress reports in 1974, under the heading "Remote Viewing by Mr. Price," wrote that "one cannot determine whether he was aware of the nine sites or had visited them prior to the experiment," and closed: "one still has the feeling that the prevailing philosophy is to 'prove' the existence of an information channel." When OTS briefed the House intelligence committee in November 1977 it left with the staff "a brief article on Mr. Pat Price."[^2]
|
The Semipalatinsk experiment ran in three phases "under direct control of the COTR": Phase I with coordinates and the words "R&D test facility" only, Phase II after "the subject being made 'witting' (of the client) by client representatives who introduced themselves to the subject," and Phase III "the generation of unverifiable data concerning the Semipalatinsk site not available to the client, but of operational interest nonetheless," over two weeks. The Los Alamos analyst who reviewed the tapes of July 9 to 15, 1974, found that on the first day he "successfully evaded drawing a perimeter of the area even though he was asked to do this twice" and produced a 500-foot antenna, a swimming pool "for underwater testing," an array of telephone poles, and an airstrip that did not exist; that on the second "Price supplied the most positive evidence yet for the remote-viewing experiment with his sketch of the rail-mounted gantry crane. It seems inconceivable to imagine how he could have drawn such a likeness to the actual crane at URDF-3 unless: 1) he actually saw it through remote viewing, or 2) he was informed of what to draw by someone knowledgeable of URDF-3," adding, "I only mention this second possibility because the experiment was not controlled to discount the possibility that Price could talk to other people, such as the Disinformation Section of the KGB"; that on the third, shown the surface features of the underground Building 1, he said "No, that's a concrete apron, and there's nothing subterranean right in that particular area," which "was his most negative evidence yet"; and on the fourth admitted "he had been trying to force-fit a space-oriented situation to the target location." The conclusion: "I consider Price's remote-viewing experiment of URDF-3 to be unsuccessful. I recommend that the tapes be considered for use with the psychological stress evaluator." An outside reviewer of the SRI progress reports in 1974, under the heading "Remote Viewing by Mr. Price," wrote that "one cannot determine whether he was aware of the nine sites or had visited them prior to the experiment," and closed: "one still has the feeling that the prevailing philosophy is to 'prove' the existence of an information channel." When OTS briefed the House intelligence committee in November 1977 it left with the staff "a brief article on Mr. Pat Price."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]] of the [[University of Otago]] argued in Nature in August 1978 that the judging of his nine-trial series depended on "multiple extraneous cues which were available in the original unedited transcripts," such as "Nothing like having three successes behind you" in the fourth, and on a target list given to the judge "in the correct order"; Puthoff, Targ and [[Charles Tart]] answered with a rejudging of edited transcripts in which "seven of the nine were correctly matched," and Puthoff conceded in 1980 that the list had been "inadvertently (through an error) given in the same order." The Snyders' evaluation of 1979 added: "It is alleged, although unverified by the authors, that Price had once worked for the organization that had control over that particular site" in West Virginia.[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### CIA Direct Work (1974-1975)
|
### CIA Direct Work (1974-1975)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In the autumn of 1974, Price left SRI and began working directly for the CIA outside the SRI institutional framework, including a period attempting to identify coal deposits in Huntington, West Virginia, using psychic methods for a commercial client. He also undertook CIA-tasked remote viewing sessions to attempt to confirm locations of foreign intelligence facilities. He passed initial CIA verification tests, accurately describing embassy layouts and interior details that were confirmed against classified records.
|
In the autumn of 1974, Price left SRI and began working directly for the CIA outside the SRI institutional framework, including a period attempting to identify coal deposits in Huntington, West Virginia, using psychic methods for a commercial client. He also undertook CIA-tasked remote viewing sessions to attempt to confirm locations of foreign intelligence facilities. He passed initial CIA verification tests, accurately describing embassy layouts and interior details that were confirmed against classified records.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -65,3 +67,4 @@ Within the government's remote viewing program, Price's Semipalatinsk session wa
|
||||||
[^1]: Stanford Research Institute, "Project SCANATE, Exploratory Research in Remote Viewing," 1973, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100480002-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part one, executive summary, SRI Project 3183, covering January 1974 to February 1975, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100420001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^1]: Stanford Research Institute, "Project SCANATE, Exploratory Research in Remote Viewing," 1973, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100480002-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part one, executive summary, SRI Project 3183, covering January 1974 to February 1975, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100420001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^2]: Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "An Analysis of a Remote Viewing Experiment of URDF-3," report of the four sessions of July 9 to 15, 1974, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200240001-0, cited by Kress as the work of Dr. Stillman of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, December 4, 1975. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Review of Perceptual Augmentation Techniques," unsigned review of SRI progress reports 1 to 3, c. August 1974, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200230001-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Brandwein, David S., Director, Office of Technical Service, memoranda "Stanford Research Institute Parapsychology Research," February 20, 1976 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020001-9), and "OTS Support to Research in Parapsychology," October 7, 1976 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020016-3); memorandum for the record, "Briefing for House Permanent Select Committee re OTS Involvement in ESP Research," OTS memo 287-77, November 17, 1977 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020020-8); memorandum for the record, "Discussions with OTS on the SRI Project," June 22, 1974 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000700110016-8). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "An Analysis of a Remote Viewing Experiment of URDF-3," report of the four sessions of July 9 to 15, 1974, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200240001-0, cited by Kress as the work of Dr. Stillman of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, December 4, 1975. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Review of Perceptual Augmentation Techniques," unsigned review of SRI progress reports 1 to 3, c. August 1974, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200230001-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Brandwein, David S., Director, Office of Technical Service, memoranda "Stanford Research Institute Parapsychology Research," February 20, 1976 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020001-9), and "OTS Support to Research in Parapsychology," October 7, 1976 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020016-3); memorandum for the record, "Briefing for House Permanent Select Committee re OTS Involvement in ESP Research," OTS memo 287-77, November 17, 1977 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200020020-8); memorandum for the record, "Discussions with OTS on the SRI Project," June 22, 1974 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000700110016-8). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^3]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607, read in the CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100220001-8 on archive.org. Targ, Russell. "Remote Viewing at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s: A Memoir," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 77-88, reprinted from Targ and Katra, *Mind-to-Mind* (1996); read in a Wayback Machine copy of the journal's PDF.
|
[^3]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607, read in the CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100220001-8 on archive.org. Targ, Russell. "Remote Viewing at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s: A Memoir," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 77-88, reprinted from Targ and Katra, *Mind-to-Mind* (1996); read in a Wayback Machine copy of the journal's PDF.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information transmission in remote viewing experiments." *Nature,* vol. 274, August 17, 1978, pp. 680-681, received July 2, 1977, accepted May 31, 1978. https://www.nature.com/articles/274680a0 (abstract and dates only; the text is behind a paywall). Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf Puthoff, H. E., and Russell Targ, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," and Tart, Charles T., "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," January 1979, "submitted for publication to Nature," CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5; published as Tart, Puthoff and Targ, *Nature,* vol. 284, 1980, p. 191, not seen. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
23
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Paul H. Smith.md
Normal file
23
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Paul H. Smith.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PaulHSmith
|
||||||
|
- CenterLane
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- FortMeade
|
||||||
|
- Army
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Paul Smith
|
||||||
|
- Paul H. Smith
|
||||||
|
summary: "Army military intelligence captain who joined the Center Lane remote-viewing unit at Fort Meade in 1983 and, as its project officer, wrote the 1984 staff study on its transfer to DIA."
|
||||||
|
location: "Fort Meade, Maryland"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Captain Paul H. Smith, military intelligence, "presently assigned to OPS Group, Ft. Meade, and available for duty with CENTER LANE," was listed for the project's personnel spaces on August 2, 1983, with Captain [[Bill Ray|William G. Ray]]. As "CPT, MI, Project Officer" of [[Center Lane]] he signed the staff study "Transfer of Project CENTER LANE" of September 4, 1984, recommending "that INSCOM, with DA concurrence, transfer all currently assigned personnel, documents and equipment to DIA, and that arrangements be made as well for the transfer of the buildings presently occupied by the project," and "that DA (ACSI) provide overage spaces to DIA for FY 1985." On October 8, 1984, he recorded that "while on TDY in New York City during the week 1-5 October," he had watched the WABC-TV program "Eye on Hollywood," on which "one of the featured stories dealt with military exploitation of psychic phenomena. Interviewed on the program were [[Russell Targ]], [[Keith Harary]], [[Hella Hammid]], and a psychic from Jamaica who claimed to have worked for the British during WWII. When questioned about military involvement with psychic phenomena, Targ, Harary and Hammid replied that the military was indeed involved, but that the details were classified, and they could not elaborate. Hella added that she could not allow her psychic abilities to be used for military purposes."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Center Lane Personnel Spaces," August 2, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700300001-1; Smith, Paul H., "Transfer of the Center Lane Project," staff study, September 4, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001500090026-0; Smith, Paul H., memorandum for the record on the "Eye on Hollywood" program of October 3, 1984, October 8, 1984, in CIA-RDP96-00788R001500040003-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
25
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/William Stoner.md
Normal file
25
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/William Stoner.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- WilliamStoner
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- Army
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Bill Stoner
|
||||||
|
- Maj. William L. Stoner
|
||||||
|
summary: "Army intelligence staff major who coordinated the 1979 Gale Committee, sat on the Defense Department's Grill Flame working group, and wrote the memorandum attacking Gale's briefing of the report."
|
||||||
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Major William L. Stoner, GS, of the Army assistant chief of staff for intelligence's office (DAMI-ISH), was listed as "Coordinator" of the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] under [[Manfred Gale]] in 1979 and attended the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee under [[Jack Vorona]] as "Major Bill Stoner" on November 27, 1979. His memorandum of conversation on Gale's briefing of January 14, 1980, ran through Gale's oral claims one by one: that Gale "has, in briefing the report here and elsewhere, done a great deal of verbalizing (shading) issues, personal opinion, 'faction,' and general guesswork not contained anywhere in the report"; that [[Robert Jahn]] at [[Princeton University|Princeton]] "does not have a drop dead time two years out"; that [[Ray Hyman]] "was rejected not because of any action by Gale, but because of a protest memo from MG [[Edmund Thompson|Thompson]] to Dr [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]]"; that Gale's "over 5000 experiments" was "an unadulterated W.A.G. (wild guess)" that "commingled" [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]]'s "300-odd runs and SRI's 1972 work," "disregarding the fact that INSCOM's operational tests have been producing some amazing things"; that Gale's remarks on the Surgeon General rested on "a cribbed copy of the Surgeon General's comments. Question I have is who gave it to him," and that "because of prior intelligence problems (e.g., LSD case) two members of the Surgeon General's review panel are dead set against this kind of work," one of them the panel chairman, "in a position to drag feet, (two months to get the recommendations out) perform a little sub rosa disinformation on the side, etc."; and, of Gale's "the GRILL FLAME Working Group is in a shambles," that "as you know I am less than thrilled by the Working Group's leadership, but categorically deny that the Group is in shambles." His conclusion: "the Gale report is big, but weak," Gale "has gone far beyond that charter, impinging on the ACSI's responsibility for total program management," and "should desist from brokering it around the Pentagon"; Vorona's memorandum to Lieutenant General [[Eugene Tighe|Tighe]] of January 11 "should stand unless we are willing to watch Gale work it out to his satisfaction, delivering us a fait accompli."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On January 25, 1980, Gale asked Stoner to distribute the 27 copies of the report, and "in accordance with the security guide for this program, your office is designated as Office of Record for all reports, as well as for the authorization and release of any additional copies."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Gale, M., "Distribution of GRILL FLAME Reports," memorandum for Major Stoner, ACSI, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition, January 25, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230023-0; three CIA Reading Room items of February 13, 1980, are titled "Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) Grill Flame Report, Dated November 1979" (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250025-7, R001100080007-6, R001200230026-7), not read. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ location: "Vienna, Austria"
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958) was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his pioneering work on quantum mechanics, particularly the Pauli exclusion principle. He is also famously associated with the "Pauli effect," a phenomenon where technical equipment inexplicably malfunctions or breaks in his presence[^1].
|
Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958) was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his pioneering work on quantum mechanics, particularly the Pauli exclusion principle. He is also famously associated with the "Pauli effect," a phenomenon where technical equipment inexplicably malfunctions or breaks in his presence[^1].
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|
|
||||||
The Pauli effect was coined after numerous instances were noted where Pauli was present and technical equipment malfunctioned, fell, broke, or sustained unusual damage. For example, in February 1950, during a visit to Princeton University, the cyclotron Pauli had come to observe inexplicably caught fire[^1].
|
The Pauli effect was coined after numerous instances were noted where Pauli was present and technical equipment malfunctioned, fell, broke, or sustained unusual damage. For example, in February 1950, during a visit to [[Princeton University]], the cyclotron Pauli had come to observe inexplicably caught fire[^1].
|
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|
|
||||||
Pauli, along with psychiatrist [[Carl Jung]], had a lively conversation about [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]], discussing a paper by physicist Robert A. McConnell titled "ESP - Fact or Fancy?" Jung remarked on how some age-old mysteries never change, and that attempts to explain away seemingly miraculous results often fail against the facts[^1].
|
Pauli, along with psychiatrist [[Carl Jung]], had a lively conversation about [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]], discussing a paper by physicist Robert A. McConnell titled "ESP - Fact or Fancy?" Jung remarked on how some age-old mysteries never change, and that attempts to explain away seemingly miraculous results often fail against the facts[^1].
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|
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28
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Charles Tart.md
Normal file
28
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Charles Tart.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- CharlesTart
|
||||||
|
- Parapsychology
|
||||||
|
- SRI
|
||||||
|
- UCDavis
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Charles T. Tart
|
||||||
|
summary: "University of California, Davis, psychologist of altered states and consultant to SRI's government-funded remote-viewing program who rejudged the Price series in 1979 against the Marks-Kammann critique."
|
||||||
|
born: 1937-04-29
|
||||||
|
died: 2025-03-05
|
||||||
|
location: "Davis, California"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Charles T. Tart was born in Morrisville, [[Pennsylvania]], on April 29, 1937, "but grew up mostly in [[New Jersey]]," a teenage radio engineer who entered the engineering program at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] and, "after several personal experiences" of drugs "that produced altered states of consciousness" and after reading [[J. B. Rhine]], "transferred from MIT to [[Duke University]] in order to meet and be mentored by Rhine." He took his doctorate in psychology at the University of North Carolina in 1963 on "post-hypnotic suggestions to influence dreaming," did post-doctoral work with [[Ernest Hilgard]] at [[Stanford University]], and served 28 years on the psychology faculty of the [[University of California, Davis]], holding concurrently a senior research fellowship at the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]], the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a visiting professorship at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a post as "a consultant on government funded parapsychological research at the [[Stanford Research Institute]]." His *Altered States of Consciousness* appeared in 1969 and *Transpersonal Psychologies* in 1975; he was president of the Parapsychological Association. He died on March 5, 2025.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Rejudging
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
With Whitson, Bogart and [[John Palmer]] he published "Preliminary experiments in group 'remote viewing'" in the Proceedings of the IEEE in 1976. When [[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]] argued in Nature in 1978 that cues in the transcripts explained the [[Pat Price]] series, [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] turned the nine transcripts over to "an independent research psychologist," Tart, "for rejudging on the basis of the criteria implied by the Marks-Kammann criticism." By his own account he first tested two candidate judges on transcripts from "another successful remote-viewing series," disqualifying the one who scored at chance, "edited them to delete all references that could conceivably give any indication as to the order of the experiments," and had the judge, [[Phyllis Matson]], rate each transcript at each site; "for seven of the nine target sites the highest correspondence rating was given to the correct transcript." "I would hypothesize that Marks and Kammann were unable to obtain significant results in their reanalysis of the subset of the Price series because their judges either lacked the necessary discriminative skills and/or were not sufficiently motivated to use them effectively." The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] met "Mr. Targ/Dr. Puthoff/Dr. Tart" at SRI on July 24 and 25, 1979.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schwartz, Stephan A. "Charles T. Tart Obituary, 29 April 1937 - 5 March 2025." Institut Metapsychique International, April 2025. https://www.metapsychique.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tart-VO.pdf The obituary gives his age at death as 86, which its own dates do not support.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Puthoff, H. E., and Russell Targ, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," and Tart, Charles T., "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Stoner, William L., memorandum of conversation, January 14, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7; Jachim, Robert J., "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, June 1, 1979, part 2, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
21
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Douglas Tang.md
Normal file
21
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Douglas Tang.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- DouglasTang
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- WalterReed
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Douglas B. Tang
|
||||||
|
summary: "Chief of biostatistics at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research who sat on the 1979 Gale Committee and joined its minority opinion against operational remote viewing."
|
||||||
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Douglas B. Tang, chief of the department of biostatistics and mathematics in the division of biometrics at the [[Walter Reed Army Institute of Research]], served on the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] under [[Manfred Gale]] in 1979. With [[Jesse Orlansky]] and [[Harry Holloway]] he signed the minority opinion: "Full evaluation of operational tests of 'Remote Viewing' would require valid ground truth data, reliable scoring procedures, preliminary trials to establish adequate experimental procedures and whatever lead times are needed to conduct adequate tests," and "a minority of the Committee believes that a test program in an operation-like environment is not likely to provide useful or reliable data."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. The annex is unsigned.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ aliases:
|
||||||
- Ed Thompson
|
- Ed Thompson
|
||||||
- E. R. Thompson
|
- E. R. Thompson
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
|
@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ Major General Edmund R. Thompson was the [[United States Army|Army]]'s assistant
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
His eyes-only memorandum on the steering committee warned that Representative Charles Rose had an "oft-repeated desire to be kept up to date on a continuing basis" and that "a situation as before in which the last briefing was done at his instigation, forcing us to be reactors rather than action takers, should be avoided." By January 1980 he "has briefed the DDO on the INSCOM program." On April 16, 1981, he sat with Lieutenant Colonel Murray Watt to brief Rose, assuring him that the Army wished to keep working with SRI, and on May 8, 1981, asked the Secretary of the Army to approve work with civilian contractors under Procedure 18 of the Defense Department's rules on human subjects, granted on May 27 on condition that it serve "an important foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose." In 1981 his office transferred management of the project to INSCOM.[^4][^5]
|
His eyes-only memorandum on the steering committee warned that Representative Charles Rose had an "oft-repeated desire to be kept up to date on a continuing basis" and that "a situation as before in which the last briefing was done at his instigation, forcing us to be reactors rather than action takers, should be avoided." By January 1980 he "has briefed the DDO on the INSCOM program." On April 16, 1981, he sat with Lieutenant Colonel Murray Watt to brief Rose, assuring him that the Army wished to keep working with SRI, and on May 8, 1981, asked the Secretary of the Army to approve work with civilian contractors under Procedure 18 of the Defense Department's rules on human subjects, granted on May 27 on condition that it serve "an important foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose." In 1981 his office transferred management of the project to INSCOM.[^4][^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Thompson received a copy of [[Ruth Davis]]'s memorandum of November 20, 1978, on the oversight of the remote-viewing project; the report of the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] records that in the spring of 1978 "the Army ACSI was designated focal point to develop a DA program" of "moderate intensity, low profile," that he sat on the steering committee at its first meeting on February 13, 1979, and that in 1979 "MG Thompson requested the Surgeon General designate, by name, a fully qualified behavioral scientist to act as consultant during protocol development." According to Major [[William Stoner]], [[Ray Hyman]]'s candidacy for the committee ended "because of a protest memo from MG Thompson to Dr [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]]," and at the briefing of January 14, 1980, "when quizzed by MG Thompson on what the word 'proof' in the report findings meant, Gale responded with a flurry of scientific buzzwords and jargon, the bottom line of which is that SCIENTIFIC PROOF has not been demonstrated."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At Watt's briefing of Representative Rose on January 16, 1980, "Page 3 of Incl 1 was not provided to the audience at the direction of MG Thompson," and Thompson "had no objections to taping the briefing" for the subcommittee. An undated note of his to Lieutenant General [[Eugene Tighe|Tighe]] reads: "Reference my 3 October memo discussing the GRILL FLAME Steering Committee, Dr. LaBerge agreed that the principals should meet soon. My office was asked to coordinate."[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -38,3 +42,5 @@ His eyes-only memorandum on the steering committee warned that Representative Ch
|
||||||
[^3]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "INSCOM Project Grill Flame: Progress Report #1," February 21, 1979, with enclosures, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100070001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^3]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "INSCOM Project Grill Flame: Progress Report #1," February 21, 1979, with enclosures, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100070001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^4]: Thompson, E. R., Major General, memorandum "GRILL FLAME Steering Committee" to Dr. La Berge, eyes only, undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250013-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 April 1981," April 17, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190007-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^4]: Thompson, E. R., Major General, memorandum "GRILL FLAME Steering Committee" to Dr. La Berge, eyes only, undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250013-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 April 1981," April 17, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190007-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^5]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Grill Flame - Action Memorandum," December 11, 1981, with the memorandum of Major General E. R. Thompson of May 8, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100240001-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^5]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Grill Flame - Action Memorandum," December 11, 1981, with the memorandum of Major General E. R. Thompson of May 8, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100240001-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Davis, Ruth M., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology), memorandum for Dr. Jack Vorona, "'Remote Viewing' Project," November 20, 1978, with the letter of Charlie Rose, Chairman, Subcommittee on Evaluation, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to Davis, October 25, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500240017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 January 1980," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190001-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Thompson, E. R., "Note for: LTG Tighe," undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250008-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ Thiel's support ended in disillusionment. He later said the researchers he had f
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
By the early 2020s Yudkowsky had concluded that the AI-alignment problem would not be solved before the technology became dangerous, and he shifted to public advocacy for halting frontier AI development. The *Time* essay, published March 29, 2023, was written as an explanation of why he had declined to sign the [[Future of Life Institute]]'s "Pause Giant AI Experiments" open letter earlier that month: he regarded its call for a six-month pause as understating the danger and asking for too little. He called instead for an indefinite, internationally enforced moratorium on large training runs, the shutting down of all large GPU clusters, a cap on computing power any single actor could assemble, and a willingness to "destroy a rogue datacenter by airstrike," writing that nations should run "some risk of nuclear exchange" rather than allow an unaligned superintelligence to be built.[^6]
|
By the early 2020s Yudkowsky had concluded that the AI-alignment problem would not be solved before the technology became dangerous, and he shifted to public advocacy for halting frontier AI development. The *Time* essay, published March 29, 2023, was written as an explanation of why he had declined to sign the [[Future of Life Institute]]'s "Pause Giant AI Experiments" open letter earlier that month: he regarded its call for a six-month pause as understating the danger and asking for too little. He called instead for an indefinite, internationally enforced moratorium on large training runs, the shutting down of all large GPU clusters, a cap on computing power any single actor could assemble, and a willingness to "destroy a rogue datacenter by airstrike," writing that nations should run "some risk of nuclear exchange" rather than allow an unaligned superintelligence to be built.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In September 2025 Yudkowsky and Nate Soares published *If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All* through Little, Brown and Company, arguing that the default outcome of building superhuman AI is loss of human control and extinction because modern systems are opaque trained neural networks rather than hand-written code. The book reached the *New York Times* best-seller list on October 5, 2025, carried endorsements ranging from the actor Stephen Fry to a former senior director of the White House National Security Council, and was cited in the United States Congress and the House of Lords.[^9]
|
In September 2025 Yudkowsky and Nate Soares published *If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All* through Little, Brown and Company, arguing that the default outcome of building superhuman AI is loss of human control and extinction because modern systems are opaque trained neural networks rather than hand-written code. The book reached the *New York Times* best-seller list on October 5, 2025, carried endorsements ranging from the actor Stephen Fry to a former senior director of the White House National Security Council, and was cited in the [[United States Congress]] and the House of Lords.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Thiel's "Antichrist" Denunciation
|
### Thiel's "Antichrist" Denunciation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
36
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Eugene Tighe.md
Normal file
36
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Eugene Tighe.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- EugeneTighe
|
||||||
|
- DIA
|
||||||
|
- USAF
|
||||||
|
- GrillFlame
|
||||||
|
- POWMIA
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Eugene F. Tighe Jr.
|
||||||
|
- Gene Tighe
|
||||||
|
summary: "Air Force intelligence officer who directed the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1977 to 1981, during the Grill Flame program's oversight fights, and led a 1986 review of DIA's handling of POW/MIA reports."
|
||||||
|
born: 1921
|
||||||
|
died: 1994-01-29
|
||||||
|
location: "Los Angeles, California"
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Eugene F. Tighe Jr. was born in 1921 in New Raymer, [[Colorado]], grew up in [[Los Angeles]], enlisted in the Army in September 1942, was commissioned from the artillery officer candidate school at Camp Columbia, Australia, in 1944 and served as an anti-aircraft adviser with the 43rd Bombardment Group in New Guinea, the Netherlands East Indies, the Philippines and the Ryukyus. He graduated from Loyola University, Los Angeles, in 1949 and entered the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] in August 1950 as an intelligence officer, serving in Korea, at Carswell, with the 497th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron in Germany, and from 1960 to 1965 as chief of the research center of the 544th Aerospace Reconnaissance Technical Wing at Offutt. After the Air War College he was director of targets at Seventh Air Force in Vietnam, then at Air Force headquarters director of estimates and of intelligence applications, and from 1972 director for intelligence at [[United States Pacific Command|Pacific Command]]. He was deputy director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] from September 1974 to August 1976, acting director from December 1975 to May 1976, assistant chief of staff for intelligence of the Air Force from January 1977, and, appointed by the president in June 1977, director of DIA from September 1977 to August 1981, promoted lieutenant general on September 1, 1977. He retired on September 1, 1981, and died on January 29, 1994.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Grill Flame
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Under Tighe DIA carried out the 1978-79 reorganization that "established five major directorates," and his deputy for scientific and technical intelligence, [[Jack Vorona]], chaired the Defense Department's committee on the Army's remote-viewing program. An Army memorandum of July 10, 1978, records "the 23 June meeting with VORONA and LTG TIGHE," "at which time VORONA said that Congressman [[Charlie Rose|ROSE]] has agreed to sign some sort of letter that DOD could pull out and use in a contigency situation," and that "LTG TIGHE is not fully supportive, or at least enthusiastic, about the military jumping in on Parapsychology R&D"; Vorona sat on the Grill Flame steering committee at its first meeting in February 1979 "standing in for LTG Tighe." When the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee|Gale Committee]] briefed the working group on January 10, 1980, "it was suggested that General Tighe contact Dr. Laberge to obtain copies of the report and to stop any further distribution," and Major [[William Stoner]] recorded that "Dr Vorona sent a memo to LTG Tighe (11 Jan). It urged the Director to intercede with Dr LaBerge on the report"; Lieutenant Colonel [[Murray Watt]] wrote his comments the next month for "Dr Vorona's letter to LTG Tighe," whose "tone... will be rather general." An undated note from Major General [[Edmund Thompson]] asked him to meet as one of the Grill Flame steering committee's "principals."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### After DIA
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs reported in 1993 that DIA's handling of live-sighting reports had been reviewed in "Task Force reports conducted in 1986 by Gen. Eugene Tighe (USAF-Ret.) and Col. [[Kimball Gaines]] (USAF-Ret.)," among reviews that found the agency's POW/MIA office "defensive toward criticism" and "slow to follow-up on live-sighting and other reports," with "a 'mindset to debunk.'"[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: "Lieutenant General Eugene F. Tighe Jr.," U.S. Air Force biography, current as of April 1981, af.mil, Wayback Machine capture of September 24, 2018. The biography gives the birth year only.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: "Lt Gen Eugene Tighe Jr., USAF, September 1977 - August 1981," Defense Intelligence Agency, Directors of DIA, Wayback Machine capture of January 20, 2022; "Directors of the Defense Intelligence Agency," DIA history mirrored at irp.fas.org/dia/product/present/dia-history_dr.html. The DIA list dates the acting directorship from January 1976.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Stoner, William L., memorandum of conversation, January 14, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7; Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, January 10, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1; Watt, Murray B., comments on the report, February 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130025-0; Thompson, E. R., "Note for: LTG Tighe," undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250008-6; Stoner, memorandum of conversation with Mehuron, July 10, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700230007-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: *Report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs,* S. Rept. 103-1, January 13, 1993, executive summary. https://fas.org/irp/congress/1993_rpt/pow-exec.html
|
||||||
|
|
@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- SRI
|
- SRI
|
||||||
- Soviet
|
- Soviet
|
||||||
summary: "Hartleigh Trent was a former Navy petty officer and one of the original six remote viewers in the STARGATE PROJECT."
|
summary: "Hartleigh Trent was a former Navy petty officer and one of the original six remote viewers in the STARGATE PROJECT."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Hartleigh Trent was a former Navy petty officer and one of the original six remote viewers in the [[STARGATE PROJECT]]. He was recruited into the program, then codenamed [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]], in 1977 by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]].[^1]
|
Hartleigh Trent was a former Navy petty officer and one of the original six remote viewers in the [[STARGATE PROJECT]]. He was recruited into the program, then codenamed Gondola Wish, in 1977 by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Trent was the oldest of the initial group of remote viewers, in his fifties, and had a background as a photo-interpreter. He was described as a "restless tinkerer and inventor," having built a large solar-powered hot-water heater at his home. He was also a close friend of [[Mel Riley]] and [[Joe McMoneagle]].[^1]
|
Trent was the oldest of the initial group of remote viewers, in his fifties, and had a background as a photo-interpreter. He was described as a "restless tinkerer and inventor," having built a large solar-powered hot-water heater at his home. He was also a close friend of [[Mel Riley]] and [[Joe McMoneagle]].[^1]
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@ -17,5 +18,11 @@ As a remote viewer, Trent was noted for his unusual ability to take directions a
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|
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Trent was one of the six most promising members of the team selected to travel to [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) for further evaluation of their talents. He participated in the intense, round-the-clock remote viewing sessions during the Iran hostage crisis, and was present when [[Jackie Keith]] suffered a fatal heart attack.[^1]
|
Trent was one of the six most promising members of the team selected to travel to [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) for further evaluation of their talents. He participated in the intense, round-the-clock remote viewing sessions during the Iran hostage crisis, and was present when [[Jackie Keith]] suffered a fatal heart attack.[^1]
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|
### The Documents
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Trent signed four memoranda for the record from HQ INSCOM (IAFM-OPS-HU-SA) between May 23 and 27, 1980, as "GS-12, Analyst," each headed "Summary of Unconfirmed Source Information" and each recording a remote-viewing session against a redacted subject: one "in compliance with a request for information on a target of interest to USI," a source described as "an expert or professional, an analyst" and believed to work "as an Analyst who's office is in the South side of the Pentagon"; another "someone in middle management in an industrial complex" and "a shirt-sleeved 'orator'"; another a subject "fearful and restricting himself to his hotel like apartment" amid "a great deal of subterfuge." On June 30, 1980, he wrote "Possible Compromise of a Relationship Between Two SRI Scientists (Puthoff & Targ) and the U.S. Government": at "a two day conference on camouflage, concealment and deception" at the Foreign Technology Division at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] on June 25 and 26, "I, Hartleigh Trent, heard a briefer mention a contract the government has with SRI on psychic research"; the briefer, "after indicating by expression and gesture that the encounter was strange and somewhat unbelievable," said that SRI "had a large contract with the U.S. Government on psychic research"; asked afterward "does it really work?," "he asked if I knew that [[Hal Puthoff|Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ|Targ]] were scientologists. I said I had heard that this was probably true. He then said that if they belong to that group there is a possibility that they are pulling the greatest hoax on the U.S. Government and the American public that has ever been perpetrated." "At no time was the U.S. Army or Grill Flame mentioned."[^2]
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|
### Footnotes
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|
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[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
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|
[^2]: Trent, Hartleigh N., memoranda for the record, HQ INSCOM (IAFM-OPS-HU-SA): "Summary of Unconfirmed Source Information," May 23 to 27, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R000300100003-6, R000300520001-2, R000300540001-0, R000300570001-7; "Possible Compromise of a Relationship Between Two SRI Scientists (Puthoff & Targ) and the U.S. Government," June 30, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250038-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ tags:
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- RemoteViewer
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- RemoteViewer
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- DIA
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- DIA
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summary: "Jack Vorona was the Assistant Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and served as the overall manager of the Grill Flame program."
|
summary: "Jack Vorona was the Assistant Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and served as the overall manager of the Grill Flame program."
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updated: 2026-09-22
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---
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---
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Jack Vorona was the Assistant Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA) and served as the overall manager of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] program. He played a crucial role in the continuation and restructuring of the U.S. government's psychic research programs after the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] scaled back its involvement[^1][^2].
|
Jack Vorona was the Assistant Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA) and served as the overall manager of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] program. He played a crucial role in the continuation and restructuring of the U.S. government's psychic research programs after the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] scaled back its involvement[^1][^2].
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@ -30,13 +31,26 @@ Jack Vorona retired after twenty-five years of service at DIA and was inducted i
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### The Committee
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### The Committee
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Vorona chaired the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee from its first meeting at DIA on November 28, 1978, where he "cautioned the Committee to maintain a low profile with minimal fanfare," "urged the development of experimental protocol and methods for validating experiments," and saw it agree "that all documents originating as a result of the GRILL FLAME program would undergo downgrading review only after 20 years." He missed the meeting of July 12, 1979, because he "was briefing Congressman Rose on DoD efforts and interest in parapsychology." In November 1979 the committee asked him to demand sight of the "Gale Committee's" outside report before anyone else saw it, the working group holding it "misleading and inadequate." INSCOM's chronology records that in 1983 (the chronology's date reads as March 31 or August 3), "the Honorable [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]], Vice President of the United States, was briefed for thirty minutes concerning CENTER LANE related activities by Dr. Vorona, DIA," "Adm. Murphy, C/S," and "Mr. Gregg, Assistant to the Vice President, National Security Affairs," present: "The briefing was well received and the Vice President was interested and impressed."[^3]
|
Vorona chaired the Defense Department's Grill Flame committee, which grew out of the meeting he held in his conference room on August 24, 1978, from its meeting at DIA on November 28, 1978, where he "cautioned the Committee to maintain a low profile with minimal fanfare," "urged the development of experimental protocol and methods for validating experiments," and saw it agree "that all documents originating as a result of the GRILL FLAME program would undergo downgrading review only after 20 years." He missed the meeting of July 12, 1979, because he "was briefing Congressman Rose on DoD efforts and interest in parapsychology." In November 1979 the committee asked him to demand sight of the "Gale Committee's" outside report before anyone else saw it, the working group holding it "misleading and inadequate." INSCOM's chronology records that in 1983 (the chronology's date reads as March 31 or August 3), "the Honorable [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]], Vice President of the United States, was briefed for thirty minutes concerning CENTER LANE related activities by Dr. Vorona, DIA," "Adm. Murphy, C/S," and "Mr. Gregg, Assistant to the Vice President, National Security Affairs," present: "The briefing was well received and the Vice President was interested and impressed."[^3]
|
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|
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Vorona arranged the briefing of Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] on September 29, 1982, two days before Congress ended the Army's funding; "Senator Pell had had previous briefings concerning parapsychology from Dr. Vorona." On October 5, 1983, with Hal Puthoff and the [[Center Lane]] officers, he briefed Senator [[Malcolm Wallop]], "the individual who was responsible for the project being eliminated," and asked him "to insert language in the Congressional Conference Report that would permit the program to be included in the FY 85 GDIP submission"; Wallop "replied that he is only one person." On October 7 the committees' staff asked "what is the benefit of placing the program back in the NFIP since DIA has Program 6 (P-6) money," and when he answered "security," told him "that there was no security in the NFIP, and since P-6 money is available, it could be dangerous to reintroduce the subject to the Congressional Committees. Dr. Vorona did not continue the debate and terminated the briefing." As chairman of the working group he had answered the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]'s report of December 1979 with a memorandum supporting its finding that "unexplained observations of human capabilities to generate data of potential utility to intelligence have been documented" and objecting that "many of the difficulties in the report, especially those of fact and incompleteness, could have been avoided if the report had been collectively reviewed in draft."[^4]
|
Vorona arranged the briefing of Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] on September 29, 1982, two days before Congress ended the Army's funding; "Senator Pell had had previous briefings concerning parapsychology from Dr. Vorona." On October 5, 1983, with Hal Puthoff and the [[Center Lane]] officers, he briefed Senator [[Malcolm Wallop]], "the individual who was responsible for the project being eliminated," and asked him "to insert language in the Congressional Conference Report that would permit the program to be included in the FY 85 GDIP submission"; Wallop "replied that he is only one person." On October 7 the committees' staff asked "what is the benefit of placing the program back in the NFIP since DIA has Program 6 (P-6) money," and when he answered "security," told him "that there was no security in the NFIP, and since P-6 money is available, it could be dangerous to reintroduce the subject to the Congressional Committees. Dr. Vorona did not continue the debate and terminated the briefing." As chairman of the working group he had answered the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]'s report of December 1979 with a memorandum supporting its finding that "unexplained observations of human capabilities to generate data of potential utility to intelligence have been documented" and objecting that "many of the difficulties in the report, especially those of fact and incompleteness, could have been avoided if the report had been collectively reviewed in draft."[^4]
|
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In the report of the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee, "in August 1978, Dr. Vorona, DIA, chaired a meeting to develop a coordinated DOD program," and he sat at the first meeting of the Grill Flame steering committee on February 13, 1979, "standing in for LTG [[Eugene Tighe|Tighe]]." The committee visited him at DIA on September 26, 1979. On November 27, 1979, his working group moved that he "contact Mr. Gale and inform him of the working group's desire and need to see and be briefed on the Gale Committee's report prior to it being given to any other party or group," a discussion held "while the committee chairman was not present," after which "consultation with him reveals that his view of the Committee's goal and function is not one of oversight but one of coordination and liaison." His minutes of January 10, 1980, record that Gale's briefing "was not received favorably" and that the report was "misleading and inadequate"; according to Major [[William Stoner]], he wrote to Tighe on January 11 urging him "to intercede with Dr [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]] on the report" so that it "be put on hold until the Working Group, as part of its responsibilities, could provide a clear analysis of what the report says." His signed comments as chairman of the working group followed.[^900]
|
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The minutes of the meeting of August 24, 1978, in his conference room record him opening "with comments about the extreme sensitivity of the subject," that "the program will be established specifically to investigate the remote viewing phenomenon and the extraordinary collection potential it offers," and his decision "against the establishment of a restricted access list and a special codeword for the program, since this would only generate more paperwork"; his letters of September 6 to the service intelligence chiefs asked for "funding levels you might be able to sustain over the next five years."[^901]
|
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|
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|
### Career in the Documents
|
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A "Project Contacts" list of August 1, 1995, in the CIA's files, its author redacted: "From 1975 to his retirement from DIA as DDS&TI in 1990, Jack had principal responsibility for the operational use of the phenomena. He has a list of contacts both active and retired of end-users who have already testified to a number of important governmental committees as to the utility of anomalous cognition. Since 1991, Jack has served as the chair of our Policy Oversight Committee." A "Key Players" list gives him as "Dr. Jack Vorona (GS-18)"; an oversight roster as "Jack Vorona, Ph.D."; his title is printed variously as Deputy Director, Assistant Vice Director and Assistant Deputy Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, office symbol DT. He testified to the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee on April 12, 1983, in a GDIP budget overview. At an Army meeting of April 13, 1982, "it was decided that Dr. Vorona would be the 'point person' in defending the GRILL FLAME Program to Congress"; [[Lincoln D. Faurer|Lincoln Faurer]] of NSA "had been exposed to GRILL FLAME some time ago by Dr. Jack Vorona, DIA, who knew LTG Faurer when he was assigned at DIA"; [[Edwin May]] wrote in 1995 that "Senator [[William S. Cohen|Cohen]] first learned of the program from Jack Vorona." He signed the DIA information memorandum of December 22, 1981, on "Special Intelligence Support Relating to the Kidnapping of BG [[James L. Dozier|Dozier]]." In February 1983 he "has either obtained or received commitment for $200K from DARPA," "the amount that Dr Vorona stated was needed to keep SRI intact for FY 83," and after briefing [[Richard DeLauer|Richard De Lauer]] on October 3, 1983, "received $600,000 Program 6 money to continue his program."[^900]
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On August 27, 1981, he met Brigadier General [[Garrison Rapmund]] of the Army Medical Research and Development Command, who "stated that as long as the Perry letter... remained as DoD policy, R&D funds could not be spent in the field of parapsychology," and "solicited BG Rapmund's assistance in getting the Perry letter rescinded." Visiting the Center Lane office on August 31, 1984, he "said that he would like to see psychoenergetics turn into a major discipline. He envisions expanding the current program in a manner similar to that of the disciplines of ELINT, SIGINT, COMINT, etc.," "would like to expand the current program to include PK and medical/psychological assessment," and reported that he and Rapmund "has signed an MOU" under which Rapmund "will provide one million dollars during FY85, two million during FY86, and four million during FY87," besides "TIARA funds and another $600K of P6 funds"; "he will be the central manager of the program under DIA and we will work for him." On March 11, 1985, four days after the DIA memorandum of agreement, "Dr. Vorona granted approval to continue with the training," an approval that fell to him "because of the human use implications" once the project was DIA's. The Sun Streak Oversight Panel met first in January 1986 with "Mr. D. Latham (Asst SecDef, C3I)" as chairman, "Lt Gen L. Perroots" of DIA as member, and "Dr. J. Vorona (DIA/DT), advisory member"; the unit's training reports and annual reports of 1985 to 1988 are addressed "TO: DT (Dr. Vorona)."[^900]
|
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
[^3]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^3]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^4]: Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5; Buzby, Brian, information paper "GRILL FLAME Briefing Presented to Senator Pell," February 6, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320004-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Buzby, Brian, memorandum "Briefing to Senator Wallop, 5 October 1983," October 14, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270015-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Buzby, Brian, memorandum on the briefing of Congressional intelligence committee staff of October 7, 1983, October 14, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270017-8; "ITAOPS Fact Sheet, Inputs for MG Stubblebine," April 10, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220021-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Vorona, J., "Comments on 'Report By: The GRILLFLAME Scientific Evaluation Committee,'" memorandum of the Grill Flame Working Group, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300060001-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^4]: Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5; Buzby, Brian, information paper "GRILL FLAME Briefing Presented to Senator Pell," February 6, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320004-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Buzby, Brian, memorandum "Briefing to Senator Wallop, 5 October 1983," October 14, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270015-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Buzby, Brian, memorandum on the briefing of Congressional intelligence committee staff of October 7, 1983, October 14, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270017-8; "ITAOPS Fact Sheet, Inputs for MG Stubblebine," April 10, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220021-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Vorona, J., "Comments on 'Report By: The GRILLFLAME Scientific Evaluation Committee,'" memorandum of the Grill Flame Working Group, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300060001-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
[^900]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
[^901]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the Meeting of the DoD Committee on Remote Viewing Activities," August 24, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140009-7; Vorona to the Army assistant chief of staff for intelligence, S-1862/DT-1, September 6, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410015-9; Commander, Naval Intelligence Command, to DIA, September 14, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410025-8; DIA to the 902d Military Intelligence Group, September 22, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140015-0; James L. Brown, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, USAF, to Vorona, September 29, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410026-7; Army ACSI (DAMI-ISH) to Vorona, October 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410024-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
[^900]: "Project Contacts," August 1, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190048-5; "Key Players," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200270002-9; "Scientific Oversight Committee," CIA-RDP96-00789R003200130001-2; bibliography citing Vorona's testimony to the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee of April 12, 1983, in "RV Reliability Enhancement and Evaluation," 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800150001-7; "OACSI Meeting About Grill Flame," April 13, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200060003-1; "Recent Actions Concerning Project Grill Flame," February 21, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100350001-2; "Center Lane Briefing 3-7 October 1983," CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270013-2; "Discussion with Dr. Jack Vorona," August 31, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001500090055-8; "Meeting With Dr. Vorona, 11 March 1985," CIA-RDP96-00788R001700290007-7; "Sun Streak Oversight Panel, Minutes of First Meeting," January 1986, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100200001-6; "Special Intelligence Support Relating to the Kidnapping of BG Dozier," December 22, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00789R002600180016-8; "Grill Flame Briefing for Director, NSA," June and July 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700230004-6; May, Edwin C., memorandum "Contacts," February 23, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190073-7; Jachim, R. J., "Meeting Between BG Rapmund and Dr. Jack Vorona," September 1, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100440071-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Utts became involved in parapsychology research assessment through her statistic
|
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|
|
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### 1995 AIR Evaluation
|
### 1995 AIR Evaluation
|
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|
|
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In June 1995 the CIA contracted the American Institutes for Research to review the DIA's Star Gate program, and AIR engaged Utts, then statistical editor of the *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research*, and Ray Hyman as its two research reviewers, with Lincoln Moses of Stanford advising on statistics. The CIA supplied about 80 publications; the principal investigator, [[Edwin May]], was asked to name the studies he thought strongest. Utts's report of September 1, 1995, concluded: "Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. Effects of similar magnitude to those found in government-sponsored research at SRI and SAIC have been replicated at a number of laboratories across the world." She placed the effect "in the range between what social scientists call a small and medium effect," explained that with five-choice rank-order judging "the effect size for a series of remote viewings is (3.0 - average rank)/2," cited the 1988 analysis of 154 SRI experiments and 26,000 trials with a p-value below 10^-20, tabulated May's ten SAIC experiments (Entropy II: 90 trials, effect size 0.550), and compared novice and experienced viewers at SRI (0.164 and 0.385) with the ganzfeld results at the [[Psychophysical Research Laboratories]] (0.17 and 0.35). "It is recommended that future experiments focus on understanding how this phenomenon works," she wrote; "there is little benefit to continuing experiments designed to offer proof."[^2]
|
In June 1995 the CIA contracted the American Institutes for Research to review the DIA's Star Gate program, and AIR engaged Utts, then statistical editor of the *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research*, and Ray Hyman as its two research reviewers, with [[Lincoln Moses]] of Stanford advising on statistics. The CIA supplied about 80 publications; the principal investigator, [[Edwin May]], was asked to name the studies he thought strongest. Utts's report of September 1, 1995, concluded: "Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. Effects of similar magnitude to those found in government-sponsored research at SRI and SAIC have been replicated at a number of laboratories across the world." She placed the effect "in the range between what social scientists call a small and medium effect," explained that with five-choice rank-order judging "the effect size for a series of remote viewings is (3.0 - average rank)/2," cited the 1988 analysis of 154 SRI experiments and 26,000 trials with a p-value below 10^-20, tabulated May's ten SAIC experiments (Entropy II: 90 trials, effect size 0.550), and compared novice and experienced viewers at SRI (0.164 and 0.385) with the ganzfeld results at the [[Psychophysical Research Laboratories]] (0.17 and 0.35). "It is recommended that future experiments focus on understanding how this phenomenon works," she wrote; "there is little benefit to continuing experiments designed to offer proof."[^2]
|
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|
|
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### Hyman Disagreement
|
### Hyman Disagreement
|
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|
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|
@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
|
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---
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|
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aliases:
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|
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- Leonid L. Vasilev
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|
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- L. L. Vasilev
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|
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category: "Scientists & Researchers"
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|
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tags:
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|
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- Person
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|
||||||
- Researcher
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|
||||||
- Parapsychology
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|
||||||
summary: "Vasilev asserted that the publication of articles like Jacques Bergier's 'Thought Transfer, Weapon of War' and 'The Secret of the Nautilus' in French journals stimulated Soviet parapsychology research."
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|
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born: 1891-04-12
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|
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died: 1966-02-08
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|
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location: "Russia"
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---
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Leonid L. Vasilev was a leading Russian [[Parapsychology|parapsychology]] researcher who played a significant role in the [[Soviet Union]]'s efforts to investigate [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]]. He is noted for his statements in April 1960, where he claimed that Soviet scientists had conducted extensive, unreported investigations into telepathy under the Stalin regime, predating American efforts[^1].
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Vasilev asserted that the publication of articles like [[Jacques Bergier]]'s "Thought Transfer, Weapon of War" and "The Secret of the Nautilus" in French journals stimulated Soviet parapsychology research. He used these reports to advocate for increased Soviet investment in the field, stating, "Today the American Navy is testing telepathy on their atomic submarines. Soviet scientists conducted a great many successful telepathy tests over a quarter of a century ago. It’s urgent that we throw off our prejudices. We must plunge into the exploration of this vital field"[^1].
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In a 1963 Kremlin edict, the Soviet minister of defense, R. J. Malinosky, declared [[Telepathy]] to be science- and technology-based, leading to the creation of the Special Laboratory for Biocommunications Phenomena at the University of Leningrad, with Vasilev in charge. The laboratory's goals included establishing "scientific proof of telepathic communications" and identifying the nature of the brain energy that produces it. Vasilev proclaimed that "The discovery of the energy underlying telepathic communication will be equivalent to the discovery of atomic energy"[^1].
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Vasilev's work contributed to the Soviet nomenclature around ESP being rewritten to sound technical, severing ties with its occult past. Mental telepathy became "long-distance biological signal transmission," and [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] was termed "non-ionizing, in particular electromagnetic, emissions from humans"[^1].
|
|
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|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,22 +1,30 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
aliases:
|
||||||
|
- Leonid L. Vasilev
|
||||||
|
- L. L. Vasilev
|
||||||
|
- L. L. Vasil'yev
|
||||||
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Researcher
|
- Researcher
|
||||||
- Parapsychology
|
- Parapsychology
|
||||||
summary: "By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on 'remote-influencing' experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver."
|
summary: "Leningrad physiologist who led the Soviet Union's telepathy research from the 1930s and, after 1960, the state laboratory whose work American intelligence tracked for decades."
|
||||||
born: 1891-04-12
|
born: 1891-04-12
|
||||||
died: 1966-02-08
|
died: 1966-02-08
|
||||||
location: "Russia"
|
location: "Leningrad, Soviet Union"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Leonid Vasiliev was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] parapsychologist and chairman of the physiology department at the University of Leningrad, a past winner of the Lenin Prize and a key figure in the resurgence of Soviet [[Parapsychology|psi]] research following the publication of [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|"The Secret of the Nautilus"]] article in 1960. He argued that "the discovery of the energy underlying ESP will be equivalent to the discovery of atomic energy."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Leonid Vasiliev]] was a prominent [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] parapsychologist and chairman of the physiology department at the University of Leningrad. A past winner of the Lenin Prize, Vasiliev was a key figure in the resurgence of Soviet [[Parapsychology|psi]] research following the publication of [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|"The Secret of the Nautilus"]] article in 1960. He argued that "the discovery of the energy underlying ESP will be equivalent to the discovery of atomic energy."[^1]
|
He stated in April 1960 that Soviet scientists had conducted extensive, unreported investigations into telepathy under the Stalin regime, predating American efforts, and that they had successfully performed telepathy tests over a quarter-century before the alleged U.S. Nautilus tests. He held that the publication of articles like [[Jacques Bergier]]'s "Thought Transfer, Weapon of War" and "The Secret of the Nautilus" in French journals stimulated Soviet research, and used them to advocate for increased Soviet investment in the field: "Today the American Navy is testing telepathy on their atomic submarines. Soviet scientists conducted a great many successful telepathy tests over a quarter of a century ago. It's urgent that we throw off our prejudices. We must plunge into the exploration of this vital field."[^1][^2]
|
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|
|
||||||
By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on "remote-influencing" experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. His efforts, along with those of other Soviet researchers like [[I. M. Kogan]], contributed to the establishment of numerous other psi research centers in the Soviet Union.[^1]
|
By the early 1960s Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on "remote-influencing" experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. In a 1963 Kremlin edict, the Soviet minister of defense, R. J. Malinosky, declared [[Telepathy]] to be science- and technology-based, leading to the creation of the Special Laboratory for Biocommunications Phenomena at the University of Leningrad, with Vasiliev in charge; its goals included establishing "scientific proof of telepathic communications" and identifying the nature of the brain energy that produces it. His efforts, along with those of other Soviet researchers like [[I. M. Kogan]], contributed to the establishment of numerous other psi research centers in the Soviet Union, and to the Soviet nomenclature around ESP being rewritten to sound technical, severing ties with its occult past: mental telepathy became "long-distance biological signal transmission," and [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] "non-ionizing, in particular electromagnetic, emissions from humans."[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Vasiliev publicly stated in April 1960 that the Soviets had conducted extensive and unreported investigations into telepathy under the Stalin regime, and that they had successfully performed telepathy tests over a quarter-century prior to the alleged U.S. Nautilus tests. He urged Soviet scientists to overcome their prejudices against such research and to explore this vital field, which he believed had the potential to be as significant as the discovery of atomic energy.[^2]
|
A [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] briefing on "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," given to the Air Force in July 1987, opened its timeline with [[Vladimir Bekhterev|V. M. Bekhterev]] and "L. L. Vasil'yev (1919-)," under the headings "hypnosis," "automatic responses" and "long distance (1700 km)," and dated his "open publications" and "new lab, Leningrad Univ." to 1959-1965, with [[Genady Sergeyev|G. A. Sergeyev]] working in "Vasil'yev's lab" from 1965 to 1970.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Henry E. Shinol, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Studies and Analyses, Headquarters USAF, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Soviet Parapsychology Research Briefing," June 12, 1987, and cover note of July 14, 1987, with paper briefing slides "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600320001-8 to -004-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ summary: "Watt, along with Atwater, was responsible for selecting and training t
|
||||||
alias:
|
alias:
|
||||||
- Murray B. Watt
|
- Murray B. Watt
|
||||||
- Scotty Watt
|
- Scotty Watt
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Murray B. "Scotty" Watt was a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and the first commander of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later Grill Flame) remote viewing unit. He was two decades older than [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]], described as a tall and husky man with a bulbous nose and a Boston accent. Watt had a reputation for a volcanic temper, which was said to have hindered his career progression after an incident in Panama where he struck a fellow officer. He was chosen for this obscure and potentially controversial assignment because it was felt he had "little to lose."[^1]
|
Murray B. "Scotty" Watt was a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and the first commander of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later Grill Flame) remote viewing unit. He was two decades older than [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]], described as a tall and husky man with a bulbous nose and a Boston accent. Watt had a reputation for a volcanic temper, which was said to have hindered his career progression after an incident in Panama where he struck a fellow officer. He was chosen for this obscure and potentially controversial assignment because it was felt he had "little to lose."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -27,8 +28,11 @@ Murray B. Watt, called Scotty, was a major of military intelligence in the human
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Watt briefed the committee on "INSCOM training and operational application of the remote viewing phenomenon" on November 27, 1979, and, as a lieutenant colonel, briefed Representative [[Charlie Rose|Charles Rose]] with General [[Edmund Thompson]] on April 16, 1981, writing the record of it. On June 30, 1981, as "outgoing project manager," he gave the first Grill Flame briefing to the new commander of INSCOM, [[Albert Stubblebine]], alongside his successor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Jachim.[^3]
|
Watt briefed the committee on "INSCOM training and operational application of the remote viewing phenomenon" on November 27, 1979, and, as a lieutenant colonel, briefed Representative [[Charlie Rose|Charles Rose]] with General [[Edmund Thompson]] on April 16, 1981, writing the record of it. On June 30, 1981, as "outgoing project manager," he gave the first Grill Flame briefing to the new commander of INSCOM, [[Albert Stubblebine]], alongside his successor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Jachim.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Watt wrote INSCOM's record of the first meeting of "the DoD Committee on Special Sensors" on November 28, 1978, as "MAJ, MI, GRILL FLAME Project Officer, INSCOM," listing himself and Major [[William Stoner]] among thirteen present with [[Jack Vorona]], Dailey of the Under Secretary's office, [[Dale Graff]], [[John Kramar]] and Colonel Al DeProspero of AMSAA, Bill Mehuron of the Navy and a redacted name from NSA, and noting that "DIA will have 'Intelligence Oversight' responsibility; local IG cannot inspect without approval." On January 16, 1980, "I briefed Congressman Charlie Rose... on the INSCOM GRILL FLAME Project," with Thompson, Vorona, "Jake Stewart, NSC Staff Member" and "Dick Giza, Office of Congressman Rose" present; "Page 3 of Incl 1 was not provided to the audience at the direction of MG Thompson," and Rose "encouraged us to continue with our program." His comments on the [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee|Gale report]] in February 1980 called it "very shallow in nature," noted "after all, we provided the committee with most of the data contained in the Annex," and asked of its handwriting passage, "Did they, in fact, question Targ on this handwriting issue?"; "at the working meeting held 30-31 Jan I outlined most of our major objections."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
[^2]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "INSCOM Project Grill Flame: Progress Report #1," February 21, 1979, with enclosures, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100070001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "INSCOM Project Grill Flame: Progress Report #1," February 21, 1979, with enclosures, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100070001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^3]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 April 1981," April 17, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190007-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Buzby, Brian, memoranda for the record, "Initial Grill Flame Briefing to MG Stubblebine as CG, INSCOM, 30 June 1981" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220001-0), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^3]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 28, 1978 (enclosed in Progress Report #1), July 12, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130008-9), November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1), and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 April 1981," April 17, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190007-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Buzby, Brian, memoranda for the record, "Initial Grill Flame Briefing to MG Stubblebine as CG, INSCOM, 30 June 1981" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220001-0), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Defense Intelligence Agency, S-1004/DT-1, "Minutes of the Meeting, DoD Grill Flame Committee," November 28, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140013-2; Watt, Murray B., "Summary of Working Group Meeting, DoD Committee on Special Sensors (C), 28 Nov 78," November 29, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200240006-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., memorandum for the record, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Briefing for Congressman Rose, 16 January 1980," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190001-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., "Comments Concerning 'GRILL FLAME SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION COMMITTEE REPORT,' dated December 1979," catalogued February 13, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130025-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ born: 1932-07-16
|
||||||
died: 2020-12-31
|
died: 2020-12-31
|
||||||
location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"
|
location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Richard Lewis Thornburgh was born July 16, 1932, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in engineering from Yale University in 1954 and an LL.B. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1957. He served as [[United States Attorney]] for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1975, appointed by President Nixon, and as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division under President Ford from 1975 to 1977. He was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1978, serving two successive terms from January 16, 1979 to January 20, 1987 -- the first Republican to serve consecutive terms as Pennsylvania governor -- managing the March 1979 [[Three Mile Island]] nuclear incident during his first term. Richard Thornburgh died December 31, 2020, in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, at age 88.[^1]
|
Richard Lewis Thornburgh was born July 16, 1932, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in engineering from [[Yale University]] in 1954 and an LL.B. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1957. He served as [[United States Attorney]] for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1975, appointed by President Nixon, and as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division under President Ford from 1975 to 1977. He was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1978, serving two successive terms from January 16, 1979 to January 20, 1987 -- the first Republican to serve consecutive terms as Pennsylvania governor -- managing the March 1979 [[Three Mile Island]] nuclear incident during his first term. Richard Thornburgh died December 31, 2020, in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, at age 88.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Attorney General
|
### Attorney General
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Russell Targ
|
title: Russell Targ
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Russell Targ
|
- Russell Targ
|
||||||
|
|
@ -29,7 +29,11 @@ Despite the personality conflicts and the controversial nature of the research,
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Nature Paper
|
### The Nature Paper
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The paper he and Puthoff published in *Nature* on October 18, 1974, "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," reported thirteen drawing experiments with Uri Geller in "a double-walled steel room" and later "a double-walled, copper-screen Faraday cage," in which two judges "each matched the target data to the response data with no error"; a hundred-picture series on which Geller "passed" every day, with results that "do not depart significantly from what would be expected by chance"; a die in a steel box called correctly eight times of eight; nine double-blind remote-viewing trials with Pat Price against Bay Area sites chosen by the division director with a random-number calculator, of which five judges matched six of nine; and an EEG series in which one subject of six, "H.H.," showed "a consistent alpha blocking effect" when a distant light flashed. It concluded that "a channel exists whereby information about a remote location can be obtained by means of an as yet unidentified perceptual modality," that "the information channel appears to be imperfect, containing noise along with the signal," and that the ability "may be widely distributed in the general population." The acknowledged sponsor was "The Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, New York City," with thanks to Judith Skutch and [[Edgar Mitchell]] of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]]. In 1978 [[David Marks]] and Richard Kammann reported in *Nature* that they had failed to replicate the work and argued that the Price transcripts held cues such as "second place of the day" that let judges match them; Targ, Puthoff, and [[Charles Tart]] answered in January 1979 with re-edited transcripts and a new judge who matched seven of nine.[^2]
|
The paper he and Puthoff published in *Nature* on October 18, 1974, "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," reported thirteen drawing experiments with Uri Geller in "a double-walled steel room" and later "a double-walled, copper-screen Faraday cage," in which two judges "each matched the target data to the response data with no error"; a hundred-picture series on which Geller "passed" every day, with results that "do not depart significantly from what would be expected by chance"; a die in a steel box called correctly eight times of eight; nine double-blind remote-viewing trials with Pat Price against Bay Area sites chosen by the division director with a random-number calculator, of which five judges matched six of nine; and an EEG series in which one subject of six, "H.H.," showed "a consistent alpha blocking effect" when a distant light flashed. It concluded that "a channel exists whereby information about a remote location can be obtained by means of an as yet unidentified perceptual modality," that "the information channel appears to be imperfect, containing noise along with the signal," and that the ability "may be widely distributed in the general population." The acknowledged sponsor was "The Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, New York City," with thanks to Judith Skutch and [[Edgar Mitchell]] of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]]. In 1978 [[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]] reported in *Nature* that they had failed to replicate the work and argued that the Price transcripts held cues such as "second place of the day" that let judges match them; Targ, Puthoff, and [[Charles Tart]] answered in January 1979 with re-edited transcripts and a new judge who matched seven of nine.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]], which met Targ, Puthoff and Charles Tart at SRI on July 24 and 25, 1979, wrote of the long-distance series that a drawing of the San Andres airport, in the Costa Rica series, had been made by "one of the experimenters who substituted his time for that of" the designated subject, and in its protocol annex: "The lack of repeated use of Targ as a Subject is thus supported, even though he provided an excellent response to the San Andres airport. (One must wonder why he wasn't used again in view of this highly accurate response!)" Its summary of the SRI work: "The only way that their concepts will be accepted by the scientific community is for non-reproachable experimenters to conduct similar research, using improved methods, without any possible intrusion by persons (such as Puthoff and Targ) having a vested interest in the results."[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Snyders' evaluation of 1979 wrote of one SRI target that "Targ, who selected the coordinates, had also worked for Sylvania," that "Targ was an accomplished amateur magician," quoting his pages in Mind-Reach on "sleights" and "illusions," and of an airport drawing, "Was it drawn by Russell Targ?"; David Marks found in the fourth Price transcript Targ's remark to the subject, "Nothing like having three successes behind you," on a page missing from the copy SRI gave John Wilhelm.[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 1996 Memoir
|
### The 1996 Memoir
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -40,3 +44,5 @@ Targ requested his CIA files in May 1994, "moved from number 540 in line to numb
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
[^2]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607, read in the CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100220001-8 on archive.org. Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments," *Nature,* vol. 274, 1978, pp. 680-681, not obtained; quoted from Puthoff, Targ, and Tart, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," with Tart, "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," submitted to *Nature,* January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5, archive.org mirror.
|
[^2]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607, read in the CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100220001-8 on archive.org. Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments," *Nature,* vol. 274, 1978, pp. 680-681, not obtained; quoted from Puthoff, Targ, and Tart, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," with Tart, "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," submitted to *Nature,* January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5, archive.org mirror.
|
||||||
[^3]: Targ, Russell. "Remote Viewing at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s: A Memoir," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 77-88, reprinted from Targ and Katra, *Mind-to-Mind* (1996); read in a Wayback Machine copy of the journal's PDF.
|
[^3]: Targ, Russell. "Remote Viewing at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s: A Memoir," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 77-88, reprinted from Targ and Katra, *Mind-to-Mind* (1996); read in a Wayback Machine copy of the journal's PDF.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ Individuals known for psychic abilities, remote viewing, or participation in psi
|
||||||
| [[Elmo Zumwalt]] | Elmo Zumwalt (1920–2000) was an American naval officer who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1970 to 1974. |
|
| [[Elmo Zumwalt]] | Elmo Zumwalt (1920–2000) was an American naval officer who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1970 to 1974. |
|
||||||
| [[Ernst Schulte-Strathaus]] | Ernst Schulte-Strathaus was a German astrologer who, alongside Karl Krafft, was reported to have constructed star charts that influenced Rudolf Hess's decision to undertake his rogue flight to Scotland in May 1941. |
|
| [[Ernst Schulte-Strathaus]] | Ernst Schulte-Strathaus was a German astrologer who, alongside Karl Krafft, was reported to have constructed star charts that influenced Rudolf Hess's decision to undertake his rogue flight to Scotland in May 1941. |
|
||||||
| [[Eugene Lessman]] | **Eugene 'Gene' Alden Lessman** was a U.S. |
|
| [[Eugene Lessman]] | **Eugene 'Gene' Alden Lessman** was a U.S. |
|
||||||
| [[Fern Gauvin]] | Fernand 'Fern' Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex. |
|
| [[Fernand Gauvin|Fern Gauvin]] | Fernand 'Fern' Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex. |
|
||||||
| [[Fernand Gauvin]] | Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more 'James Bond-ish' elements of the U.S. |
|
| [[Fernand Gauvin]] | Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more 'James Bond-ish' elements of the U.S. |
|
||||||
| [[Fred Zachariasen]] | Fred Zachariasen was a physics professor at Caltech and a ranking member of the Department of Defense's elite JASON Committee. |
|
| [[Fred Zachariasen]] | Fred Zachariasen was a physics professor at Caltech and a ranking member of the Department of Defense's elite JASON Committee. |
|
||||||
| [[Gerald Feinberg]] | Gerald Feinberg was a physics professor at Columbia University. |
|
| [[Gerald Feinberg]] | Gerald Feinberg was a physics professor at Columbia University. |
|
||||||
|
|
@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ Physicists, biologists, parapsychologists, and other researchers.
|
||||||
| [[Eldon Byrd]] | Scientist and researcher connected to government programs in parapsychology and electromagnetic weapons research. |
|
| [[Eldon Byrd]] | Scientist and researcher connected to government programs in parapsychology and electromagnetic weapons research. |
|
||||||
| [[Frederick A. Lindemann]] | Oxford scientist and Lord Cherwell who served as Churchill's chief science adviser and formed early connections with figures central to Israel's nuclear program origins. |
|
| [[Frederick A. Lindemann]] | Oxford scientist and Lord Cherwell who served as Churchill's chief science adviser and formed early connections with figures central to Israel's nuclear program origins. |
|
||||||
| [[James Moore]] | James Moore was a chemist who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency on MKULTRA Subproject 58, a classified effort to locate and mass-produce the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh) for intelligence use. |
|
| [[James Moore]] | James Moore was a chemist who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency on MKULTRA Subproject 58, a classified effort to locate and mass-produce the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh) for intelligence use. |
|
||||||
| [[Leonid L. Vasilev]] | Vasilev asserted that the publication of articles like Jacques Bergier's 'Thought Transfer, Weapon of War' and 'The Secret of the Nautilus' in French journals stimulated Soviet parapsychology research. |
|
| [[Leonid Vasiliev|Leonid L. Vasilev]] | Vasilev asserted that the publication of articles like Jacques Bergier's 'Thought Transfer, Weapon of War' and 'The Secret of the Nautilus' in French journals stimulated Soviet parapsychology research. |
|
||||||
| [[Leonid Vasiliev]] | By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on 'remote-influencing' experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. |
|
| [[Leonid Vasiliev]] | By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on 'remote-influencing' experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. |
|
||||||
| [[Marcel Vogel]] | Researcher and scientist known for his work in crystal technology and consciousness studies. |
|
| [[Marcel Vogel]] | Researcher and scientist known for his work in crystal technology and consciousness studies. |
|
||||||
| [[Meir Deshalit]] | Meir Deshalit, also known as Meme Deshalit, was an Israeli intelligence official and a close colleague of James Jesus Angleton. |
|
| [[Meir Deshalit]] | Meir Deshalit, also known as Meme Deshalit, was an Israeli intelligence official and a close colleague of James Jesus Angleton. |
|
||||||
|
|
|
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|
|
@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ Individuals known for psychic abilities, remote viewing, or participation in psi
|
||||||
| [[Elmo Zumwalt]] | Elmo Zumwalt (1920–2000) was an American naval officer who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1970 to 1974. |
|
| [[Elmo Zumwalt]] | Elmo Zumwalt (1920–2000) was an American naval officer who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1970 to 1974. |
|
||||||
| [[Ernst Schulte-Strathaus]] | Ernst Schulte-Strathaus was a German astrologer who, alongside Karl Krafft, was reported to have constructed star charts that influenced Rudolf Hess's decision to undertake his rogue flight to Scotland in May 1941. |
|
| [[Ernst Schulte-Strathaus]] | Ernst Schulte-Strathaus was a German astrologer who, alongside Karl Krafft, was reported to have constructed star charts that influenced Rudolf Hess's decision to undertake his rogue flight to Scotland in May 1941. |
|
||||||
| [[Eugene Lessman]] | **Eugene 'Gene' Alden Lessman** was a U.S. |
|
| [[Eugene Lessman]] | **Eugene 'Gene' Alden Lessman** was a U.S. |
|
||||||
| [[Fern Gauvin]] | Fernand 'Fern' Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex. |
|
| [[Fernand Gauvin|Fern Gauvin]] | Fernand 'Fern' Gauvin was a civilian counterintelligence specialist working at Arlington Hall, a military/civilian intelligence complex. |
|
||||||
| [[Fernand Gauvin]] | Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more 'James Bond-ish' elements of the U.S. |
|
| [[Fernand Gauvin]] | Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more 'James Bond-ish' elements of the U.S. |
|
||||||
| [[Fred Zachariasen]] | Fred Zachariasen was a physics professor at Caltech and a ranking member of the Department of Defense's elite JASON Committee. |
|
| [[Fred Zachariasen]] | Fred Zachariasen was a physics professor at Caltech and a ranking member of the Department of Defense's elite JASON Committee. |
|
||||||
| [[Gerald Feinberg]] | Gerald Feinberg was a physics professor at Columbia University. |
|
| [[Gerald Feinberg]] | Gerald Feinberg was a physics professor at Columbia University. |
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Physicists, biologists, parapsychologists, and other researchers involved in psi
|
||||||
| [[Eldon Byrd]] | Scientist and researcher connected to government programs in parapsychology and electromagnetic weapons research. |
|
| [[Eldon Byrd]] | Scientist and researcher connected to government programs in parapsychology and electromagnetic weapons research. |
|
||||||
| [[Frederick A. Lindemann]] | Oxford scientist and Lord Cherwell who served as Churchill's chief science adviser and formed early connections with figures central to Israel's nuclear program origins. |
|
| [[Frederick A. Lindemann]] | Oxford scientist and Lord Cherwell who served as Churchill's chief science adviser and formed early connections with figures central to Israel's nuclear program origins. |
|
||||||
| [[James Moore]] | James Moore was a chemist who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency on MKULTRA Subproject 58, a classified effort to locate and mass-produce the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh) for intelligence use. |
|
| [[James Moore]] | James Moore was a chemist who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency on MKULTRA Subproject 58, a classified effort to locate and mass-produce the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh) for intelligence use. |
|
||||||
| [[Leonid L. Vasilev]] | Vasilev asserted that the publication of articles like Jacques Bergier's 'Thought Transfer, Weapon of War' and 'The Secret of the Nautilus' in French journals stimulated Soviet parapsychology research. |
|
| [[Leonid Vasiliev|Leonid L. Vasilev]] | Vasilev asserted that the publication of articles like Jacques Bergier's 'Thought Transfer, Weapon of War' and 'The Secret of the Nautilus' in French journals stimulated Soviet parapsychology research. |
|
||||||
| [[Leonid Vasiliev]] | By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on 'remote-influencing' experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. |
|
| [[Leonid Vasiliev]] | By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on 'remote-influencing' experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. |
|
||||||
| [[Marcel Vogel]] | Researcher and scientist known for his work in crystal technology and consciousness studies. |
|
| [[Marcel Vogel]] | Researcher and scientist known for his work in crystal technology and consciousness studies. |
|
||||||
| [[Meir Deshalit]] | Meir Deshalit, also known as Meme Deshalit, was an Israeli intelligence official and a close colleague of James Jesus Angleton. |
|
| [[Meir Deshalit]] | Meir Deshalit, also known as Meme Deshalit, was an Israeli intelligence official and a close colleague of James Jesus Angleton. |
|
||||||
|
|
|
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|
|
@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Long before the STAR GATE evaluation, AIR appeared in the classified military-ps
|
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|
|
||||||
### The 1995 STAR GATE Evaluation
|
### The 1995 STAR GATE Evaluation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In June 1995 the CIA's Office of Research and Development, having taken custody of the DIA's Star Gate program at the direction of Congress and declassified its own 1970s parapsychology work "to facilitate a new, external review," contracted AIR to evaluate the program's research and operations ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]). Michael Mumford and Andrew Rose of AIR conducted the operational review, interviewing seven customer representatives, three viewers, and the program manager; David Goslin, AIR's president, coordinated; the research review went to [[Jessica Utts]] and [[Ray Hyman]], with Lincoln Moses of Stanford as statistical adviser. One program document stayed classified during the review and Mumford summarized it for the panel. The report, "An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications," was delivered on September 29, 1995. It found "a statistically significant 'anomaly'" in the laboratory work, no "convincing demonstration that a paranormal ability is involved," and that remote viewing "has not been shown to have value in intelligence operations"; the customer ratings of forty viewings from 1994 and 1995 averaged 3.0 on a six-point accuracy scale and 3.5 on a five-point value scale. Its last conclusion read: "Continued support for the operational component of the current program is not justified." The report was released publicly on November 28, 1995.[^3]
|
In June 1995 the CIA's Office of Research and Development, having taken custody of the DIA's Star Gate program at the direction of Congress and declassified its own 1970s parapsychology work "to facilitate a new, external review," contracted AIR to evaluate the program's research and operations ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]). [[Michael Mumford]] and [[Andrew Rose]] of AIR conducted the operational review, interviewing seven customer representatives, three viewers, and the program manager; [[David Goslin]], AIR's president, coordinated; the research review went to [[Jessica Utts]] and [[Ray Hyman]], with [[Lincoln Moses]] of Stanford as statistical adviser. One program document stayed classified during the review and Mumford summarized it for the panel. The report, "An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications," was delivered on September 29, 1995. It found "a statistically significant 'anomaly'" in the laboratory work, no "convincing demonstration that a paranormal ability is involved," and that remote viewing "has not been shown to have value in intelligence operations"; the customer ratings of forty viewings from 1994 and 1995 averaged 3.0 on a six-point accuracy scale and 3.5 on a five-point value scale. Its last conclusion read: "Continued support for the operational component of the current program is not justified." The report was released publicly on November 28, 1995.[^3]
|
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|
|
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### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ start: 1957
|
||||||
location: "Durham, North Carolina, USA"
|
location: "Durham, North Carolina, USA"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The [[Parapsychological Association]] is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of [[Parapsychology]]. In 1969, after a rousing conference speech by the anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]], the American Association for the Advancement of Science voted to admit the Parapsychological Association to its ranks of approved disciplines. Her support helped lend a degree of legitimacy to the field of parapsychology, which had long struggled for scientific acceptance.[^1]
|
The [[Parapsychological Association]] is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of [[Parapsychology]]. In 1969, after a rousing conference speech by the anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]], the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] voted to admit the Parapsychological Association to its ranks of approved disciplines. Her support helped lend a degree of legitimacy to the field of parapsychology, which had long struggled for scientific acceptance.[^1]
|
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|
|
||||||
Despite this recognition, the field of parapsychology, and the Association, continued to face an "informal system of scientific apartheid." Parapsychologists were officially allowed to call themselves scientists but were largely kept out of the mainstream scientific community, often ignored and forced to rely on private funding and publish in their own specialized journals. This was largely due to the fact that their work, while statistically significant, often lacked tangible, real-world applications that could convince skeptics. The [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] is an example of a research institution whose work contributed to the field of parapsychology.[^1]
|
Despite this recognition, the field of parapsychology, and the Association, continued to face an "informal system of scientific apartheid." Parapsychologists were officially allowed to call themselves scientists but were largely kept out of the mainstream scientific community, often ignored and forced to rely on private funding and publish in their own specialized journals. This was largely due to the fact that their work, while statistically significant, often lacked tangible, real-world applications that could convince skeptics. The [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] is an example of a research institution whose work contributed to the field of parapsychology.[^1]
|
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|
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|
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|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2024-08-26
|
created: 2024-08-26
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: STARGATE PROJECT
|
title: STARGATE PROJECT
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- STARGATE PROJECT
|
- STARGATE PROJECT
|
||||||
|
|
@ -53,13 +53,23 @@ On February 15, 1979, the Army general counsel found that Grill Flame involved t
|
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|
|
||||||
The three-year joint program of fiscal 1981 to 1983 cost 1,475,500 dollars, 962,000 of it from DIA, 313,500 from INSCOM, and 200,000 from DARPA, of which 575,000 went to training. DIA's report of October 19, 1983, found: "Remote viewing is a real phenomenon, and is not degraded by distance or shielding. Remote viewing ability can be improved by appropriate training procedures. Remote viewing has potential for US intelligence applications. However, at this stage of development, descriptive content (e.g., sketches, configurations) is more reliable than analytic content." It reported that INSCOM's viewers "detected the remote site successfully in 50 percent of their projects (89 sites)," and that "a potential threat to US national security exists from foreign achievements in psychoenergetics. In the USSR and in China, this research is well funded." SRI's list of clients served included "a secret NSA facility, including codeword retrieval" and "Soviet R&D facility at Semipalatinsk (PNUTS)."[^3][^10]
|
The three-year joint program of fiscal 1981 to 1983 cost 1,475,500 dollars, 962,000 of it from DIA, 313,500 from INSCOM, and 200,000 from DARPA, of which 575,000 went to training. DIA's report of October 19, 1983, found: "Remote viewing is a real phenomenon, and is not degraded by distance or shielding. Remote viewing ability can be improved by appropriate training procedures. Remote viewing has potential for US intelligence applications. However, at this stage of development, descriptive content (e.g., sketches, configurations) is more reliable than analytic content." It reported that INSCOM's viewers "detected the remote site successfully in 50 percent of their projects (89 sites)," and that "a potential threat to US national security exists from foreign achievements in psychoenergetics. In the USSR and in China, this research is well funded." SRI's list of clients served included "a secret NSA facility, including codeword retrieval" and "Soviet R&D facility at Semipalatinsk (PNUTS)."[^3][^10]
|
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|
|
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|
The Defense Department's coordination began at a meeting in [[Jack Vorona]]'s conference room at Pomponio Plaza on August 24, 1978, attended by Vorona, Colonel Jack Capps of the Army staff, Charlie Carter of the Missile Intelligence Agency and [[Dale Graff]] of the Foreign Technology Division, "to establish a unified DoD effort in the development of remote viewing technology for intelligence purposes." Vorona said "the effort is fully supported by the Director of DIA," that "the Soviet Union has a significant commitment in this area," and that DIA, FTD and AMSAA "have contractual funds at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) for some preliminary investigations into remote viewing feasibility. However, this funding will cease at the end of the current fiscal year (30 September 1978)"; he "decided against the establishment of a restricted access list and a special codeword for the program," marking all papers "SECRET, ORCON"; the working group "will consist of DoD and NSA personnel only." The Naval Intelligence Command replied on September 14 that it was "unable at this time to pledge a specific level of funding support"; the Air Force on September 29 that it "has supported $100K of contractual assistance for FTD to verify data on Warsaw Pact experiments in paranormal techniques" and "cannot commit additional funds at this time"; the Army on October 4 that "the term Remote Viewing may be more correctly replaced with Parapsychology," that "Army Intelligence obligated $75K, this past week, of year-end funds to support an SRI Subject selection and training program for INSCOM personnel over the next year," and that "there are occasional, but persistent indications that the Navy has maintained its research into Parapsychology." A draft Army request of July 7, 1978, with [[E. H. Walker]] as principal investigator, had asked for 350,000 dollars in fiscal 1979 "to determine feasibility of developing automatic equipment capable of producing remote viewing in hard copy form," equipment that "might have the same utility in any future conflict as that of the Ultra machine used in WWII."[^902]
|
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|
|
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|
Oversight in the Pentagon followed a letter of October 25, 1978, from Representative [[Charlie Rose]] to [[Ruth Davis]], the deputy under secretary of defense for research and advanced technology, asking "to see the Department of Defense undertake those efforts deemed necessary and appropriate to investigate remote viewing," and with her memorandum to Vorona of November 20 setting eight questions for "the oversight groups you will establish," among them measures "developed by other than the current experimenters" that "ensure that the magicians' processes of deception, feedback to subjects, etc. are not inadvertantly allowed" and "a stark clear statement of events, data, etc. that will justify termination of continued funding." The Grill Flame steering committee first met on February 13, 1979, with "all Service ACSI's, Dr. Ruth Davis, Dr. [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]], and Dr. Vorona (standing in for LTG [[Eugene Tighe|Tighe]])." The [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] appointed that summer put the money spent to date at "CIA, 1972-78: $240K. DIA, 1979: $100K. USAF, 1976-79: $300K. Army, 1977-79: $490K," recorded that the Navy's representatives "attend all DOD meetings, but remain uncommitted and literally silent," and reported in December 1979 that remote viewing "thus far have not proved the existence of the phenomena," a report the Pentagon's working group called "misleading and inadequate."[^901]
|
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|
|
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|
The committee first met as "the DoD Committee on Special Sensors" on November 28, 1978, in Vorona's conference room and named itself the DoD Grill Flame Committee. Its oversight committee was "Dr. Jack Vorona, DIA; MG E. R. Thompson, Army ACSI; RADM S. Shapiro, Commander, NIC; Maj Gen J. L. Brown, Air Force ACSI; Dr. Lowell Dailey, USDR&E Representative" in DIA's minutes (INSCOM's summary of the same meeting has it as "service ACSI's, Dr. Vorona and Dr. Ruth Davis," and calls Dailey "Bob Dailey - DUSRAT/Consultant"), "responsible for insuring that research and experiments fall within the legal guidelines"; "DIA will have 'Intelligence Oversight' responsibility; local IG cannot inspect without approval." Permanent members "must possess SI/TK clearances"; "Dr. Vorona expressed concern that parapsychology activities within DoD elements were springing up all over. He directed that agencies (represented on committee) develop policy for turning off 'exposures' as they come up"; "all documents originating as a result of the GRILL FLAME program would undergo downgrading review only after 20 years"; "Mr. Graff next suggested that a cover story be developed for the program; Dr. Vorona suggested that the National Academy of Sciences might back an open program to investigate paranormal phenomena"; it was agreed that a CIA representative be invited; and a review of "the SRI remote viewing experiments carried out at DIA this past summer" found "the results appear to be inconclusive."[^904]
|
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|
|
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|
DIA's 1995 history of the service programs adds the Army's Missile Research and Development Command (MIRADCOM), which "had Stanford Research Institute (SRI) under contract" under the sponsorship of the Missile Intelligence Agency (MIA), whose object "was to determine whether selected individuals could interact and influence" electronic equipment; MIRADCOM "had responsibility for developing a 'Remote Perturbation' experimental program," and "from May 1979 to September 1979, SRI assisted MIRADCOM in developing sensitive measurement equipment for the experiment." Its funding table, in thousands of dollars: MIA, 80 for psychokinesis in 1977-78 and 118 in 1979; AMSAA, 220 for remote viewing in 1978; INSCOM, 75 for remote viewing in 1978-80 and 25 for operations in 1979-80; MIRADCOM, 90 for psychokinesis and 190 for an unknown purpose in 1979-80; the Army staff and INSCOM, 150 for remote viewing in fiscal 1981; and DARCOM, 700 for remote viewing in fiscal 1981. Of the Navy and Air Force work of the same years, "no further information is on file."[^900]
|
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|
|
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|
The unit's personnel file, released with the collection, holds Grill Flame security agreements dated February 8, 1979, with consent statements, in the names of [[Joe McMoneagle|Joseph W. McMoneagle]], [[Mel Riley|Melvin C. Riley]], Ann E. Djupman, Stephen C. Horton, Donald L. Hopkins, Maurice C. Himes and Nancy K. Stout, with [[Ken Bell|Kenneth V. Bell, Jr.]]'s form of May 9, 1979, and later ones for Lawrence J. Rickard (1981), [[Rob Cowart|Robert C. Cowart]] (1981) and the DIA Sun Streak access forms of 1985 to 1988 signed by Vorona; McMoneagle's participant counseling statement as a warrant officer, "INSCOM Op Ctr Analyst," carries a date the scan renders as October 1977, elsewhere read as October 26, 1979.[^903]
|
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|
|
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### Center Lane
|
### Center Lane
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1981 the ACSI "transferred total management responsibility for the project to INSCOM," and a joint services committee of DIA, the Air Force, and the Army was formed; "the Navy expressed no interest and later the Air Force Chief of Staff directed that the Air Force withdraw." At the end of fiscal 1982 "the budget subcommittee of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] (Senator [[Malcolm Wallop|Wallop]]) curtailed all psychoenergetic operational activities conducted by the Army in the National Foreign Intelligence Program." The commander of INSCOM, [[Albert Stubblebine]], "decided to continue INSCOM's project and provide funding with Security and Investigative Activities (S&IA) monies," under "a provisional special access program nicknamed Center Lane," approved by the Secretary of the Army as a special access program on June 15, 1983, and continued on September 1, with a compartment called "Center Lane Level 4." Its mission statement ran: "Conduct intelligence collection and counterintelligence operations utilizing all psychoenergetic processes applicable," and "expand operational capabilities and training beyond the confines of information collection into the fields of psychoenergetic communication and psychokinesis." By the end of fiscal 1984 it had nine operational and two support personnel, and "in the past five years we have conducted over 750 operational intelligence collection missions."[^6]
|
In 1981 the ACSI "transferred total management responsibility for the project to INSCOM," and a joint services committee of DIA, the Air Force, and the Army was formed; "the Navy expressed no interest and later the Air Force Chief of Staff directed that the Air Force withdraw." At the end of fiscal 1982 "the budget subcommittee of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] (Senator [[Malcolm Wallop|Wallop]]) curtailed all psychoenergetic operational activities conducted by the Army in the National Foreign Intelligence Program." The commander of INSCOM, [[Albert Stubblebine]], "decided to continue INSCOM's project and provide funding with Security and Investigative Activities (S&IA) monies," under "a provisional special access program nicknamed Center Lane," approved by the Secretary of the Army as a special access program on June 15, 1983, and continued on September 1, with a compartment called "Center Lane Level 4." Its mission statement ran: "Conduct intelligence collection and counterintelligence operations utilizing all psychoenergetic processes applicable," and "expand operational capabilities and training beyond the confines of information collection into the fields of psychoenergetic communication and psychokinesis." By the end of fiscal 1984 it had nine operational and two support personnel, and "in the past five years we have conducted over 750 operational intelligence collection missions."[^6]
|
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|
|
||||||
From March 21 to April 20, 1984, the unit "conducted 11 remote viewing interviews at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency" on [[William Buckley]], the station chief kidnapped in [[Beirut]] on March 16: where he was, his condition, his captors, and "CIA point of contact for release negotiation." A CIA memorandum of May 1, 1984, over the title block of the deputy director for operations, stated: "CIA's relationship with the US Army activities covered under the designator of CENTER LANE has been that of a customer. We have no Agency people or funds assigned to or otherwise designated in support of those activities." Its sources "have often 'made contact' far beyond what might be expected by probabilities and coincidence," with "a less than hoped for signal-to-noise ratio and a less than photographic resolution, as well as some outright misses"; "we would like to continue to call upon CENTER LANE." The overview of May 4, 1984, by Lieutenant Colonel Brian Buzby recommended that the work continue within INSCOM. A memorandum chain of November and December 1984 recorded that the fiscal 1983 appropriation language "directed that future parapsychological experimentation be conducted outside the NFIP," that DIA's funds for 1984 and 1985 were 79,000 dollars each for "evaluation of foreign research only," that DARPA had put in 600,000 dollars in 1984, that the Army surgeon general anticipated two million for 1985, and that DIA planned "to detail the operational remote viewing unit from HQDA/INSCOM to DIA."[^10][^11]
|
From March 21 to April 20, 1984, the unit "conducted 11 remote viewing interviews at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency" on [[William Buckley]], the station chief kidnapped in [[Beirut]] on March 16: where he was, his condition, his captors, and "CIA point of contact for release negotiation." A CIA memorandum of May 1, 1984, over the title block of the deputy director for operations, stated: "CIA's relationship with the US Army activities covered under the designator of CENTER LANE has been that of a customer. We have no Agency people or funds assigned to or otherwise designated in support of those activities." Its sources "have often 'made contact' far beyond what might be expected by probabilities and coincidence," with "a less than hoped for signal-to-noise ratio and a less than photographic resolution, as well as some outright misses"; "we would like to continue to call upon CENTER LANE." The overview of May 4, 1984, by Lieutenant Colonel Brian Buzby recommended that the work continue within INSCOM. A memorandum chain of November and December 1984 recorded that the fiscal 1983 appropriation language "directed that future parapsychological experimentation be conducted outside the NFIP," that DIA's funds for 1984 and 1985 were 79,000 dollars each for "evaluation of foreign research only," that DARPA had put in 600,000 dollars in 1984, that the Army surgeon general anticipated two million for 1985, and that DIA planned "to detail the operational remote viewing unit from HQDA/INSCOM to DIA."[^10][^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
INSCOM's chronology of the unit lists briefings of an official of the [[Office of Management and Budget]] (April 1982), the House and Senate intelligence and appropriations staffs (1981 to 1983), Lieutenant General [[Lincoln D. Faurer]] of the NSA (August 5, 1982, and December 5, 1983), Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] (September 29, 1982), Senator Wallop (October 5, 1983), Vice President Bush (1983), the Secretary of the Army, and the Army inspector general (April 10, 1984). The [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] under Manfred Gale had reported in December 1979 that the research "thus far have not proved the existence of the phenomena," with a majority of five of eight allowing INSCOM's operational work to continue under oversight. The unit ceased collection on September 28, 1984, and passed under DIA's operational control on March 7, 1985.[^12]
|
INSCOM's chronology of the unit lists briefings of an official of the [[Office of Management and Budget]] (April 1982), the House and Senate intelligence and appropriations staffs (1981 to 1983), Lieutenant General [[Lincoln D. Faurer]] of the NSA (August 5, 1982, and December 5, 1983), Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] (September 29, 1982), Senator Wallop (October 5, 1983), Vice President Bush (1983), the Secretary of the Army, and the Army inspector general (April 10, 1984). The Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee under [[Manfred Gale]] had reported in December 1979 that the research "thus far have not proved the existence of the phenomena," with a majority of five of eight allowing INSCOM's operational work to continue under oversight. The unit ceased collection on September 28, 1984, and passed under DIA's operational control on March 7, 1985.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Science Panel
|
### The Science Panel
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -73,15 +83,17 @@ The DIA phase is described on the page Sun Streak. "In January 1985, Project GRI
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
"In the FY 1991 Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was identified as executive agent for initiating a new program to investigate parapsychological/anomalous phenomena. A funding level of $2 million was authorized," repeated in the fiscal 1992 appropriation, which also ordered DIA to "realign 10 civilian billets" and to assess foreign "weaponization." The project "was formally established as a limited dissemination (LIMDIS) project early-on and given the official project name, STAR GATE," and the research went to the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory of [[Science Applications International Corporation]] in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]] under May. DIA's budget paper of March 1995 listed among the customers [[United States Special Operations Command|USSOCOM]], [[United States Central Command|CENTCOM]], the Joint Interagency Task Forces East and West, JTF-6, and the [[El Paso Intelligence Center]], and gave DIA's own funding as 600,000 dollars in 1993, 500,000 in 1994, and 650,000 in 1995; "since FY 1980, the manpower structure devoted to Project STAR GATE remained constant (10 billets)." Congress in fiscal 1994 required a plan "to determine whether the STAR GATE program can show results that are cost-effective," subject "to peer review by neutral scientific experts"; the SAIC contract expired in May 1994 and was twice extended without cost to the end of the year, and 45 SRI and SAIC reports were approved for declassification. SAIC's own assessment, quoted by DIA: "The evidence for a valid information transfer anomaly (anomalous cognition (AC)) meets all recognized statistical and methodological criteria," its size "medium-to-large when compared to other known human behaviors," and "approximately 1 percent of the general population appears to meet strict statistical criteria for exhibiting a robust AC ability."[^15]
|
"In the FY 1991 Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was identified as executive agent for initiating a new program to investigate parapsychological/anomalous phenomena. A funding level of $2 million was authorized," repeated in the fiscal 1992 appropriation, which also ordered DIA to "realign 10 civilian billets" and to assess foreign "weaponization." The project "was formally established as a limited dissemination (LIMDIS) project early-on and given the official project name, STAR GATE," and the research went to the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory of [[Science Applications International Corporation]] in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]] under May. DIA's budget paper of March 1995 listed among the customers [[United States Special Operations Command|USSOCOM]], [[United States Central Command|CENTCOM]], the Joint Interagency Task Forces East and West, JTF-6, and the [[El Paso Intelligence Center]], and gave DIA's own funding as 600,000 dollars in 1993, 500,000 in 1994, and 650,000 in 1995; "since FY 1980, the manpower structure devoted to Project STAR GATE remained constant (10 billets)." Congress in fiscal 1994 required a plan "to determine whether the STAR GATE program can show results that are cost-effective," subject "to peer review by neutral scientific experts"; the SAIC contract expired in May 1994 and was twice extended without cost to the end of the year, and 45 SRI and SAIC reports were approved for declassification. SAIC's own assessment, quoted by DIA: "The evidence for a valid information transfer anomaly (anomalous cognition (AC)) meets all recognized statistical and methodological criteria," its size "medium-to-large when compared to other known human behaviors," and "approximately 1 percent of the general population appears to meet strict statistical criteria for exhibiting a robust AC ability."[^15]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
"From 1986 to the first quarter of FY 1995, the DoD paranormal psychology program received more than 200 tasks from operational military organizations." Only in 1994 did it adopt a numerical evaluation. By May 1, 1995, its three viewers, all full-time government employees, had answered 40 tasks from five organizations, 26 of them from DIA in support of two joint task forces, others on "North Korean (NK) capabilities and leadership." Of 99 accuracy scores on a six-point scale, 55 were 2s and 3s and 13 were 1s; of 100 value scores on a five-point scale, none was "major significance." The program office concluded: "The utility of RV for operational intelligence collection cannot be substantiated. The ambiguous and subjective nature of the process actually creates a need for additional efforts of questionable operational return."[^16]
|
DIA's account of the Star Gate years: the project was "established on 31 January 1991"; the fiscal 1991 money, "$2 million received and obligated ($1.5 million R&D, $0.5 million O&M)," went to a sole-source contract with SAIC's Cognitive Sciences Laboratory "on line by July 1991," to a "Long-Range Comprehensive Plan" published by May 30, 1991, and to magnetoencephalograph measurements at Los Alamos National Laboratory whose "analysis of results was reported to be inconclusive." Under the fiscal 1992 authorization DIA realigned the ten billets, delivered a report, "Project Architecture," ODT-S-1042-SL, on March 30, 1992, and was to balance the program among "over 12 users" including USSOCOM, USCENTCOM, the joint interagency task forces and JTF-6. Fiscal 1993 language "authorized $0.6 million for STAR GATE and directed the DIA Director to determine the feasibility of transferring" it to the Armed Services Medical Intelligence Center at [[Fort Detrick]]; "the study was undertaken and a decision was made to retain the project at Fort Meade." For fiscal 1994 DIA published "Project STAR GATE Research and Review Plan," PAG-TA-1068-SL, in June 1994, but "core R&D program funds expired in May 1994," and the customer base was "expanded through visits" to the commands, task forces and the El Paso Intelligence Center.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
"From 1986 to the first quarter of FY 1995, the DoD paranormal psychology program received more than 200 tasks from operational military organizations." Only in 1994 did it adopt a numerical evaluation. By May 1, 1995, its three viewers, all full-time government employees, had answered 40 tasks from five organizations, 26 of them from DIA in support of two joint task forces, others on "North Korean (NK) capabilities and leadership." Of 99 accuracy scores on a six-point scale, 55 were 2s and 3s and 13 were 1s; of 100 value scores on a five-point scale, none was "major significance." The summary report of the evaluations concluded: "The utility of RV for operational intelligence collection cannot be substantiated. The ambiguous and subjective nature of the process actually creates a need for additional efforts of questionable operational return."[^16]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Termination
|
### Termination
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
"In early 1995, Senate conferees directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to transfer the 'Star Gate' program from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to CIA. Specifically, the conferees directed the transfer of ten civilian billets and $500,000 in Star Gate program resources by July 1, 1995," together with "a technical review of Star Gate going back twenty years, a declassification review, and establishment of a cooperative activity with the Russians in parapsychology." The Senate Appropriations Committee had already required "a retrospective review and technical analysis of the data that has been produced by the program since its inception 20 years ago." DIA told the CIA on May 10 that "any decision on declassification actions regarding Project STAR GATE should be made by the CIA" and that it had "no objection to a declassification of the 'fact of' a DIA program to employ paranormal phenomena for intelligence purposes"; 38 boxes of files were transferred in July and receipted on October 10. The CIA contracted the [[American Institutes for Research]] in June ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]), whose report of September 29 it quoted in its management paper: "the information provided by remote viewing is vague and ambiguous, making it difficult if not impossible for the technique to yield information of sufficient quality and accuracy for actionable intelligence," and "it remains unclear whether the existence of a paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been demonstrated." The paper recommended terminating both operations and research, adding that "this does not mean that research in parapsychology is not important or that it should not continue in the public domain," a declassification review of "at least five different programs including Star Gate, Grill Flame, Center Lane, Sun Streak, and SCANATE," some "43 document boxes," and, on the advice of the Directorate of Intelligence and the [[National Intelligence Council]], "no resources to the assessment of foreign developments in parapsychology": "we view developments in parapsychology as a relatively low threat to the United States," and "in none of this Russian research do we see credible evidence of developments that could significantly add to the threat that Russia currently poses."[^15][^17]
|
"In early 1995, Senate conferees directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to transfer the 'Star Gate' program from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to CIA. Specifically, the conferees directed the transfer of ten civilian billets and $500,000 in Star Gate program resources by July 1, 1995," together with "a technical review of Star Gate going back twenty years, a declassification review, and establishment of a cooperative activity with the Russians in parapsychology." The Senate Appropriations Committee had already required "a retrospective review and technical analysis of the data that has been produced by the program since its inception 20 years ago." DIA told the CIA in a memorandum of May 10 (logged as received on May 16 in the CIA's chronology) that "any decision on declassification actions regarding Project STAR GATE should be made by the CIA" and that it had "no objection to a declassification of the 'fact of' a DIA program to employ paranormal phenomena for intelligence purposes"; DIA's log of the files, sent after a telephone call of October 10, counted 38 boxes transferred in July, where the CIA's papers counted 43 ([[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]). The CIA contracted the [[American Institutes for Research]] in June ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]), whose report of September 29 it quoted in its management paper: "the information provided by remote viewing is vague and ambiguous, making it difficult if not impossible for the technique to yield information of sufficient quality and accuracy for actionable intelligence," and "it remains unclear whether the existence of a paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been demonstrated." The paper recommended terminating both operations and research, adding that "this does not mean that research in parapsychology is not important or that it should not continue in the public domain," a declassification review of "at least five different programs including Star Gate, Grill Flame, Center Lane, Sun Streak, and SCANATE," some "43 document boxes," and, on the advice of the Directorate of Intelligence and the [[National Intelligence Council]], "no resources to the assessment of foreign developments in parapsychology": "we view developments in parapsychology as a relatively low threat to the United States," and "in none of this Russian research do we see credible evidence of developments that could significantly add to the threat that Russia currently poses."[^15][^17]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Other Accounts
|
### Other Accounts
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Other operational sessions are known from the accounts of participants: [[Joe McMoneagle]]'s 1979 description of a large submarine under construction at Severodvinsk, later identified as the Typhoon class; his and [[Mel Riley]]'s "hourglass on its side" for a Chinese device at Lop Nor; Riley's "batlike flying-wing" in an operations security test on the B-2; [[Ken Bell]]'s location of a crashed Navy aircraft on Bald Knob in [[Virginia]]; McMoneagle on Skylab's reentry; and the tracking of a Soviet T-72 tank. The same accounts give the original unit as McMoneagle, Riley, Bell, [[Nancy Stern]], [[Fernand Gauvin]], and [[Hartleigh Trent]], recruited by Captain [[Frederick Atwater]] of the Systems Exploitation Detachment, and a 1984 [[Jack Anderson]] column as the first public disclosure. Targ and Puthoff had published the SRI work in *Nature* in 1974 and in the *Proceedings of the IEEE* in 1976.[^18][^19]
|
Other operational sessions are known from the accounts of participants: Joe McMoneagle's 1979 description of a large submarine under construction at Severodvinsk, later identified as the Typhoon class; his and Mel Riley's "hourglass on its side" for a Chinese device at Lop Nor; Riley's "batlike flying-wing" in an operations security test on the B-2; Ken Bell's location of a crashed Navy aircraft on Bald Knob in [[Virginia]]; McMoneagle on Skylab's reentry; and the tracking of a Soviet T-72 tank. The same accounts give the original unit as McMoneagle, Riley, Bell, [[Nancy Stern]], [[Fernand Gauvin]], and [[Hartleigh Trent]], recruited by Captain [[Frederick Atwater]] of the Systems Exploitation Detachment, and a 1984 [[Jack Anderson]] column as the first public disclosure. Targ and Puthoff had published the SRI work in *Nature* in 1974 and in the *Proceedings of the IEEE* in 1976.[^18][^19]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Key Personnel
|
### Key Personnel
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -127,7 +139,7 @@ Government officials and liaisons:
|
||||||
- [[Bill O'Donnell]] - CIA officer who inadvertently provided coordinates for Sugar Grove
|
- [[Bill O'Donnell]] - CIA officer who inadvertently provided coordinates for Sugar Grove
|
||||||
- [[Norm Everheart]] - CIA technical operations specialist, chief Grill Flame coordinator
|
- [[Norm Everheart]] - CIA technical operations specialist, chief Grill Flame coordinator
|
||||||
- [[John McMahon]] - CIA Deputy Director for Operations, authorized early SRI funding
|
- [[John McMahon]] - CIA Deputy Director for Operations, authorized early SRI funding
|
||||||
- [[Charlie Rose]] - U.S. Congressman, congressional supporter of the program
|
- Charlie Rose - U.S. Congressman, congressional supporter of the program
|
||||||
- [[Jessica Utts]] - UC Davis statistician, wrote the AIR evaluation's positive assessment
|
- [[Jessica Utts]] - UC Davis statistician, wrote the AIR evaluation's positive assessment
|
||||||
- [[Ray Hyman]] - [[University of Oregon]] psychologist, wrote the AIR evaluation's skeptical assessment
|
- [[Ray Hyman]] - [[University of Oregon]] psychologist, wrote the AIR evaluation's skeptical assessment
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -148,7 +160,12 @@ Government officials and liaisons:
|
||||||
[^13]: "Science Panel Report: SRI Studies in Remote Viewing: A Program Review," March 1, 1984, signed by W. Ross Adey, Donald M. Kerr, and F. Zachariasen, reproduced as appendix B of Defense Intelligence Agency, "Star Gate Project: An Overview," DTI-S-1056-SL, April 30, 1993, CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2.
|
[^13]: "Science Panel Report: SRI Studies in Remote Viewing: A Program Review," March 1, 1984, signed by W. Ross Adey, Donald M. Kerr, and F. Zachariasen, reproduced as appendix B of Defense Intelligence Agency, "Star Gate Project: An Overview," DTI-S-1056-SL, April 30, 1993, CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2.
|
||||||
[^14]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "FY 1995 Congressional Budget - Star Gate," March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010003-2. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Star Gate Project: An Overview," April 30, 1993, CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2.
|
[^14]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "FY 1995 Congressional Budget - Star Gate," March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010003-2. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Star Gate Project: An Overview," April 30, 1993, CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2.
|
||||||
[^15]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Star Gate Project: An Overview," April 30, 1993, CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2. Defense Intelligence Agency, "FY 1995 Congressional Budget - Star Gate," March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010003-2.
|
[^15]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Star Gate Project: An Overview," April 30, 1993, CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2. Defense Intelligence Agency, "FY 1995 Congressional Budget - Star Gate," March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010003-2.
|
||||||
[^16]: "Summary Report. Star Gate Operational Tasking and Evaluation (An Extract)," 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200300002-2.
|
[^16]: "Summary Report. Star Gate Operational Tasking and Evaluation (An Extract)," 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200300002-2. The same report is printed as appendix D of the [[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate|AIR evaluation]], CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180006-4.
|
||||||
[^17]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Proposed Star Gate Management Strategy," c. October 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150002-0; Defense Intelligence Agency, "Declassification and Cooperation in Response to Congressionally Directed STAR GATE Program Review," May 10, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100010001-6, and "Transfer of Project STAR GATE Files," October 10, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200290001-5. All CIA documents cited are in the STARGATE collection of the CIA FOIA Reading Room and were read in the archive.org mirror of that collection (archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-<id>).
|
[^17]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Proposed Star Gate Management Strategy," c. October 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150002-0; Defense Intelligence Agency, "Declassification and Cooperation in Response to Congressionally Directed STAR GATE Program Review," May 10, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100010001-6, and "Transfer of Project STAR GATE Files," October 10, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200290001-5. All CIA documents cited are in the STARGATE collection of the CIA FOIA Reading Room and were read in the archive.org mirror of that collection (archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-<id>).
|
||||||
[^18]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997; Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown, 2017; McMoneagle, Joseph. *The Stargate Chronicles.* Hampton Roads, 2002. Participant and journalistic accounts, not verified against the documents.
|
[^18]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997; Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown, 2017; McMoneagle, Joseph. *The Stargate Chronicles.* Hampton Roads, 2002. Participant and journalistic accounts, not verified against the documents.
|
||||||
[^19]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transfer under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607; Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances," *Proceedings of the IEEE,* vol. 64, no. 3, March 1976, pp. 329-354.
|
[^19]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transfer under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607; Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances," *Proceedings of the IEEE,* vol. 64, no. 3, March 1976, pp. 329-354.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Senate Appropriations Committee Congressionally Directed Action, Star Gate," retrospective review, technical analysis and declassification status, with transmittal memorandum signed Letitia A. Long, Director, DMI Staff, faxed March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010002-3, -003-2 and -004-1, and CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040003-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: Davis, Ruth M., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology), memorandum for Dr. Jack Vorona, "'Remote Viewing' Project," November 20, 1978, with the letter of Charlie Rose, Chairman, Subcommittee on Evaluation, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to Davis, October 25, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500240017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^902]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the Meeting of the DoD Committee on Remote Viewing Activities," August 24, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140009-7; Vorona to the Army assistant chief of staff for intelligence, S-1862/DT-1, September 6, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410015-9; Commander, Naval Intelligence Command, to DIA, September 14, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410025-8; DIA to the 902d Military Intelligence Group, September 22, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140015-0; James L. Brown, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, USAF, to Vorona, September 29, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410026-7; Army ACSI (DAMI-ISH) to Vorona, October 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200410024-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Request for Funding, FY 79, Re: Parapsychology - Feasibility for a Hard Copy Remote Viewing Machine," draft, principal investigator E. H. Walker, July 7, 1978, DAMI-ISH, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100080003-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^903]: Grill Flame security agreements, volunteer consent statements, participant counseling statements, "Information About Remote Viewing for Participants" forms, and DIA Sun Streak access forms, 1977 to 1988, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100150005-8 to R002100150079-7; names as printed in the item titles, the signature lines being largely illegible in OCR. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^904]: Defense Intelligence Agency, S-1004/DT-1, "Minutes of the Meeting, DoD Grill Flame Committee," November 28, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000140013-2; Watt, Murray B., "Summary of Working Group Meeting, DoD Committee on Special Sensors (C), 28 Nov 78," November 29, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200240006-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ start: 1986
|
||||||
end: 1990-12-31
|
end: 1990-12-31
|
||||||
location: "Fort Meade, Maryland"
|
location: "Fort Meade, Maryland"
|
||||||
created: 2026-09-21
|
created: 2026-09-21
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Sun Streak was the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]]'s name for the remote-viewing unit at [[Fort Meade]] after it took the Army's [[Center Lane]] project. Operational control passed on March 7, 1985, and "this unit was transferred to DIA in 1986 when 12 billets were authorized in the GDIP budget for this activity. A Special Access Program (SAP), SUN STREAK, was established in order to protect identity of the individuals and due to the nature of some of the projects examined." It sat under the Directorate for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, and its viewers appear in its records only by number: 003, 011, 018, 025, 032, 049, 052, 079, 095, 099. Lieutenant Colonel [[Brian Buzby]], the last Army project manager, filed his request for access to the DIA project on May 10, 1985. Its research contract stayed with [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]], on Army surgeon general's money, until 1990.[^1][^2]
|
Sun Streak was the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]]'s name for the remote-viewing unit at [[Fort Meade]] after it took the Army's [[Center Lane]] project. Operational control passed on March 7, 1985, and "this unit was transferred to DIA in 1986 when 12 billets were authorized in the GDIP budget for this activity. A Special Access Program (SAP), SUN STREAK, was established in order to protect identity of the individuals and due to the nature of some of the projects examined." It sat under the Directorate for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, and its viewers appear in its records only by number: 003, 011, 018, 025, 032, 049, 052, 079, 095, 099. Lieutenant Colonel [[Brian Buzby]], the last Army project manager, filed his request for access to the DIA project on May 10, 1985. Its research contract stayed with [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]], on Army surgeon general's money, until 1990.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -27,7 +27,21 @@ The annual report for 1989 described "the SUN STREAK Prototype Operational Group
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Operations
|
### Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A report of November 1987 on Project 8713, eighteen sessions by four viewers in October against a coordinate target, concluded that "the activity of intelligence interest appears to focus on a foreign-flagged submarine operating from a secretive northern cold weather base and is responsible for tracking the activity of ships and objects launched in space"; Viewer 011 had "perceived this apparatus as originating from a very northern base (like the USSR), traveling through the Bering Straits, south into the [[Pacific Ocean]]." In Project 8804, fifteen sessions from August to October 1988 on a building, Viewer 079 placed the target "west southwest of Moscow in the vicinity of Bugulma and Blagoveschensk" and associated it with "the concept of the Blackjack's suitability as a low-level, strategic intelligence gathering platform"; other viewers reported "a turbine or compressor," "jet turbine engines and aircraft thrust," and "massive amounts of contained energy." Project 8808 in 1988 involved maps of [[Lebanon]] and a vessel, known from the file titles only. Project 8915, eight sessions in May and June 1989 on a site in overhead photography, produced "a compound of structures surrounded by leveled-off, flat, brown land in a foreign country" where "mobile military weapon structures are worked on" and "10-20 'vehicles' at a time are brought in by rail." In Project 8926, seventeen sessions in August and September 1989, one viewer described "cylindrical objects with rounded ends" with "the odor of an obnoxious chemical," one "a 'hydro-bomb,'" and Viewer 032 "a swirling, metallic energy mass rotating in a counter clockwise rotation," later "an information gathering UFO," which the operations officer noted "is considered as being probably incorrect; it was the cause of a viewing distraction which 032 was unable to overcome"; Viewer 018's "drug-related" reading "seems to be the result of interference caused from recent efforts directed against drug-related targets."[^4]
|
A report of November 1987 on Project 8713, eighteen sessions by four viewers in October against a coordinate target, concluded that "the activity of intelligence interest appears to focus on a foreign-flagged submarine operating from a secretive northern cold weather base and is responsible for tracking the activity of ships and objects launched in space"; Viewer 011 had "perceived this apparatus as originating from a very northern base (like the USSR), traveling through the Bering Straits, south into the [[Pacific Ocean]]." In Project 8804, fifteen sessions from August to October 1988 on a building, Viewer 079 placed the target "west southwest of Moscow in the vicinity of Bugulma and Blagoveschensk" and associated it with "the concept of the Blackjack's suitability as a low-level, strategic intelligence gathering platform"; other viewers reported "a turbine or compressor," "jet turbine engines and aircraft thrust," and "massive amounts of contained energy." Project 8808 of 1988 and 1989 was the search for Lieutenant Colonel [[William Richard Higgins]] in [[Lebanon]], described below. Project 8915, eight sessions in May and June 1989 on a site in overhead photography, produced "a compound of structures surrounded by leveled-off, flat, brown land in a foreign country" where "mobile military weapon structures are worked on" and "10-20 'vehicles' at a time are brought in by rail." In Project 8926, seventeen sessions in August and September 1989, one viewer described "cylindrical objects with rounded ends" with "the odor of an obnoxious chemical," one "a 'hydro-bomb,'" and Viewer 032 "a swirling, metallic energy mass rotating in a counter clockwise rotation," later "an information gathering UFO," which the operations officer noted "is considered as being probably incorrect; it was the cause of a viewing distraction which 032 was unable to overcome"; Viewer 018's "drug-related" reading "seems to be the result of interference caused from recent efforts directed against drug-related targets."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Project 8718
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On November 2 and 3, 1987, four viewers worked a target in [[Iran]] from "only the encrypted coordinates." The monitor of viewer 003 wrote that "003 acquired the target with uncanny speed and accuracy: first the percepts of a ship... directly followed by those for a missile," and of viewer 011 that "the monitor did not wish the viewer to perceive these things for fear that it would induce AOL drive of a Persian Gulf scenario. In short, 011 was kept as much in the dark as possible about the nature of the task/target; consequently, the viewing was 'pure.'" Told the next day that the objects "were on a ship," 011 described "a chain of custody": "A ship, carrying missiles, arrives in a port. A long row of trucks is parked opposite the pier. The missiles are off-loaded onto a flatbed truck... The rail cars proceed north a great distance, perhaps hundreds of kilometers... onto a spur which takes them near two large structures, like hangers, located within the security boundary of an airfield. The missiles are stored in one of these structures for a short time and then transported again, this time by air." Shown redacted material afterward, "these were immediately recognized/perceived as corresponding to the areas perceived in the session," and "the highest confidence must be ascribed to the data." Viewer 079, in an extended session, saw "a huge ship" whose "flag on this huge ship was white, green, and red and I reported that it either had a man or animal in the center. After the session, the interviewer showed me that I identified the Iranian flag." No operational report or customer appears in the released file.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Project 8808
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Lieutenant Colonel Higgins of the Marines was abducted on February 17, 1988, near Naqurah, "located 15 miles south of Tyre," on his way back to the UNIFIL headquarters, on a coastal track the tasking sheets describe as contested between Hezbollah and Amal. The unit's interim report of February 24 to the Deputy Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence covered three viewers' sessions "to determine the extent of" a redacted person's "involvement in the abduction," information "shielded from the remote viewers and maintained by the customer at the DIAC, Bolling AFB": viewer 079 "identified" him "as a 47 to 50 year-old Lebanese christian who served with the Amal forces in a capacity described as 'District Manager', with the rank of Major," who "was not directly involved in the planning or execution of the kidnapping," "has no connections with 'Hezbollah,'" and "considers the US as an exploiter of Lebanon and its people." Sessions ran from February 18, 1988, into June 1989, by viewers 003, 011, 018, 079, 095 and 099, by coordinate, written, solo and "dowsing" methods over map sheets; one was held "in unfamiliar surroundings, at DIA on Bolling AFB," where the viewer "expressed annoyance over sounds from National Airport." On February 19 a viewer placed Higgins "next to BEAUFORT CASTLE"; on February 25 another had him "moved to this present location within the last day or so... blind-folded, hands tied behind his back and placed in a canvas-covered cargo truck," "within an 80 km arc from the point of capture and in an easterly direction." A tasking sheet of May 17 stated that "the intelligence community reportedly has all but given up on the status of LTC Higgins," and, in a passage the scan partly garbles, that DIA's counterterrorism analysts had found the unit's reporting consistent with their own and asked for more; a companion sheet placed him, in the analysts' belief, somewhere in Beirut. On May 21 two viewers described a vessel: 095, tasked to "describe the vessel, aboard which LTC Higgins is held," whose largely illegible transcript begins "in a cramped shaped room" and whose cover sheet reads "Excellent work, high confidence"; 099, "the hold of a fishing vessel which looks something like a tug boat in form," positioned "to the northwest of a small port city (AOL-Tyre)," with "a motorboat/dinghy with four armed men inside" nearby, Higgins's "hands bound in front of him" and his emotions "akin to 'confused contentment.'" A task paper then asked for "additional operational data" on a vessel "located offshore of the coast of Lebanon" "in support of possible follow-up action."[^6]
|
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|
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|
Through the rest of 1988 and 1989 viewer 079's "summaries of information" gave positions for Higgins and for [[Terry Waite]], [[Terry Anderson]], Thomas Sutherland, Joseph Cicippio, Alann Steen, Edward Tracy, Frank Reed, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and "the Israeli hostages," village by village: on September 29, 1988, "the release of LTC Higgins remains a foregone conclusion. Iran and Iraq peace talks could favorably affect the release"; in later sessions Higgins "is alive, secluded," "continues to be secluded from the other hostages," "appeared to be continually on the move," and Waite "will come out alive based on his own lie." A session that discussed "the Obeid," then a prisoner of the Israelis and "a 'planner' in the kidnapping of LTC Higgins," reported "that the group who claim that LTC Higgins was executed is not the terrorist group who is currently holding him" and that "it could not be determined if LTC Higgins is dead or alive." An undated solo session by viewer 003 "to determine whether USMC LTC William Richard Higgins is dead or alive" reported an "image of a black, lumpy, soft, sticky container leaning against a slope of brown, rough, coarse, pitted rocks... either under water or adjacent/very near water," "an extremely rotten smell," and "LTC Higgins died between 8-10 months after he was captured."[^6]
|
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|
|
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|
### Project 9028
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On May 21, 1990, for "Requestor Task # JT4-0019-90," three viewers each did one solo session on "a suspected drug smuggling vessel," "a 40-50 foot 'lobster boat' with a white superstructure," which had "departed [[Barranquilla]], [[Colombia]]," for the Netherlands Antilles. Viewer 095 put it "north of Aruba at 1456N/70W" carrying "8-10 kilograms of cocaine" in "a 'metal bubble' welded in place on the port-side of the vessel, near the bow, several feet below the waterline," to be transferred "west of Haiti" on about May 29 for "South of Florida," with the phonetic "keye-yah"; viewer 003 had it "about 60 miles WNW of St. Lucia" with "a fish smell and a quantity of slimy crustaceans aboard," its cargo already unloaded and bound for "the Florida coast SE of Florida City"; viewer 018 had it at "1505N/62W" with "a white, acrid-tasting powder" already transferred "at sea to a much larger ship" for "Galveston or Houston." The project summary: "Three current locations were provided as possible exploitation leads. No action taken. Unable to correlate." The draft report of May 22 gives 095's heading as 238 degrees, the final of May 23 as 338.[^7]
|
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|
|
||||||
### Counternarcotics
|
### Counternarcotics
|
||||||
|
|
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|
|
@ -39,3 +53,6 @@ A report of November 1987 on Project 8713, eighteen sessions by four viewers in
|
||||||
[^2]: Grill Flame volunteer security agreements, consent statements, and counseling statements for Joseph W. McMoneagle (February 8, 1979; October 26, 1979; February 19, 1980), Melvin C. Riley (February 8, 1979), and Robert C. Cowart (June 3 and October 2, 1981), and "Requirement for Access to DIA Sun Streak Project (Brian Buzby)," May 10, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00789R0021001500xx series. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: Grill Flame volunteer security agreements, consent statements, and counseling statements for Joseph W. McMoneagle (February 8, 1979; October 26, 1979; February 19, 1980), Melvin C. Riley (February 8, 1979), and Robert C. Cowart (June 3 and October 2, 1981), and "Requirement for Access to DIA Sun Streak Project (Brian Buzby)," May 10, 1985, CIA-RDP96-00789R0021001500xx series. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^3]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "SUN STREAK - Annual Report 1989," January 17, 1990, CIA-RDP96-00789R001100020014-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^3]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "SUN STREAK - Annual Report 1989," January 17, 1990, CIA-RDP96-00789R001100020014-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
[^4]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Sun Streak operational reports: Project 8713, November 19, 1987 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000200110001-7); Project 8804, October 24, 1988 (CIA-RDP96-00789R001800770001-8); Project 8915, June 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000500200002-3); Project 8926, September 20, 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R003500800001-5), with the session report of Viewer 032 of September 6-7, 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000700690001-9); Project 9044, July 1990 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000800340001-6); Project 90102, September 7, 1990 (CIA-RDP96-00789R003600150004-3). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^4]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Sun Streak operational reports: Project 8713, November 19, 1987 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000200110001-7); Project 8804, October 24, 1988 (CIA-RDP96-00789R001800770001-8); Project 8915, June 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000500200002-3); Project 8926, September 20, 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R003500800001-5), with the session report of Viewer 032 of September 6-7, 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000700690001-9); Project 9044, July 1990 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000800340001-6); Project 90102, September 7, 1990 (CIA-RDP96-00789R003600150004-3). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Sun Streak Project 8718, task paper (CIA-RDP96-00789R000200210002-5) and session procedures reports of November 2 and 3, 1987, viewers 003, 011, 018 and 079, CIA-RDP96-00789R000200220001-5 to -008-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "SUN STREAK Operational Report - 8808," February 24, 1988, CIA-RDP96-00789R003400980001-7; Project 8808 task papers and handwritten papers, CIA-RDP96-00789R003400940003-9, -006-6, -012-9, -013-8 and -014-7; session reports of February 19, 1988 (CIA-RDP96-00789R003400600001-8), February 25 (R003401100001-2), February 28 (R003401110001-1), May 21 (R003400590001-0 and R003401310001-9), September 29 (R000400080001-9, read from the page images), and the summaries of information of viewer 079 of 1988 and 1989 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000400780001-2 to R000401000001-6 and R000400960001-2), and the undated solo session on Higgins's death (CIA-RDP96-00789R000401050001-1). Session dates and viewer numbers are as typed on the cover sheets; the handwritten transcripts are largely illegible in OCR. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Sun Streak Project 9028: tasker and session cover sheets of May 21, 1990 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000900160001-5, -004-2, -005-1); "Feedback on JT4-0019-90 (9028)" (CIA-RDP96-00789R000900160003-3); "SUN STREAK Report - 9028," draft of May 22 (CIA-RDP96-00789R000900160007-9) and final of May 23, 1990, DCSINT-PO (CIA-RDP96-00789R000900190012-0); "Project Summary: Project # 9028" (CIA-RDP96-00789R000900160015-0). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
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|
|
@ -18,14 +18,18 @@ start: 1995-06-01
|
||||||
end: 1995-11-28
|
end: 1995-11-28
|
||||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
created: 2026-09-21
|
created: 2026-09-21
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
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|
|
||||||
In 1995, following a directive from Congress, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] took custody of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]]'s [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]] program, "which involved the use of paranormal phenomena, primarily 'remote viewing,' for intelligence collection," declassified its own parapsychology work of the 1970s "in order to facilitate a new, external review," and in June contracted the [[American Institutes for Research]] through its Office of Research and Development to evaluate it. The program had three parts: "'Operations,' using remote viewing to collect intelligence against foreign targets; 'Research and Development,' using laboratory studies to find new ways to improve remote viewing for use in the intelligence world; and 'Foreign Assessment,' the analysis of foreign activities to develop or exploit the paranormal." The foreign assessment part was excluded from the review. Operations "continued until the Spring of 1995, when the program was suspended."[^1]
|
In 1995, following a directive from Congress, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] took custody of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]]'s [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]] program, "which involved the use of paranormal phenomena, primarily 'remote viewing,' for intelligence collection," declassified its own parapsychology work of the 1970s "in order to facilitate a new, external review," and in June contracted the [[American Institutes for Research]] through its Office of Research and Development to evaluate it. The program had three parts: "'Operations,' using remote viewing to collect intelligence against foreign targets; 'Research and Development,' using laboratory studies to find new ways to improve remote viewing for use in the intelligence world; and 'Foreign Assessment,' the analysis of foreign activities to develop or exploit the paranormal." The foreign assessment part was excluded from the review. Operations "continued until the Spring of 1995, when the program was suspended."[^1]
|
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|
|
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|
The review was first offered to the [[National Research Council]]. The CIA's chronology of the transfer ([[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]) records that on March 15, 1995, "after informal discussions with NRC, panel member selection begins: Jessica Utts, [[John Palmer]], [[James Alcock]], and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 "NRC formally rejects CIA study proposal citing prior definitive study. NRC stated unequivocally that 'the case for remote viewing... is virtually nonexistent.'" The CIA met AIR's president the same day; the contract was signed on June 12, and ORD's independent contractor later described AIR as the "replacement organization for the NRC." The Office of Research and Development had told the Executive Director in advance that "we do NOT intend to ask our blue ribbon panel to tell us if there is or is not anything to the concept, rather we intend to ask them to review the STARGATE program to assess its overall value to the USG based on intelligence value, process validity, customer satisfaction, and foreign assessment activity as directed by Congress," and that "it is possible that our panel will recommend that we do NOT proceed with the program." The CIA's briefing slides on the review state that the "DIA program manager asked to identify most favorable users of remote viewing," that "AIR conducted standard interviews of these users on location with CIA present," and that the "commissioned reviews exchanged, rebuttals permitted, AIR arbitrated final conclusions for CIA key recommendations."[^900][^901]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
The curricula vitae of AIR's two authors are in the CIA's files: [[Michael Mumford]], who had joined AIR in 1994 and was "directing three projects concerned with the assessment and development of leadership potential for the [[United States Army]]" and skills projects "sponsored by the Department of Labor and the National Security Agency," and [[Andrew Rose]], at AIR since 1973 and by then chief scientist of its Washington office. On September 22, 1995, a week before the report's date, Mumford sent two copies of "the draft Remote Viewing report" to a redacted addressee at the Ames Building in Rosslyn: "The conclusions are solid. However, we do need to have Ray and Jessica check the material."[^902]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Panel
|
### The Panel
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The research review was given to two outside reviewers, [[Jessica Utts]], professor of statistics at the [[University of California, Davis]] and statistical editor of the *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research*, and [[Ray Hyman]], professor of psychology at the [[University of Oregon]], who had served on the National Research Council committee on human performance; Lincoln Moses of [[Stanford University]] advised on statistics and David Goslin, president of AIR, coordinated. The CIA transferred "all reports and documents relevant to the review," about 80 publications; one document "remained classified during the period of this review," and Michael Mumford of AIR read it and gave the panel an unclassified synopsis. The principal investigator of the research contract, [[Edwin May]], was asked to list the studies "which he believes provide the strongest evidence" and every unique study since the 1988 National Research Council report. Hyman wrote afterward: "May helped identify the ten best studies for Utts and me to evaluate." The operational review was done by AIR's own psychologists, who interviewed seven representatives of customer organizations, three remote viewers, and the program manager in July and August 1995.[^1][^2]
|
The research review was given to two outside reviewers, [[Jessica Utts]], professor of statistics at the [[University of California, Davis]] and statistical editor of the *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research*, and [[Ray Hyman]], professor of psychology at the [[University of Oregon]], who had served on the National Research Council committee on human performance; [[Lincoln Moses]] of [[Stanford University]] advised on statistics and [[David Goslin]], president of AIR, coordinated. The CIA transferred "all reports and documents relevant to the review," about 80 publications; one document "remained classified during the period of this review," and Michael Mumford of AIR read it and gave the panel an unclassified synopsis. The principal investigator of the research contract, [[Edwin May]], was asked to list the studies "which he believes provide the strongest evidence" and every unique study since the 1988 National Research Council report. Hyman wrote afterward: "May helped identify the ten best studies for Utts and me to evaluate." The operational review was done by AIR's own psychologists, who interviewed seven representatives of customer organizations, three remote viewers, and the program manager in July and August 1995.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Research Reviews
|
### The Research Reviews
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -35,7 +39,7 @@ Hyman's report of September 11 confined itself to the ten SAIC experiments, "the
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Operational Review
|
### The Operational Review
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The end users said the information was "stated in broad, vague terms," accurate "with regard to general stereotypical characteristics," inaccurate "with regard to concrete specifics," and inconsistent between viewers; "the viewings were never used as a primary source of evidence in making decisions." The viewers told AIR "that their written reports were occasionally inconsistent with their viewings. They themselves considered it appropriate to make the written reports consistent with known characteristics of the target," and "that previous managers also changed viewers' reports." Customer evaluations had been collected since 1994 for forty viewings: on a six-point accuracy scale the mean was 3.0, on a five-point value scale 3.5, and all three viewers scored within a tenth of a standard deviation of each other. Two organizations, "one concerned with tracking people and one concerned with combat intelligence," reported better results, where "the viewers had substantial general background information concerning the targets." A separate government review of the same forty tasks, printed as an appendix, found that "normally, much of the data provided by the RV(s) is either wrong or irrelevant although one cannot always tell which is which without further investigation," that scores were higher where targets were specific, "e.g., the North Korean targets," and that "as an admitted neophyte in this area of endeavor, I categorize the field as a kind of religion." Its own appendix is marked missing from the declassified copy.[^5]
|
The end users said the information was "stated in broad, vague terms," accurate "with regard to general stereotypical characteristics," inaccurate "with regard to concrete specifics," and inconsistent between viewers; "the viewings were never used as a primary source of evidence in making decisions." The viewers told AIR "that their written reports were occasionally inconsistent with their viewings. They themselves considered it appropriate to make the written reports consistent with known characteristics of the target," and "that previous managers also changed viewers' reports." Customer evaluations had been collected since 1994 for forty viewings: on a six-point accuracy scale the mean was 3.0, on a five-point value scale 3.5, and all three viewers scored within a tenth of a standard deviation of each other. Two organizations, "one concerned with tracking people and one concerned with combat intelligence," reported better results, where "the viewers had substantial general background information concerning the targets." A separate government review of the same forty tasks, printed as an appendix, found that "normally, much of the data provided by the RV(s) is either wrong or irrelevant although one cannot always tell which is which without further investigation," that scores were higher where targets were specific, "e.g., the North Korean targets," and that "as an admitted neophyte in this area of endeavor, I categorize the field as a kind of religion." That review, headed "Summary Report. Star Gate Operational Tasking and Evaluation" and released separately by the CIA as an extract, carries no author's name; the invoice of ORD's independent contractor for August 7, 1995, describes "my independent evaluation of the operational tasking records from the Star Gate program supplemented by the results of interviews with the staff of four of the operational organizations that tasked the Star Gate program." Its first sub-appendix is marked "Next 1 Page(s) In Document Exempt" in the CIA's own copy of the AIR report, released May 22, 2002, and "missing" in the copy posted by the [[National Security Archive]]. The second sub-appendix prints the interview sheets for four customer organizations, lettered A, B, C and E, dated July 7 to August 3, 1995.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Conclusions
|
### Conclusions
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -47,7 +51,7 @@ The agency's public affairs office had said on September 6, 1995: "As mandated b
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### May's Reply
|
### May's Reply
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
May's commentary of March 1996 charged that the CIA "set the outcome with regard to intelligence usage before the evaluation had begun," that only one of seventeen members of the program's own oversight bodies was contacted, and that David Goslin of AIR had also administered the NRC's 1988 report; Utts wrote to him on December 19, 1995, that "I was explicitly asked by AIR staff NOT to mention the NRC report in my review!" and that "we were shown very little of the 'operational' remote-viewing work," and that after she asked to contact operational participants she "was contacted by the AIR staff and told that I was NOT to contact any of those individuals." May's conclusion: the evaluators "wanted to demonstrate that AC lacked usefulness for intelligence operations. They did so by construction rather than by careful analysis."[^8]
|
May's commentary of March 1996 charged that the CIA "set the outcome with regard to intelligence usage before the evaluation had begun," that only one of seventeen members of the program's own oversight bodies was contacted, and that David Goslin of AIR had also administered the NRC's 1988 report; Utts wrote to him on December 19, 1995, that "I was explicitly asked by AIR staff NOT to mention the NRC report in my review!" and that "we were shown very little of the 'operational' remote-viewing work," and that after she asked to contact operational participants she "was contacted by the AIR staff and told that I was NOT to contact any of those individuals." May's conclusion: the evaluators "wanted to demonstrate that AC lacked usefulness for intelligence operations. They did so by construction rather than by careful analysis."[^8] The independent contractor's invoice to ORD of September 19, 1995, states that he had "attended all specified meetings of the AIR (replacement organization for the NRC), their appointed panel members, and ORD," "participated in the review and editing of all unclassified reports prepared by the AIR, its panel members and ORD," and "assisted in the preparation (writing), review and editing of the interim and final versions of the report from the AIR and its panel."[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -55,7 +59,10 @@ May's commentary of March 1996 charged that the CIA "set the outcome with regard
|
||||||
[^2]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying," *Skeptical Inquirer,* March-April 1996, pp. 21-23.
|
[^2]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying," *Skeptical Inquirer,* March-April 1996, pp. 21-23.
|
||||||
[^3]: Utts, Jessica. "An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning," September 1, 1995, reproduced in the AIR report, pp. 3-2 to 3-40, and published in *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-30. Pages 3-2, 3-3, 3-9, 3-14 to 3-19 of the report.
|
[^3]: Utts, Jessica. "An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning," September 1, 1995, reproduced in the AIR report, pp. 3-2 to 3-40, and published in *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-30. Pages 3-2, 3-3, 3-9, 3-14 to 3-19 of the report.
|
||||||
[^4]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena," September 11, 1995, reproduced in the AIR report, pp. 3-41 to 3-75, and published in *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 31-58. Pages 3-41 to 3-44, 3-67, 3-72 to 3-79 of the report, including Utts's "Response to Ray Hyman's Report of September 11, 1995."
|
[^4]: Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena," September 11, 1995, reproduced in the AIR report, pp. 3-41 to 3-75, and published in *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 31-58. Pages 3-41 to 3-44, 3-67, 3-72 to 3-79 of the report, including Utts's "Response to Ray Hyman's Report of September 11, 1995."
|
||||||
[^5]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. 4-7 to 4-15 and appendix D, pp. D-12 to D-16.
|
[^5]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. 4-7 to 4-15 and appendix D, pp. D-1, D-12 to D-16, D-19 to D-23. The CIA's copy is CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180006-4, approved for release May 22, 2002, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room; its text matches the National Security Archive copy, and its appendix D opens with the same executive summary as "Summary Report. Star Gate Operational Tasking and Evaluation (An Extract)," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200300002-2.
|
||||||
[^6]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. 1-4, 3-84, 5-1 to 5-5; Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying," *Skeptical Inquirer,* March-April 1996, pp. 21-23.; Puthoff, H. E. "CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 63-76., note 10 and reference 1; May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-23, abstract only.
|
[^6]: Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David A. Goslin. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.* American Institutes for Research, September 29, 1995, pp. 1-4, 3-84, 5-1 to 5-5; Hyman, Ray. "Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying," *Skeptical Inquirer,* March-April 1996, pp. 21-23.; Puthoff, H. E. "CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute," *Journal of Scientific Exploration,* vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 63-76., note 10 and reference 1; May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, 1996, pp. 3-23, abstract only.
|
||||||
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, Public Affairs, statement on remote viewing, September 6, 1995, as reproduced in Victorian, Armen, "Remote Viewing and the US Intelligence Community," *Lobster,* c. 1996; the original release was not seen. "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.
|
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, Public Affairs, statement on remote viewing, September 6, 1995, as reproduced in Victorian, Armen, "Remote Viewing and the US Intelligence Community," *Lobster,* c. 1996; the original release was not seen. "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.
|
||||||
[^8]: May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, March 1996, pp. 3-23. The letter of December 19, 1995, is printed at pp. 15-17 as Utts's reply to May's e-mail of December 17, checked against the page images.
|
[^8]: May, Edwin C. "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary," *Journal of Parapsychology,* vol. 60, no. 1, March 1996, pp. 3-23. The letter of December 19, 1995, is printed at pp. 15-17 as Utts's reply to May's e-mail of December 17, checked against the page images.
|
||||||
|
[^900]: "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," memorandum for the record, undated, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Director of Research and Development, CIA, memoranda for the Executive Director and the Comptroller, "Response to CDA on Stargate," undated, early 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040020-2 and CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040021-1; ORD-0150-95, "Status Report to Congress: Star Gate Program," February 27, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040006-8; draft memorandum for the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Declassification and Cooperation in Response to Congressionally Directed STAR GATE Program Review," February 21, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040019-4; "Transfer of Star Gate Program from DIA to CIA, Status and Terms of Reference," drafts, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040007-7 and -018-5; "Status of STARGATE Program," drafts faxed March 7 and May 10, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040012-1 and -004-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^901]: CIA briefing slides, "Star Gate," 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200080001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Office of Research and Development, "Request to Amend Independent Contract," March 7, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200020008-7; independent contractor's invoices of May 30, 1995 (Task A), August 7, 1995 (Task B) and September 19, 1995 (Tasks C and D), CIA-RDP96-00791R000200020005-0, -016-8 and -001-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^902]: "Curriculum Vitae - Michael D. Mumford," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030046-5, and "Curriculum Vitae - Andrew M. Rose," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030047-4, released 2003; Mumford, Michael D., to a redacted addressee at the Ames Building, Rosslyn, "Transmittal of Draft Remote Viewing Report," September 22, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180003-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence Scandal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Event
|
||||||
|
- StarGate
|
||||||
|
- RemoteViewing
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- DIA
|
||||||
|
- Congress
|
||||||
|
- Declassification
|
||||||
|
alias:
|
||||||
|
- Star Gate transfer
|
||||||
|
- Star Gate CDA
|
||||||
|
summary: "The 1995 Congressionally directed transfer of the DIA's Star Gate remote-viewing program to the CIA, which the CIA used to review, declassify and close it."
|
||||||
|
start: 1994-12-14
|
||||||
|
end: 1995-09-27
|
||||||
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In the classified annex to the defense appropriations act for fiscal 1995, Senate conferees wrote that "in the post-cold war era, the nature and activities of the STARGATE Program are more relevant to the mission of the Central Intelligence Agency Program (CIAP) than the military Intelligence services. Therefore, the conferees direct the Director of DIA to transfer ten civilian billets and $500,000 that are currently dedicated to the STARGATE program to the CIAP. The transfer of STARGATE resources and management to the CIAP should be completed by July 1, 1995." The [[Director of Central Intelligence|DCI]] was to report by March 1, 1995, on "1) management strategy; 2) transfer status; and 3) identification of a program manager." The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] took the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]] program from the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] on July 1, 1995, and on September 27 the Director of Research and Development proposed that recommendations to terminate remote-viewing operations and research "within the intelligence community" be forwarded to [[United States Congress|Congress]].[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Directed Action
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The conferees adopted the language of the [[Senate Appropriations Committee]]'s report, which had been addressed to DIA: "Of the funds available to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Committee directs that $500,000 be applied to the STARGATE program and that the current 10 billets remain assigned to the program. The Committee requests that funds be applied roughly equally to foreign assessment, research and operational viewing. The Committee is concerned that Congressional direction in the past regarding the solicitation of users across the NFIP and DoD and development of joint programs with the Russians and Chinese has only been sporadically pursued. The Committee remains perplexed by the obvious reluctance of support on the part of the DIA leadership for this program." The committee "does not accept the excuse that this somehow compromises US intelligence activities," and "believes that the time has come for a re-evaluation of the classification of the existence of this effort as well as the results that have been obtained over time." It asked the DCI for "a retrospective review and technical analysis of the data that has been produced by the program since its inception 20 years ago," including "an inventory and analysis of the files held in the CIA, while it administered the program as well as in DIA," and for the DCI's declassification committee to determine "what parts of it may be declassified and be converted into an openworld activity." It asked the Director of DIA "to initiate further contacts with individuals involved in the Russian subprogram, to establish an open-world, declassified activity of cooperation between the two programs and report to the oversight Committees by February 1, 1995." Contracts "with outside entities" required prior notification.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The CIA's Plan
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On December 14, 1994, "during a briefing arranged by CMS and given by the current DIA program manager, the program was described as an operational activity that is accepting requirements, conducting remote viewing operations, and disseminating intelligence based on these 'operations.' Over 90 such operations had been conducted during the past year. Staffing consists of three remote viewers, a program manager, a technical advisor and a secretary. Asked his opinion for the reasons the Congress had transferred the program to CIA, the program manager stated his belief that he had failed to respond to previous direction to conduct objective reviews and pursue foreign liason activities. He also told us that all of the program funds had been expended and that their contractor (SRI) had stopped work on the R&D activities." The Director of Research and Development, given the action in January, sought "a corporate (i.e. all directorates) buy-in" for an approach of three parts: "(a) Seek to decompartment all aspects of the program, (b) Convene a Blue Ribbon Panel of outside experts to review the program and make recommendations to CIA regarding our next step (c) Develop a program plan including needed funding and personnel resources." With Army support, the [[Office of Research and Development (CIA)|Office of Research and Development]] planned "to contact the chairman of a panel that did a review (circa 1988-1990) for the Army of unconventional techniques (including remote viewing), for enhancing human performance," and ask him to convene a similar group. The Director of Congressional Affairs "described our approach to Mr. [[Richard D'Amato]], the congressional staffer responsible for the language effecting the transfer, and Mr. D'Amato expressed concern about the DIA people, in particular the three remote viewers." The three "should be kept as DIA employees until the Blue Ribbon Panel reports," since "they need to use the tasking and dissemination methods already in place in DIA."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The memorandum anticipated the issues: "Parapsychology is a very controversial subject. It has been studied for at least the past hundred years by many renowned scientists without reaching any yes/no answers regarding its scientific validity. We do NOT intend to ask our blue ribbon panel to tell us if there is or is not anything to the concept, rather we intend to ask them to review the STARGATE program to assess its overall value to the USG based on intelligence value, process validity, customer satisfaction, and foreign assessment activity as directed by Congress. It is possible that our panel will recommend that we do NOT proceed with the program, and that has the potential for some controversy with our oversight committees." A draft memorandum to DIA of February 21, 1995, stated that "STAR GATE has an extraordinary nature and history and it's existence within the intelligence community remains controversial." The proposed language for the March 1 status report went to the Comptroller on February 27, and on March 28 the Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs sent the responses to [[Larry Combest]], chairman of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]], with originals "to the leadership of the committees with intelligence oversight responsibilities that have an interest in this topic."[^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Chronology
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The CIA's chronology of the transfer records: a program manager appointed by the Director of ORD; a detailed briefing by the DIA program manager and personnel on February 6, 1995; "informal discussions with US Army Research Institute (ARI) and [[National Research Council]] (NRC) about potential CIA paranormal study request" in February and March; archiving from February to April "of all DIA and CIA files relating to paranormal studies going back 20 years"; a meeting with the [[Center for the Study of Intelligence]] "to discuss potential strategies for declassification"; on February 28, "CIA met with DIA principal investigator at SAIC, Dr. [[Edwin May|Ed May]]. All-day technical exchange"; in March, a site visit to [[Fort Meade]] "to meet all program personnel and discuss transfer." On March 15, "after informal discussions with NRC, panel member selection begins: [[Jessica Utts]], [[John Palmer]], [[James Alcock]], and [[Ray Hyman]] contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and an independent contractor was hired "to assemble detailed bibliographies of all Star Gate program documents potentially subject of review," beginning work at Fort Meade "immediately." On March 21 the CIA accompanied DIA to brief the program to [[Benson Adams]], assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. On March 27 a "Terms of Reference" went to Congress "stating NRC would perform unclassified retrospective, CIA would proceed with declassification, interim report on management strategy would be provided in July," and D'Amato was briefed at the Hart Senate Office Building and agreed. In April a memorandum of understanding was "executed between US Army and CIA, funds officially transferred to Pentagon," and on April 14 "evaluation of customer feedback on Star Gate tasking begins at Ft. Meade."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On May 10, "NRC formally rejects CIA study proposal citing prior definitive study. NRC stated unequivocally that 'the case for remote viewing... is virtually nonexistent,'" and the same day the CIA met "with president and representatives of [[American Institutes for Research|American Institutes of Research]] (AIR) to consider potential CIA study request after NRC rejection." On May 16 DIA "responds to request for assistance in declassification citing new [[Executive Order 12958|EO 12958]] as controlling, declines any further DIA action. Agrees to CIA declassifying DIA fact of program." On May 19 DIA gave notice that it would "reassign Star Gate personnel since study will not be concluded by 1 July. We concur in this decision." On June 1 the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] "briefed on Star Gate status. Seven staffers attended." The AIR contract was signed on June 12; on June 14 DIA was notified "that CIA will give DIA documents to AIR and disclose DIA's program," and [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] "of CIA's intention to disclose formerly SECRET association. SRI later concurs." On June 21 an ad hoc declassification committee was formed "to review Studies in Intelligence Article summarizing history of CIA program," and on June 22 the first unclassified documents went to AIR, which "asks for identification of 10 best reports," and the Director of ORD declassified "3 ORD classified SRI contract documents identified as critical to AIR panel." The chronology ends there.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Briefing slides of May 22, 1995, for the Senate Appropriations Committee gave the transfer by month: in January "Office of Military Affairs liaison established with Army"; in February "CIA transfer manager appointed, DIA program reviewed," "archiving of all files at CIA, DIA, and SAIC begins," and "US ARI agrees to be executive for NRC study, MOU established, resources transferred from CIA to Army"; in March "CIA responds to CDA; Status report briefed to Richard D'Amato (SAC)"; in May "NRC categorically rejects remote viewing study" and "program personnel, resources still reside at DIA." Of the status briefing of March 27: "CIA terms of reference requested that no resources be transferred until Blue Ribbon Panel completes directed review, SAC staffer agreed," and "it was agreed program personnel could not be transferred immediately since CIA has no way to task them, field requirements, or disseminate product and could not keep them productive."[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Program Under Review
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A memorandum of April 17, 1995, to the DIA program manager on the "Star Gate Customer Base" recorded "your concern that the customer base exists today largely because of the personal relationships you have had with various customer elements and without those relationships, the customers might not have been interested in the program initially," asked for "points of contact (names, phone numbers, locations, etc.) so that I can interview each of these customers over the coming months," and, "based on your advice Thursday," dropped the plan of briefing the customers and "new potential CIA customers" on future services: "The interest in customers for future services, however, is still high. How can we substantiate a future operations program without it?" Of the numbered list of customers, only the last entry survives in the released copy: "Additional Classified Customers: Status as to tasking requested and feedback provided unknown."[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
An ORD memorandum for the record of April 20, 1995, its author and addressee redacted, states that "Ed May of SAIC called this morning and volunteered to send me unsolicited information he had obtained from a 'remote viewer' named 'Joe' relating to the [[Oklahoma City bombing|Oklahoma City Bombing]]"; ORD "did not have a means at ORD for tasking or disseminating this type of information at CIA," and the [[Counterterrorist Center]] named the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] as the recipient. The Director of Research and Development wrote to CTC the same day that "we attach no credibility to this information, and currently have no way to evaluate it," and that May "has been the primary contract investigator in this area, and we have not completed our evaluation of his past efforts."[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
DIA's response to the directed action, transmitted under the signature of [[Letitia Long]], Director of the DMI Staff, and faxed to the CIA on March 15, 1995, gave the program's history from the service programs of the 1970s through fiscal 1994 and reported that in March 1994, "prior to the receipt of Congressional language to review program documents for declassification, the DIA's Technology Assessment and Support Activity in concert with the SAIC's CSL initiated a review of SRI originated R&D reports covering the period 1973 through 1989. As a result of that review, 45 SRI originated project documents were reviewed and all references regarding DoD involvement were excised and the documents declassified. DIA's General Counsel and Public Affairs Office concurred with the declassification action in September 1994." Its reading of the CSL data: "Approximately 1 percent of the general population appears to meet strict statistical criteria for exhibiting a robust AC (Anomalous Cognition) ability," and "during the CY's 1992-1994 CSL may have discovered the source of an AC signal," proportional to "the total change of entropy" at the target.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Files and the Independent Contractor
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
ORD's Emerging Programs Group asked the Office of Personnel on March 7, 1995, to amend an existing independent contract "so that ORD can specifically task him to facilitate transfer of a technical program (Star Gate) from another government agency to CIA." The contractor's invoice of May 30 for Task A listed "four (4) annotated bibliographies of Star Gate-related classified and unclassified documentation," "a classified catalog listing all operational tasking of the program," and an index to "a circa-1991 program planning document" listing 266 documents. His invoice of August 7 for Task B covered "a classified and unclassified version of my report detailing the results of my independent evaluation of the operational tasking records from the Star Gate program supplemented by the results of interviews with the staff of four of the operational organizations that tasked the Star Gate program," with "a brief description of all 40+ operational tasks that were numerically evaluated by the tasking organizations." His invoice of September 19 for Tasks C and D stated that he had "attended all specified meetings of the AIR (replacement organization for the NRC), their appointed panel members, and ORD," "participated in the review and editing of all unclassified reports prepared by the AIR, its panel members and ORD," "assisted in the preparation (writing), review and editing of the interim and final versions of the report from the AIR and its panel," and "prepared a plan delineating a program for the declassification review of 43 boxes of material related to the Star Gate program and its predecessor programs."[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
DIA's log of the files, sent after a telephone call of October 10, 1995, between its PAQ-4A office and the contractor, reflected "the contents of 38 boxes of Project STAR GATE data that was forwarded to your Agency in a transfer function in July 1995." The CIA's management paper of September counted "43 document boxes of diverse program material relating to at least five past CIA and DOD parapsychology programs at various government agencies including SCANATE, Sun Streak, Center Lane, Grill Flame, and Star Gate," spanning "the early 1970s to 1995," some of which "remain sensitive due to sources and methods of other intelligence organizations and operations which are discussed." Under Executive Order 12958 the CIA was "now responsible for records management as though it were the originating Agency"; its Review Declassification Team estimated "four person-years" and "$400K in each of FY96 and FY97" for the review.[^8][^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Final Response
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Director of Research and Development's memorandum of September 27, 1995, recorded that status reports had been given "to SAC and SSCI Committee staff" in March and April, that presentation of the management strategy "was deferred until September 30" to allow the AIR review ([[1995 AIR evaluation of Star Gate]]), that "it was agreed by interested staff members and CIA that CIA's final proposed management strategy would be based closely on AIR's review," and that at "a third meeting with a SAC Committee staff" it was proposed "that the NIO for S&T should conduct an assessment of Russian parapsychology with the assistance of DIA Star Gate program personnel in parallel with the technical review." That assessment "was conducted largely by DIA Star Gate program officers on special, temporary assignment to CIA," under "the National Intelligence Officer for Science and Technology, and the CIA's Office of Scientific and Weapons Research," and "was reviewed by various officers of the [[National Intelligence Council|NIC]] and CIA but it was not coordinated within CIA or the Intelligence Community." The four recommendations: "Terminate remote viewing operations within the intelligence community"; "Terminate research and development relating to remote viewing within the intelligence community"; "Perform a comprehensive declassification review of all DOD and CIA program files to prepare them for official transfer to the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]"; and "Apply no resources to the assessment of foreign developments in parapsychology," the last on the Directorate of Intelligence's view that "we view developments in parapsychology as a relatively low threat to the United States, and, consequently, as a low priority among all the threats we are trying to monitor and assess." The briefing slides prepared for the appropriations committee summarized the AIR process as "SAIC principal investigator asked to identify 10 most favorable documents," "over 80 documents ultimately declassified, transferred to blue ribbon panel," "DIA program manager asked to identify most favorable users of remote viewing," "AIR conducted standard interviews of these users on location with CIA present," and "commissioned reviews exchanged, rebuttals permitted, AIR arbitrated final conclusions for CIA key recommendations."[^9][^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Senate Appropriations Committee report language and conference report language on STARGATE, fiscal 1995, in "Stargate CDA and Proposed Response (Draft)," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040001-3, and "Congressional Documents Detailing Action Requested on 'Stargate'," CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010001-4. The same directed-action text is headed "Senate Appropriations Committee" in CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040003-1 and "Senate Armed Services Committee" in CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010004-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Director of Research and Development, CIA, memoranda for the Executive Director and the Comptroller, "Response to CDA on Stargate," undated, early 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040020-2 and CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040021-1; ORD-0150-95, "Status Report to Congress: Star Gate Program," February 27, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040006-8; draft memorandum for the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Declassification and Cooperation in Response to Congressionally Directed STAR GATE Program Review," February 21, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040019-4; "Transfer of Star Gate Program from DIA to CIA, Status and Terms of Reference," drafts, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040007-7 and -018-5; "Status of STARGATE Program," drafts faxed March 7 and May 10, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040012-1 and -004-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs to Larry Combest, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, March 28, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040002-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," memorandum for the record, undated, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Memorandum, "Star Gate Customer Base," April 17, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100090001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Memorandum for the record and memorandum for CTC from the Director, Research and Development, "Star Gate Program Issues," April 20, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030036-6. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Senate Appropriations Committee Congressionally Directed Action, Star Gate," retrospective review, technical analysis and declassification status, with transmittal memorandum signed Letitia A. Long, Director, DMI Staff, faxed March 15, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000300010002-3, -003-2 and -004-1, and CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040003-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Office of Research and Development, "Request to Amend Independent Contract," March 7, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200020008-7; independent contractor's invoices of May 30, 1995 (Task A), August 7, 1995 (Task B) and September 19, 1995 (Tasks C and D), CIA-RDP96-00791R000200020005-0, -016-8 and -001-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Defense Intelligence Agency, S-29850/PAQ-4A, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, attention ORD, "Transfer of Project STAR GATE Files," October 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200290001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Director of Research and Development, ORD-0520-95, memorandum for the Executive Director, "Star Gate - Final Response to CDA," September 27, 1995, with attachment A, "Proposed Star Gate Management Strategy," CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150001-1 and CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150002-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^10]: CIA briefing slides, "Star Gate," 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200080001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
[^11]: "Star Gate, Congressionally Directed Action," briefing slides for the Senate Appropriations Committee, May 22, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100050001-2, image-only, read from the page images. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -11,28 +11,62 @@ alias:
|
||||||
- Gale Committee
|
- Gale Committee
|
||||||
- Gale Report
|
- Gale Report
|
||||||
summary: "An eight-member Army review under Manfred Gale, reporting in December 1979, which found remote viewing unproved and its programs poorly documented, while a majority of five allowed INSCOM's operational work to continue under oversight."
|
summary: "An eight-member Army review under Manfred Gale, reporting in December 1979, which found remote viewing unproved and its programs poorly documented, while a majority of five allowed INSCOM's operational work to continue under oversight."
|
||||||
start: 1979
|
start: 1979-06
|
||||||
end: 1980-01
|
end: 1980-01-25
|
||||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||||
created: 2026-09-21
|
created: 2026-09-21
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee, chaired by Manfred Gale and known in the program as the Gale Committee, reported in December 1979 on the Army's parapsychology work: the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] remote-viewing research, the psychokinesis contract of the Missile Intelligence Command, the replication trials of the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, and the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] unit at [[Fort Meade]] ([[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]). Its chapters covered a chronology, "Parapsychology in Perspective," an assessment of Warsaw Pact activity, "suggested parapsychological mechanisms," and the SRI experiments, with annexes on each Army activity.[^1]
|
The Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee, chaired by [[Manfred Gale]] of the Army staff and known in the program as the Gale Committee, reported in December 1979 on the Defense Department's parapsychology work: the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] remote-viewing research, the psychokinesis contract of the Army Missile Command (MICOM) at [[Redstone Arsenal]], the replication trials of the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], and the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] unit at [[Fort Meade]] ([[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]). "In June 1979 it was suggested by Dr. [[Walter LaBerge|LaBerge]], then Under Secretary of the Army, that a Scientific Evaluation Committee be appointed to review the Army's parapsychological activities. In early July 1979, Dr. [[Ruth Davis]] recommended that because of the special interest of the Secretary of Defense, that the Committee review the total DOD posture and report directly to the GRILL FLAME Oversight Committee." Its mission was "to review the parapsychological research, investigations, and applications within DOD and the intelligence community," "to assess the validity of claims made for the alleged existence of the PSI phenomena," and "to recommend a course of action for DOD." Members "were carefully screened to avoid any persons with preconceived notions for or against the subject under investigation"; "since 1972, the combined funding for DOD and the intelligence community was less than a total of $1.5M." The report's security guide stated that "all connection between official U.S. Government interest or participation in the generic field of Parapsychology is classified a minimum of SECRET, caveat NO FOREIGN DISSEMINATION," and that "future security planning for GRILL FLAME includes making it totally a special access program."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Membership and Visits
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The roster printed as annex 1: [[Douglas Tang]], chief of biostatistics and mathematics at the [[Walter Reed Army Institute of Research]]; Colonel [[Harry Holloway]], professor and chairman of psychiatry at the [[Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences]]; [[Frank Cartwright|W. Frank Cartwright]] of the [[Naval Weapons Center]], China Lake; Richard Montgomery, consultant; [[Jesse Orlansky]] of the science and technology division of the [[Institute for Defense Analyses]]; [[Harry Snyder]], professor of industrial engineering and operations research at [[Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University|Virginia Tech]]; Major General (retired) Laddie Stahl, consultant; Major [[William Stoner]] of the Army staff (DAMI-ISH), coordinator; and Gale (DAMA-ZD), chairman. The vote recorded in the report is of eight; Gale's distribution memorandum of January 1980 speaks of "the seven Committee members" apart from himself. The committee visited the Combat Developments Experimentation Command at [[Fort Ord]] on July 23, 1979, SRI on July 24 and 25 ([[Russell Targ]], [[Hal Puthoff]], [[Charles Tart]]), Redstone Arsenal on July 26, the [[National Security Council]] at the Executive Office Building on August 1, [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] headquarters on September 4, [[Princeton University]] and [[Bell Labs]] at Holmdel on September 8 ([[Robert Jahn]] and [[Robert Lucky]]), [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] on September 26 ([[Jack Vorona]]), INSCOM at Fort Meade on September 28 ([[Murray Watt]]), AMSAA on November 6, [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory|Lawrence Livermore]] ([[R. S. Hawke]]) and the Foreign Technology Division at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]], with a final executive session at the Pentagon on December 10.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Chronology
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The report's own history, which it said was "not attributable to the Committee's action," ran from the SRI work of 1971 through [[Ingo Swann]]'s magnetometer trial of 1972 and [[Pat Price]]'s readings of 1973 to 1975: the West Virginia site, where Price "spoke out classified codewords he 'read' from file folders"; the Urals crane, of which "CIA analysts concluded that either Remote Viewing had taken place, or Price had intimate knowledge of the URDF-3"; the embassy code rooms; an in-house CIA trial of the fall of 1974 that produced "what could only be a SA-5 missile training site" in [[Libya]]; and the guerrilla training site of July 1975, "the same month Price tragically died of a heart attack." "Since July 1975, CIA interest has remained minimal and unofficial. The Agency claims to have stopped all work," the "primary reason for abandoning the effort" being, in a phrase the scan garbles, "of winning a 'Golden Fleece Award.'" On the Army side, MICOM let "a one-year $80K contract" in August 1977 "under the innocuous title, 'Investigation of Unconventional Discrimination Techniques'"; in July 1978 DIA "sponsored a series of four unique experiments" in which Swann, given the coordinates of "a Soviet strategic missile field east of Moscow," "passed through a silo cover, 'traveling' down until reaching a connecting tunnel," entering "a command and control room" whose "floors are paved in 'white tiles'"; in August 1978 Vorona chaired the first meeting toward "a coordinated DOD program"; INSCOM's selection criteria of the autumn of 1978 were "above average intelligence, outgoing personality, adventuresome, open-minded, mature, artistic nature, and successful life career." The Grill Flame steering committee first met on February 13, 1979, with "all Service ACSI's, Dr. Ruth Davis, Dr. LaBerge, and Dr. Vorona (standing in for LTG [[Eugene Tighe|Tighe]])." Of the Navy: "Suspicion lingers among Army project personnel that Navy may have nevertheless kept a tightly compartmented effort going. Navy representatives attend all DOD meetings, but remain uncommitted and literally silent." Funding to date: "CIA, 1972-78: $240K. DIA, 1979: $100K. USAF, 1976-79: $300K. Army, 1977-79: $490K."[^1]
|
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|
|
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### Findings
|
### Findings
|
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|
|
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"RV research and investigations thus far have not proved the existence of the phenomena and have not conclusively established any parametric dependencies. Many of the anecdotal events reported to this Committee as potential evidence of the existence of RV do not adequately sustain their claim under careful scrutiny. A few of the examples are subjectively spectacular, but lack of scientific procedures precludes their consideration as scientific evidence of the phenomena. On balance, the Committee has indeed been persuaded that there is some probability that effects attributed to the RV phenomena exist under unexplained circumstances and in conjunction with particular individuals. However, to date, the experimental techniques have not been adequate to document such effects." Of the programs: "Inadequate documentation and failure to apply adequate controls are the most frequent causes which limit the credibility that can be given to reports of 'success' attributed to RV applications. In the judgment of the Committee, sole dependence on SRI-like protocols to resolve the RV issue will not be fruitful," and "operational programs, that by their very existence assume the reality of RV as given, may inadvertently establish the assumption in other communities that RV is real."[^1]
|
"RV research and investigations thus far have not proved the existence of the phenomena and have not conclusively established any parametric dependencies. Many of the anecdotal events reported to this Committee as potential evidence of the existence of RV do not adequately sustain their claim under careful scrutiny. A few of the examples are subjectively spectacular, but lack of scientific procedures precludes their consideration as scientific evidence of the phenomena. On balance, the Committee has indeed been persuaded that there is some probability that effects attributed to the RV phenomena exist under unexplained circumstances and in conjunction with particular individuals. However, to date, the experimental techniques have not been adequate to document such effects." Of the programs: "Inadequate documentation and failure to apply adequate controls are the most frequent causes which limit the credibility that can be given to reports of 'success' attributed to RV applications. In the judgment of the Committee, sole dependence on SRI-like protocols to resolve the RV issue will not be fruitful"; "lack of proper management involvement, direction, and review was evident at all activities surveyed"; "operational programs, that by their very existence assume the reality of RV as given, may inadvertently establish the assumption in other communities that RV is real." "The Committee found no evidence or any suggestion of fraudulent intent in any of the work examined." Credible research would need "management commitment to a program which is sustained for an indefinite period of time at a cost of several million dollars per year." The MICOM psychokinesis work "will not prove or disprove the existence of the PK phenomena," whereas members who visited Hawke's laboratory at Livermore "were very impressed by the scientific approach." Intelligence on the Warsaw Pact was "admittedly, highly speculative," resting on "a document prepared by the U.S. Army Medical Intelligence and Information Agency" (the reference list gives Maire and LaMothe's DIA report of September 1975), a Garrett AiResearch literature review, and a recent report of "at least three and possibly more officially-sponsored research groups" in Moscow, Leningrad and Alma-Ata; "the reasons for frequent iron-curtain representatives at Parapsychological Conferences" might be "establishing contacts with selected attendees for intelligence purposes." Of the four proposed mechanisms (extremely low frequency electromagnetism, quantum correlation, the "extra-dimensional hypothesis" of Targ, Puthoff, [[Edwin May|May]], Feinberg and Rauscher, and Walker's thermal noise), "none of these theories is sufficiently persuasive."[^1]
|
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|
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|
### The SRI Chapter
|
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|
|
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|
Chapter 9 credited Puthoff and Targ with "a much greater acceptance in some quarters than have the many researchers who have preceded them" because "these researchers are trained and recognized as 'hard' scientists," and found the SCANATE results for Kerguelen Island and West Virginia "impressive... until one carefully considers the timing and the notion that each subject could have obtained the impressive detailed information during the day that ensued between the first and second 'readings.'" In the local-target series "subjects who were originally considered learners somehow became gifted," a category of "unselected volunteers" was "added due to sponsor criticism and pressure," and a target that was "an airplane simulator" in one report was "a complete machine shop" in another. A drawing of the San Andres airport, in the Costa Rica series, had been made by "one of the experimenters who substituted his time for that of" a subject; annex 10 adds that "the lack of repeated use of Targ as a Subject is thus supported, even though he provided an excellent response to the San Andres airport. (One must wonder why he wasn't used again in view of this highly accurate response!)" Its summary: "The only way that their concepts will be accepted by the scientific community is for non-reproachable experimenters to conduct similar research, using improved methods, without any possible intrusion by persons (such as Puthoff and Targ) having a vested interest in the results." Annex 8 took Puthoff's own paper "Potential Criticisms and Responses," nine criticisms with his replies, and found most "at least partially valid"; of SRI's use of "double-blind": "The word clearly does not apply in either the traditional, or in a meaningful, sense to the SRI protocol." Annex 9 found that the Morris ranking method used to score transcripts "only uses a portion of the data," in the nine-target case "only 11% of rankings." Chapter 9 and annexes 8 to 10 reproduce, sentence for sentence, the "Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing" delivered by Harry Snyder and Arlene Snyder of Blacksburg, Virginia, on June 1, 1979, under a contract whose sponsor that report does not name; Snyder was invited to join the committee on July 17, 1979, "in place of Dr. Hyman."[^1]
|
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|
|
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|
### The Annexes on the Army Programs
|
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|
|
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|
Of AMSAA: "Examination of SRI findings by this Committee has not resulted in a finding that SRI has proven anything of military operational value... The SRI effort should be terminated for the convenience of the government. The current AMSAA effort should also be terminated." Of MICOM's proposed random-number replication, drawn from "SRI document dated August 1979 prepared by E. C. May, Ph.D.": "the proposed experiment by SRI has not been performed and has yielded neither positive nor negative results, ergo, replication is impossible." Of INSCOM: 251 personnel considered, 117 interviewed, "more than 90% of all those interviewed considered psychic phenomenon to be real," twelve candidates, six chosen by SRI in February 1979 and in training from April; "as of 1 Oct 79, more than 150 RV tests have been conducted at Fort Meade"; the unit "gauges how good individual sessions are based on strict operational judgments (how much usable intelligence is produced), in stark contrast to projects in other places which rely on exotic, often flawed, statistical methodologies"; the committee asked that personnel "be immediately stabilized for at least two years" and that "a general officer review of all OERs and EERs" protect their careers, and commended INSCOM "for its logical, level-headed, and professional approach to a most curious problem." The pages between annexes 5 and 7, whose heading is absent from the released copy, record the visit to Bell Labs, where Lucky, "the man who probably started the whole (serious) PSI debate" by publishing Targ and Puthoff in the Proceedings of the IEEE, "believes that SRI does not have a bona fide scientific approach," had run six trials in 1975 that were "for the most part failures" but "ambiguous," and "once proposed to Targ and Puthoff that they allow a 'debugger' like [[James Randi|Randy the Magician]] to watch an SRI RV session. They refused on the grounds that no one believes them anyhow." Annex 7 called Hawke's acoustic-emission experiments "the most objective and scientific of the investigations we have reviewed" and proposed a cover: "A small development project on 'AE applications to guided missile fuzing' would provide easily administered and controlled PK experiments by Hawke."[^1]
|
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|
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### Recommendations
|
### Recommendations
|
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|
|
||||||
Work to demonstrate the existence of remote viewing and psychokinesis "should be supported if a credible approach were to emerge; however, it may be preferable to do this in some other agency other than DOD in order to more readily conduct the work in an open forum." Research to characterize the phenomena "should not be sponsored until existence is established." On operations "the Committee was divided," and "the majority (5 out of 8) believed that operationally-oriented RV activities aimed at determining the empirical value of RV to intelligence (like those at INSCOM) should continue," provided the work "be monitored by an oversight committee that can review the work for its adequacy and guard against self-fulfilling prophecy" and that "dependence on SRI approach should be phased out."[^1]
|
Work to demonstrate the existence of remote viewing and psychokinesis "should be supported if a credible approach were to emerge; however, it may be preferable to do this in some other agency other than DOD in order to more readily conduct the work in an open forum." Research to characterize the phenomena "should not be sponsored until existence is established." On operations "the Committee was divided," and "the majority (5 out of 8) believed that operationally-oriented RV activities aimed at determining the empirical value of RV to intelligence (like those at INSCOM) should continue," provided the work "be monitored by an oversight committee that can review the work for its adequacy and guard against self-fulfilling prophecy," that "dependence on SRI approach should be phased out," and that "the attaining of useful data should not necessarily be attributed to the reality of RV phenomena." The AMSAA and MICOM work "should be discontinued and terminated in the most cost-effective manner"; the intelligence community "should continue their collection efforts in this field in order to avoid any surprises"; and "a central DOD authority should be established to manage and fund the parapsychological program." The minority opinion of Orlansky, Holloway and Tang: "A minority of the Committee believes that a test program in an operation-like environment is not likely to provide useful or reliable data. We see little to be gained by recommending operational tests. Such tests can also be dangerous. By encouraging the conduct of operational tests, this Committee endorses actions which have dubious scientific validity at best and can have dangerous implications for those, who may rely on its products."[^1]
|
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|
|
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|
An undated roster headed "Grill Flame Review Panel Members" gives Stahl at General Electric's corporate research and development in Schenectady, Montgomery as director of corporate development at R&D Associates in Marina del Rey, and Snyder as "Systemetrics, Inc. (VA Polytechnical Institute)." On July 17, 1979, the Under Secretary's office told Gale that "Dr. Orlansky has accepted. Dr. Snyder of VPI has been asked in place of Dr. Hyman - at this time he has not accepted the invitation," and forwarded "the memorandum from Ruth Davis on the Grill Flame Technical Review Group." Snyder had delivered his own critical evaluation of remote-viewing research six weeks earlier. On November 19, 1979, he wrote to Gale that he held "a minority viewpoint on the need for further, better, more-controlled R&D on RV," that "the major argument AGAINST seems to be the combination of notoriety, disbelief, incredulity, and loss of scientific reputation of the proponents," and that "to hide behind the cost cloak is, I think, convenient but invalid"; an unsigned paper of findings in the same file recommended terminating "efforts at MICOM, AMSAA, and FTD," "a coordinated program" at "the national level (e.g., NSC)," and "$3 million" a year for research. Watt's message from Fort Meade that month recorded Gale's assurance "that INSCOM would be provided with a copy of the team's report when it was finalized."[^6]
|
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|
|
||||||
### The Reply
|
### The Reply
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Defense Department's Grill Flame working group, under [[Jack Vorona]] of DIA, had asked in November 1979 to see the report "prior to it being given to any other party or group." Vorona's reply supported the finding that "unexplained observations of human capabilities to generate data of potential utility to intelligence have been documented" and "strongly" disagreed with the recommendation to end the Missile Intelligence Command and AMSAA work, "based on a misinterpretation of these programs"; the "condemnation" of the SRI approach "is not understood or acceptable without further explanation"; and "many of the difficulties in the report, especially those of fact and incompleteness, could have been avoided if the report had been collectively reviewed in draft, rather than allowing only individual inputs." On February 6, 1980, the under secretary of defense, [[William Perry]], restricted the use of Program 6 funds, since it was "not appropriate for Army to fund technology programs aimed at scientific demonstration of parapsychology."[^1][^2]
|
The Defense Department's Grill Flame committee, under Vorona of DIA, had heard on November 27, 1979, that the report "had not been completed"; one member "questioned the substantive expertise of the Gale Committee," and the group moved that Vorona "inform him of the working group's desire and need to see and be briefed on the Gale Committee's report prior to it being given to any other party or group," since "to do otherwise would be extremely hazardous as this group represents the collective expertise, experience and background of the entire DoD and Intelligence Community." On January 10, 1980, "Mr. Gale briefed the Grill Flame Committee on his committee's findings," and "Mr. Gale's briefing was not received favorably by the Grill Flame group. There were many substantive reservations based upon errors in both facts and analysis. The report was, in the view of the group, misleading and inadequate, in part because of ambiguity in language"; it was "suggested that General Tighe contact Dr. Laberge to obtain copies of the report and to stop any further distribution," and a subcommittee was appointed "to review the Gale report in depth." At the same meeting "CIA volunteered that no Agency funds were budgeted for FY 80, 81 or 82 on parapsychological research." Vorona's written comments supported the finding that "unexplained observations of human capabilities to generate data of potential utility to intelligence have been documented" and "strongly" disagreed with the recommendation to end the MICOM and AMSAA work, "based on a misinterpretation of these programs"; the "condemnation" of the SRI approach "is not understood or acceptable without further explanation"; and "many of the difficulties in the report, especially those of fact and incompleteness, could have been avoided if the report had been collectively reviewed in draft, rather than allowing only individual inputs."[^2][^3]
|
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|
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|
Stoner's memorandum of conversation on Gale's briefing of January 14, 1980, charged that Gale "has, in briefing the report here and elsewhere, done a great deal of verbalizing (shading) issues, personal opinion, 'faction,' and general guesswork not contained anywhere in the report. Some of it is just plain misleading." Against Gale's "I rejected two people who had pronounced tendencies to be nonobjective": "One person himself declined the offer to participate, claiming potential flak from his corporation. The other, Dr [[Ray Hyman]], was rejected not because of any action by Gale, but because of a protest memo from MG [[Edmund Thompson|Thompson]] to Dr LaBerge." Quizzed by Thompson "on what the word 'proof' in the report findings meant," Gale answered "with a flurry of scientific buzzwords and jargon." Gale's figure of "over 5000 experiments" was "an unadulterated W.A.G."; his remark that "the Surgeon General is critical of the MICOM proposal" rested on "a cribbed copy of the Surgeon General's comments. Question I have is who gave it to him"; and "because of prior intelligence problems (e.g., LSD case) two members of the Surgeon General's review panel are dead set against this kind of work." "In my opinion the Gale report is big, but weak... By pushing to have the report quickly accepted by Dr LaBerge he will have an effective shield from tough questions and criticism." Gale "has gone far beyond that charter," "selling the report around the Pentagon," and "should be thanked by the DoD Steering Committee and allowed or told to quietly go his way." According to Stoner, Vorona had written to Tighe on January 11 urging that the report "be put on hold." On January 25 Gale asked Stoner to distribute 27 copies, LaBerge's "official copy by Monday, 28 Jan," with Stoner's office "designated as Office of Record for all reports." On February 6, 1980, the under secretary of defense, [[William Perry]], restricted the use of Program 6 funds, since it was "not appropriate for Army to fund technology programs aimed at scientific demonstration of parapsychology."[^4][^5]
|
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|
|
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|
### SRI and the Committee
|
||||||
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|
||||||
|
On August 3, 1979, Puthoff wrote to Gale on the committee's visit of July 24 and 25 that "there were certain aspects of the meeting, however, which we felt were unsatisfactory": of the four planned parts, "with the extended ad hoc discussions that took place during the opening presentation on historical material (Part 1) and the need to press on to a discussion of planned efforts on present client programs (Part 3), we all but skipped Part 2 on scientific questions (for example, none of the slides were shown)." He answered three objections voiced during the visit: the target pool "should be chosen and maintained by someone further removed from the experimentation," which "is in fact the procedure already in force," the interviewers "had never seen the target list until your committee asked that it be brought to the conference room"; guessing and cueing, which "the statistical procedure we use takes into account at the outset"; and the suggestion "to dispense with the interviewer," which "indicates a complete failure to comprehend" the protocol's "division of labor between remote viewer and interviewer designed to mirror the two primary modes of cerebral functioning." "It is incumbent on the committee members to obtain a more thorough grounding in the technical details than was possible in the few hours available," and he asked for "further discussions... in smaller groups," naming "Drs. Synder and Tang," enclosing copies of a new "Standard Remote Viewing (RV) Procedures: Local Sites" by Puthoff, Targ and Edwin May for every member and "for Maj. Gen. E. R. Thompson, Dr. Ruth Davis, and the Hon. Walter Laberge." The enclosure set out a 6x6 rank-order judging matrix and a "direct-count-of-permutations method" credited to C. Scott (1972), "constructed sufficiently conservatively so as to apply even in the limiting case in which the target pool is completely known a priori to all involved." One member, Cartwright of China Lake, wrote on October 2, 1979, to "Chairman, Grill Flame Committee" that "the RV phenomenon, if it exists, represents a catastrophic military deficiency if left unexploited," that "the expectation of an existence proof of psychic-physical interaction is a forlorn one," that "I am an Occam," and that at INSCOM "the use of double blind procedures, and other devices to insure scientific rigor does not, any longer, seem necessary. (The integrity of the personnel has been well enough established.)... I propose, in short, that anecdotal events be emphasized"; the MICOM psychokinesis experiments were "not, in my view pseudo-science, but, rather irrelevant science."[^6]
|
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|
|
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|
### After the Report
|
||||||
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|
||||||
|
[[John Kramar]], AMSAA's Grill Flame project officer, wrote for the record on February 13, 1980, under the subject line "Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) GRILL FLAME Report, Dated November 1979," that the report, "transmitted to AMSAA January 1980, was found to be somewhat ambiguous and confusing," and took "exception" to "Terminate all AMSAA GRILL FLAME efforts": "This recommendation, as best as can be determined, is based only on a partial understanding of AMSAA's initial effort, which was terminated before the SEC came into being. There is an apparent mistake by the SEC in considering the AMSAA challenge/validation efforts to be an integral part of the SRI contract," copying Gale and DARCOM. Murray Watt's comments of the same month, "my personal assessment," written for "Dr Vorona's letter to LTG Tighe," whose "tone... will be rather general," found the report "very shallow in nature," its recommendations "vague," "unless doing away with the program can be considered as a constructive suggestion"; of annex 5, "after all, we provided the committee with most of the data contained in the Annex"; of the screening of members, "private conversations with individual committee members give quite the opposite view"; of the handwriting passage, "they do everything but call Targ a 'cheat.' Did they, in fact, question Targ on this handwriting issue?"; and of the minority, "it appears that the committee (minority) is more concerned about the possible loss of their credibility." Colonel Chad B. White of INSCOM told Brigadier General Thomas J. Flynn on March 10 that the report "has now been released," forwarding "the complete executive summary" and "that portion of the report dealing directly with INSCOM's program." On March 19, 1980, Puthoff, Targ and May wrote to LaBerge, by then principal deputy under secretary for research and engineering, that "we have just learned that, based on a recommendation of the Gale Committee, ODDR&E will not provide support for R&D efforts in the Grill Flame area," and "were further advised that a major factor leading to this recommendation was that the Committee concluded that the work being pursued under Grill Flame was of such a complex nature as to not provide basic proof-of-principle": "our contracts stipulated that we provide 'what if' threat analyses, utilizing experimental protocols applicable to specific operational tasks; we were not mandated to undertake formal proof-of-principle research," and "our efforts have yielded both general results and specific data that have been described to us by our various DoD and Intelligence Community clients as being of vital importance to the national interests." A three-page slide digest headed "Gale Committee Report, 1980" reduced the findings to "Individuals involved are sincere, dedicated," "No evidence of fraud, deception," "Management is ambivalent, lacks focus," and "SRI dependence phased-out." The report's date is given as November 1979 in the AMSAA memorandum and December 1979 on its cover and in Watt's.[^7]
|
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|
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### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
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|
|
||||||
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Vorona, J., "Comments on 'Report By: The GRILLFLAME Scientific Evaluation Committee,'" memorandum of the Grill Flame Working Group, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300060001-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Chapters 1 and 4 to 9 and the annexes were not read.
|
[^1]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Chapters 1 to 9 and annexes 1 to 11; the table of contents has no entry for annex 6, whose place is marked by a redaction code, and the visit log's dates are reflowed by OCR.
|
||||||
[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, November 27, 1979 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1) and January 10, 1980 (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1); US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8; the scan's table columns are reflowed by OCR and some dates are uncertain. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency, "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 27 November 1979," S-1168/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130015-1, and "Minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 10 January 1980," S-1008/DT-1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1, both signed Jack Vorona, chairman. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8; the scan's table columns are reflowed by OCR and some dates are uncertain.
|
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|
[^3]: Vorona, J., Chairman, Grill Flame Working Group, "Comments on 'Report By: The GRILLFLAME Scientific Evaluation Committee,'" undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300060001-2, read in two OCR passes; the addressee line is illegible. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^4]: Stoner, William L., Major, GS, "Memorandum of Conversation, Subject: Gale Briefing to ZA, Science Evaluation Group Final Report on GRILL FLAME, 14 Jan 80," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^5]: Gale, M., "Distribution of GRILL FLAME Reports," memorandum for Major Stoner, ACSI, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition, January 25, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230023-0; three CIA Reading Room items of February 13, 1980, are titled "Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) Grill Flame Report, Dated November 1979" (CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250025-7, R001100080007-6, R001200230026-7), not read. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^6]: "Grill Flame Review Panel Members," undated roster, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230008-7; Office of the Under Secretary of the Army, memorandum for Mr. Manny Gale, July 17, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230004-1; K. Lytle, Major, Military Assistant, memorandum for Mr. Gale, Advisor for RDA Analysis, ODCSRDA, "Briefing for Dr. Ruth Davis and Mr. Nealsen," August 8, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230013-1; Snyder to Gale, undated (catalogued May 11, 1979, but referring to October and a visit of September 28), CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230038-4, and November 19, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230042-9; "Findings," "Recommendations," "Estimated Costs," unsigned, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230043-8; SSO Meade to SSO ACSI DA, "Grill Flame DoD Science Evaluation Team Report," LTC Watt, November 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230047-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^6]: Puthoff, H. E., to Manfred Gale, "SRI/Gale Committee Meeting of 24-25 July," August 3, 1979, with the enclosure "Standard Remote Viewing (RV) Procedures: Local Sites," by H. E. Puthoff, R. Targ and E. C. May, August 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100060001-6 (memorandum alone at CIA-RDP96-00788R002000240028-5). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Cartwright, Frank, Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, to the Chairman, Grill Flame Committee, "Comments on RV and PK Investigations," October 2, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230034-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
[^7]: Kramar, John W., AMSAA Grill Flame Project Officer, memorandum for record, "Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) GRILL FLAME Report, Dated November 1979," February 13, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230026-7 (copies at R002000250025-7 and R001100080007-6). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Watt, Murray B., "Comments Concerning 'GRILL FLAME SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION COMMITTEE REPORT,' dated December 1979," catalogued February 13, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130025-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. White, Chad B., Colonel, ADCSOPS-HUMINT, memorandum for Brigadier General Thomas J. Flynn, "The GRILL FLAME Scientific Evaluation Committee Report," March 10, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230056-4; "Gale Committee Report," briefing slides, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300130001-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, H. E., R. Targ and E. C. May, Radio Physics Laboratory, SRI International, to Walter B. LaBerge, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, March 19, 1980, SRI 0-4132, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230031-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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|
@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ The GAO concluded: "In the early 1980s the gangs began selling crack cocaine. Wi
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In May 1986, three years after crack exploded in South Central L.A., the national media finally noticed. NBC News, People magazine, and the [[Associated Press]] trumpeted the news within weeks of each other. The deaths of college basketball star Len Bias and pro football player Don Rogers in June 1986 converted crack into a national crisis. Before year's end, Time and Newsweek ran five cover stories apiece; Newsweek called it the biggest story since Vietnam and Watergate. [[Robert Stutman]], head of the DEA's New York office, later admitted he deliberately engineered the panic to pressure Washington.[^6]
|
In May 1986, three years after crack exploded in South Central L.A., the national media finally noticed. NBC News, People magazine, and the [[Associated Press]] trumpeted the news within weeks of each other. The deaths of college basketball star Len Bias and pro football player Don Rogers in June 1986 converted crack into a national crisis. Before year's end, Time and Newsweek ran five cover stories apiece; Newsweek called it the biggest story since Vietnam and Watergate. [[Robert Stutman]], head of the DEA's New York office, later admitted he deliberately engineered the panic to pressure Washington.[^6]
|
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|
|
||||||
The coverage followed "a typical pattern in which exaggerated claims were supported by carefully selected cases and fueled with evocative words such as 'epidemic,'" drug researchers Andrew Golub and Donna Hartman found. The press assumed crack was new because editors had not previously reported on it. In reality, crack had been ravaging South Central since 1983, and Jamaican posses and Dominican gangs had been expanding east coast markets for eighteen months. Robert Byck, Yale University's top cocaine expert, had warned Congress about the coming epidemic in 1979 and been ignored.[^6]
|
The coverage followed "a typical pattern in which exaggerated claims were supported by carefully selected cases and fueled with evocative words such as 'epidemic,'" drug researchers Andrew Golub and Donna Hartman found. The press assumed crack was new because editors had not previously reported on it. In reality, crack had been ravaging South Central since 1983, and Jamaican posses and Dominican gangs had been expanding east coast markets for eighteen months. Robert Byck, [[Yale University]]'s top cocaine expert, had warned Congress about the coming epidemic in 1979 and been ignored.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Congress passed the 100-to-1 sentencing ratio without hearings, requiring $50,000 worth of powder cocaine to trigger the same five-year mandatory sentence as $750 worth of crack. Byck called it "absolutely senseless," noting the number "50" came from his testimony about crack's relative addictiveness and "got doubled by people who wanted to get tough." Drug expert Steven Belenko observed the anti-crack crusade "occurred in the presence of a real vacuum of knowledge about the drug." The DEA's own August 1986 review found crack was "a secondary rather than primary problem in most areas" - findings that went virtually unreported. Crack hysteria declined only when the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] displaced it from the news.[^6]
|
Congress passed the 100-to-1 sentencing ratio without hearings, requiring $50,000 worth of powder cocaine to trigger the same five-year mandatory sentence as $750 worth of crack. Byck called it "absolutely senseless," noting the number "50" came from his testimony about crack's relative addictiveness and "got doubled by people who wanted to get tough." Drug expert Steven Belenko observed the anti-crack crusade "occurred in the presence of a real vacuum of knowledge about the drug." The DEA's own August 1986 review found crack was "a secondary rather than primary problem in most areas" - findings that went virtually unreported. Crack hysteria declined only when the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] displaced it from the news.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ summary: "Parapsychology is the scientific study of paranormal or psychic phenom
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Parapsychology]] is the scientific study of paranormal or psychic phenomena, including extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK). The field emerged from earlier psychical research, which began in the late 1700s with the study of "Mesmeric trance" (hypnosis) and the psi abilities observed in hypnotized individuals. The 19th century saw a craze over "spiritism" and "spiritualism," with mediums claiming to communicate with the supernatural, leading to considerable psychological and psychiatric research into these phenomena.[^1]
|
[[Parapsychology]] is the scientific study of paranormal or psychic phenomena, including extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK). The field emerged from earlier psychical research, which began in the late 1700s with the study of "Mesmeric trance" (hypnosis) and the psi abilities observed in hypnotized individuals. The 19th century saw a craze over "spiritism" and "spiritualism," with mediums claiming to communicate with the supernatural, leading to considerable psychological and psychiatric research into these phenomena.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In the modern era, parapsychology, particularly through the work of J. B. Rhine at the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]], sought to bring scientific rigor to the study of psi. Rhine focused on statistical evidence from experiments like card-guessing and dice-throwing, moving away from the theatrical displays of mediums. This approach led to the establishment of parapsychology as an academic discipline, with its main professional organization, the [[Parapsychological Association]], being admitted to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969, partly due to the support of figures like [[Margaret Mead]].[^1]
|
In the modern era, parapsychology, particularly through the work of J. B. Rhine at the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]], sought to bring scientific rigor to the study of psi. Rhine focused on statistical evidence from experiments like card-guessing and dice-throwing, moving away from the theatrical displays of mediums. This approach led to the establishment of parapsychology as an academic discipline, with its main professional organization, the [[Parapsychological Association]], being admitted to the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1969, partly due to the support of figures like [[Margaret Mead]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Despite these efforts, parapsychology has largely remained outside mainstream science, facing an "informal system of scientific apartheid." Critics often point to the lack of tangible, real-world applications and the reliance on statistical evidence as reasons for its marginalization. However, government-sponsored research, such as the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] program, explored the practical applications of psi, particularly remote viewing, for intelligence gathering, often keeping such findings classified due to their controversial nature.[^1]
|
Despite these efforts, parapsychology has largely remained outside mainstream science, facing an "informal system of scientific apartheid." Critics often point to the lack of tangible, real-world applications and the reliance on statistical evidence as reasons for its marginalization. However, government-sponsored research, such as the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] program, explored the practical applications of psi, particularly remote viewing, for intelligence gathering, often keeping such findings classified due to their controversial nature.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Field Office Information Management System (FOIMS) is a computer program develop
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Inslaw first raised this prospect in early 1991, relying on a letter from Terry D. Miller, President of Government Sales Consultants, Inc., to FBI Director William Sessions, which charged that FOIMS was stolen. Inslaw argued that the FBI's response to Miller's letter, which did not outright reject the charge, implied an admission that FOIMS was stolen and was, in fact, PROMIS. However, the FBI's Deputy Assistant Director, Kier T. Boyd, later provided an affidavit stating that the FBI does not use, nor has it ever used, any version of PROMIS, and that FOIMS was developed entirely in-house by the FBI and is not based on or does not contain any portion of PROMIS. Miller himself later stated he did not know whether FOIMS contained stolen software and based his allegations on claims made by others. Inslaw, however, continued to claim that a senior career Justice Department official had admitted that FOIMS was PROMIS.[^1]
|
Inslaw first raised this prospect in early 1991, relying on a letter from Terry D. Miller, President of Government Sales Consultants, Inc., to FBI Director William Sessions, which charged that FOIMS was stolen. Inslaw argued that the FBI's response to Miller's letter, which did not outright reject the charge, implied an admission that FOIMS was stolen and was, in fact, PROMIS. However, the FBI's Deputy Assistant Director, Kier T. Boyd, later provided an affidavit stating that the FBI does not use, nor has it ever used, any version of PROMIS, and that FOIMS was developed entirely in-house by the FBI and is not based on or does not contain any portion of PROMIS. Miller himself later stated he did not know whether FOIMS contained stolen software and based his allegations on claims made by others. Inslaw, however, continued to claim that a senior career Justice Department official had admitted that FOIMS was PROMIS.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Special Counsel's investigation, recognizing the importance Inslaw attached to this issue, hired an expert consultant, Professor Dorothy Denning, Chair of the Computer Science Department at Georgetown University, to settle the issue of whether FOIMS was derived from PROMIS. The FBI cooperated fully, providing access to the FOIMS software. Professor Denning, after reviewing both the operation of FOIMS at FBI Headquarters and PROMIS at the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], concluded that there could be no relation between the two programs. She stated that PROMIS, written in COBOL, is fundamentally different from FOIMS, which was written in the NATURAL/ADABASE programming/database management environment. She concluded that the two programs were so obviously different that further examination of the source code would be a waste of time and money. The Special Counsel expressed complete confidence in Professor Denning's conclusions and the representations of Gordon Zacrep, Section Chief of the FBI's System Development Section, who denied that FOIMS had any relation to PROMIS and stated the FBI had independently developed it. The report concluded that the FBI's FOIMS software is not PROMIS or any derivative of PROMIS. It also noted that Inslaw declined to participate in the review, and that any reasonable person seeing the operation of both systems would agree they are completely different.[^1]
|
The Special Counsel's investigation, recognizing the importance Inslaw attached to this issue, hired an expert consultant, Professor Dorothy Denning, Chair of the Computer Science Department at [[Georgetown University]], to settle the issue of whether FOIMS was derived from PROMIS. The FBI cooperated fully, providing access to the FOIMS software. Professor Denning, after reviewing both the operation of FOIMS at FBI Headquarters and PROMIS at the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], concluded that there could be no relation between the two programs. She stated that PROMIS, written in COBOL, is fundamentally different from FOIMS, which was written in the NATURAL/ADABASE programming/database management environment. She concluded that the two programs were so obviously different that further examination of the source code would be a waste of time and money. The Special Counsel expressed complete confidence in Professor Denning's conclusions and the representations of Gordon Zacrep, Section Chief of the FBI's System Development Section, who denied that FOIMS had any relation to PROMIS and stated the FBI had independently developed it. The report concluded that the FBI's FOIMS software is not PROMIS or any derivative of PROMIS. It also noted that Inslaw declined to participate in the review, and that any reasonable person seeing the operation of both systems would agree they are completely different.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ summary: "The USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier whose F/
|
||||||
date: 2004-11-14
|
date: 2004-11-14
|
||||||
location: Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego
|
location: Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
The [[USS Nimitz]] (CVN-68) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. It was the lead vessel of the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group that was involved in the 2004 [[Tic Tac]], one of the most well-documented and significant [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|UAP]] encounters in modern history.[^1]
|
The [[USS Nimitz]] (CVN-68) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the [[United States Navy]]. It was the lead vessel of the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group that was involved in the 2004 [[Tic Tac]], one of the most well-documented and significant [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|UAP]] encounters in modern history.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 2004 Tic Tac Incident
|
### The 2004 Tic Tac Incident
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ start: 2014
|
||||||
end: 2015
|
end: 2015
|
||||||
location: Atlantic Ocean, off the Southeastern United States
|
location: Atlantic Ocean, off the Southeastern United States
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
The [[USS Roosevelt]] (CVN-71) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. In 2014 and 2015, the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group was at the center of a series of prolonged and deeply concerning encounters with [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) off the coast of the Southeastern United States, from Virginia to Florida.[^1]
|
The [[USS Roosevelt]] (CVN-71) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the [[United States Navy]]. In 2014 and 2015, the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group was at the center of a series of prolonged and deeply concerning encounters with [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) off the coast of the Southeastern United States, from Virginia to Florida.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 2014-2015 Encounters
|
### The 2014-2015 Encounters
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Psychoenergetics
|
title: Psychoenergetics
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Psychoenergetics
|
- Psychoenergetics
|
||||||
|
|
@ -25,11 +25,13 @@ Soviet interest in parapsychology as a potential weapons and intelligence applic
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Soviet research programs intensified in the 1960s-1970s as reports circulated in Western intelligence channels that the Soviets were investing substantial resources in "psychotronic" weapons and remote influence capabilities. U.S. intelligence assessments estimated Soviet annual spending on psychoenergetics research at tens of millions of dollars, with facilities in multiple Soviet republics and research groups at military and academic institutions.[^1]
|
Soviet research programs intensified in the 1960s-1970s as reports circulated in Western intelligence channels that the Soviets were investing substantial resources in "psychotronic" weapons and remote influence capabilities. U.S. intelligence assessments estimated Soviet annual spending on psychoenergetics research at tens of millions of dollars, with facilities in multiple Soviet republics and research groups at military and academic institutions.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On June 12, 1987, Colonel [[Henry Shinol]], Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Studies and Analyses at Headquarters [[United States Air Force|USAF]], asked DIA's Deputy Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence for "an informational briefing on the substance and status of Soviet parapsychology research" for June 30 or July 6, "as part of AF/SA's continuing support to Maj Gen Bissell, AF/IN." DIA's note of July 14 recorded that the briefing "reviewed soviet research in this field, with emphasis on the recent integrated efforts of several U.S.S.R Academy of Science laboratories," and that Shinol "expressed an interest for additional details." The slides, headed "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," ran from [[Vladimir Bekhterev|V. M. Bekhterev]] and [[Leonid Vasiliev|L. L. Vasil'yev]] ("hypnosis," "automatic responses," "long distance (1700 km)," then "open publications" and a "new lab, Leningrad Univ." in 1959-1965) to [[Genady Sergeyev|G. A. Sergeyev]] (1965-1970, "Vasil'yev's lab," "communication (EEG code)," "remote action," [[Ninel Kulagina|N. Kulagina]]) and [[I. M. Kogan]] (1965 to about 1975, "communication, symbols, digits," "long distance (3,000 km)," "screening for talented people," "hypnosis not used," a "low frequency electromagnetic hypothesis"); a 1972 slide had Zinchenko, Leontiev, Lomov and [[Alexander Luria|Luria]] recommending "controlled research" in "Questions of Philosophy" with a "revised definition of 'parapsychology'"; one slide reproduced the entry from the Moscow "Filosofskiy Slovar" of 1980, which ends: "The materialistic approach to research on parapsychological phenomena, which are difficult to explore by experimental means, assists its demystification, and unmasks idealistic speculations about them"; and one quoted [[Yuri Kobzarev|Yu. B. Kobzerev]], "radar pioneer, member USSR Academy of Science," that Kulagina's psychokinesis and L. Korabelnikova's extrasensory perception "are by no means tricks," and [[Vladimir Kotelnikov|V. A. Kotel'nikov]], vice president of the Academy, that "psychokinetic abilities of N. Kulagina are real." Three pages of the deck remain exempt from release.[^900]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### DIA Psychoenergetics Program
|
### DIA Psychoenergetics Program
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1981, [[Jack Vorona]], the Assistant Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency, contacted [[Dale Graff]] and brought him to Washington to help run a classified DIA program formally designated Psychoenergetics. The program had two stated goals: "to evaluate the threat that foreign psychoenergetics achievements might pose to U.S. national security, and to explore the potential of psychoenergetics for use in U.S. intelligence collection."[^1]
|
In 1981, [[Jack Vorona]], the Assistant Director for Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency, contacted [[Dale Graff]] and brought him to Washington to help run a classified DIA program formally designated Psychoenergetics. The program had two stated goals: "to evaluate the threat that foreign psychoenergetics achievements might pose to U.S. national security, and to explore the potential of psychoenergetics for use in U.S. intelligence collection."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Vorona believed that with DIA resources, genuine scientific progress could be made toward understanding [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and psychokinesis. The DIA Psychoenergetics program oversaw and funded the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] and later [[STARGATE PROJECT|Sun Streak]] remote viewing operations at [[Fort Meade]], and the SRI research program directed by [[Hal Puthoff]] continued to receive DIA-channeled funding.[^1]
|
Vorona believed that with DIA resources, genuine scientific progress could be made toward understanding [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and psychokinesis. The DIA Psychoenergetics program oversaw and funded the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] and later Sun Streak remote viewing operations at [[Fort Meade]], and the SRI research program directed by [[Hal Puthoff]] continued to receive DIA-channeled funding.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The program's conceptual framework was explicitly competitive: American intelligence officials saw Soviet and Chinese psychoenergetics research as a potential asymmetric threat requiring a response, regardless of whether the phenomena were real. If the Soviets had functional remote viewing or remote influence capabilities, the United States needed to understand them; and if U.S. researchers could develop comparable capabilities, they provided a potential intelligence collection tool operating outside normal technical surveillance channels.[^1]
|
The program's conceptual framework was explicitly competitive: American intelligence officials saw Soviet and Chinese psychoenergetics research as a potential asymmetric threat requiring a response, regardless of whether the phenomena were real. If the Soviets had functional remote viewing or remote influence capabilities, the United States needed to understand them; and if U.S. researchers could develop comparable capabilities, they provided a potential intelligence collection tool operating outside normal technical surveillance channels.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -39,9 +41,10 @@ A significant driver of DIA Psychoenergetics investment was intelligence on Chin
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Transition to STARGATE
|
### Transition to STARGATE
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The DIA Psychoenergetics program provided organizational continuity for U.S. remote viewing research from 1981 through the successive program designations Grill Flame (1978-1983), [[Center Lane]] (1983-1985), [[Sun Streak]] (1985-1991), and finally [[STARGATE PROJECT|STARGATE]] (1991-1995). When the program was declassified and transferred to CIA control in 1995, and subsequently evaluated by the [[American Institutes for Research]] in a study that resulted in the program's termination, the full history of Psychoenergetics/STARGATE became available for review.[^2]
|
The DIA Psychoenergetics program provided organizational continuity for U.S. remote viewing research from 1981 through the successive program designations Grill Flame (1978-1983), [[Center Lane]] (1983-1985), [[Sun Streak]] (1985-1991), and finally STARGATE (1991-1995). When the program was declassified and transferred to CIA control in 1995, and subsequently evaluated by the [[American Institutes for Research]] in a study that resulted in the program's termination, the full history of Psychoenergetics/STARGATE became available for review.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017, pp. 197-226. Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017, pp. 197-226. Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
[^2]: American Institutes for Research. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications*. September 29, 1995 (declassified).
|
[^2]: American Institutes for Research. *An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications*. September 29, 1995 (declassified).
|
||||||
|
[^900]: Henry E. Shinol, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Studies and Analyses, Headquarters USAF, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Soviet Parapsychology Research Briefing," June 12, 1987, and cover note of July 14, 1987, with paper briefing slides "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600320001-8 to -004-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
created: 2025-07-22
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||||
title: Remote Viewing
|
title: Remote Viewing
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- concept
|
- concept
|
||||||
|
|
@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ Remote viewing encompasses various methodologies and techniques:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
* [[Associative Remote Viewing|Associative Remote Viewing (ARV)]]: A technique used for [[Precognition|precognition]], where objects or geographic locations are used as surrogates for numbers or other abstract data that are difficult to remote-view directly. For example, a teddy bear might represent a specific number in a lottery, and the remote viewer would describe the teddy bear to predict the number.[^1]
|
* [[Associative Remote Viewing|Associative Remote Viewing (ARV)]]: A technique used for [[Precognition|precognition]], where objects or geographic locations are used as surrogates for numbers or other abstract data that are difficult to remote-view directly. For example, a teddy bear might represent a specific number in a lottery, and the remote viewer would describe the teddy bear to predict the number.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
SRI's written protocol of November 1978, by Puthoff and Targ, and its revision of August 1979, by Puthoff, Targ and [[Edwin May]], both in the CIA's files, set out the local-target procedure: a pool of more than fifty Bay Area sites chosen "by an experimenter who will not interact with the subject after that," a target drawn by "a Texas Instruments SR-51 hand calculator," a fifteen-minute viewing in "an isolated windowless room of the Radio Physics Laboratory" while an outbound person stood at the site, an "inbound experimenter" whose task was "to make it 'safe' for the subject to experience remote viewing" ("no hypnosis, strobe lights, or sensory-deprivation procedures are ever used"), feedback at the site "for each experiment to ensure success," and judging by "an SRI research analyst not otherwise associated with the series," who ranked each transcript against each site in a 6x6 matrix scored by "a direct-count-of-permutations method" that, the authors wrote, applied "even in the limiting case in which the target pool is completely known a priori to all involved."[^902]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Nature Exchange
|
### The Nature Exchange
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff's paper in *Nature* of October 18, 1974, concluded that "a channel exists whereby information about a remote location can be obtained by means of an as yet unidentified perceptual modality." In 1978 [[David Marks]] and Richard Kammann reported in the same journal that they could not replicate the results and that the transcripts of [[Pat Price]]'s nine trials contained cues, such as "second place of the day," from which judges could order them; Targ, Puthoff, and [[Charles Tart]] replied in January 1979 that a judge given transcripts edited of such cues matched seven of nine, and that the critique "did not address the quality of the remote-viewing descriptions in the transcripts per se, but was instead limited to criticism of a particular judging procedure." The Army's Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, replicating the SRI protocol in twenty sessions of its own in 1978 and 1979, "did not result in statistical significance."[^3]
|
Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff's paper in *Nature* of October 18, 1974, concluded that "a channel exists whereby information about a remote location can be obtained by means of an as yet unidentified perceptual modality." In 1978 [[David Marks]] and Richard Kammann reported in the same journal that they could not replicate the results and that the transcripts of [[Pat Price]]'s nine trials contained cues, such as "second place of the day," from which judges could order them; Targ, Puthoff, and [[Charles Tart]] replied in January 1979 that a judge given transcripts edited of such cues matched seven of nine, and that the critique "did not address the quality of the remote-viewing descriptions in the transcripts per se, but was instead limited to criticism of a particular judging procedure." The Army's Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, replicating the SRI protocol in twenty sessions of its own in 1978 and 1979, "did not result in statistical significance."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -45,8 +47,12 @@ The study of remote viewing has led to speculation about its connection to the [
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Furthermore, the apparent precognitive abilities of UAP, such as the [[Tic Tac]] seeming to know the future location of the F/A-18 pilots, have led some to speculate that the operators of these craft may possess highly evolved psychic abilities, or that consciousness itself may be a fundamental component of their propulsion systems. The idea that remote viewing may be a vestigial human ability, a form of pre-linguistic communication, has also been proposed.[^2]
|
Furthermore, the apparent precognitive abilities of UAP, such as the [[Tic Tac]] seeming to know the future location of the F/A-18 pilots, have led some to speculate that the operators of these craft may possess highly evolved psychic abilities, or that consciousness itself may be a fundamental component of their propulsion systems. The idea that remote viewing may be a vestigial human ability, a form of pre-linguistic communication, has also been proposed.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
David Marks and [[Richard Kammann]]'s Nature letter of August 17, 1978, reported that duplicate experiments at the [[University of Otago]] "do not verify their conclusions" and attributed the Price matches to cues in the transcripts; Puthoff, Targ and Charles Tart's reply, drafted in January 1979 and printed in 1980, reported a rejudging of edited transcripts; Marks returned to the argument in Nature in 1981 and, with Christopher Scott, in 1986, and in the Skeptical Inquirer in 1982: "Well-controlled experiments never find the RV effect, while poorly controlled experiments nearly always do." A separate evaluation of 1979 by Harry and Arlene Snyder of Blacksburg, Virginia, held by the CIA, reached similar conclusions on methodology without citing Marks and Kammann.[^901]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
[^2]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
[^2]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||||
[^3]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607, read in the CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100220001-8 on archive.org. Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments," *Nature,* vol. 274, 1978, pp. 680-681, not obtained; quoted from Puthoff, Targ, and Tart, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," with Tart, "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," submitted to *Nature,* January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5, archive.org mirror. US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, "Project Grill Flame AMSAA Phase I Efforts," Interim Note No. 15, July 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100080005-8.
|
[^3]: Targ, Russell, and Harold Puthoff. "Information Transmission under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," *Nature,* vol. 251, October 18, 1974, pp. 602-607, read in the CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100220001-8 on archive.org. Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments," *Nature,* vol. 274, 1978, pp. 680-681, not obtained; quoted from Puthoff, Targ, and Tart, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," with Tart, "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," submitted to *Nature,* January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5, archive.org mirror. US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, "Project Grill Flame AMSAA Phase I Efforts," Interim Note No. 15, July 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100080005-8.
|
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[^901]: Marks, David, and Richard Kammann. "Information transmission in remote viewing experiments." *Nature,* vol. 274, August 17, 1978, pp. 680-681, received July 2, 1977, accepted May 31, 1978. https://www.nature.com/articles/274680a0 (abstract and dates only; the text is behind a paywall). Puthoff, H. E., and Russell Targ, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," and Tart, Charles T., "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," January 1979, "submitted for publication to Nature," CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5; published as Tart, Puthoff and Targ, *Nature,* vol. 284, 1980, p. 191, not seen. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Marks, David F. "Remote Viewing Revisited." *Skeptical Inquirer,* vol. 6, no. 4, Summer 1982, pp. 18-29. https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1982/07/22165420/p20.pdf Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, final technical report, contract 77F104420, Systemetrics, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, June 1, 1979, parts 1 and 2, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100440001-9 and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. The sponsor of the contract is not named in the report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^902]: Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "Standard Remote-Viewing Protocol (Local Targets)." SRI International, November 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500400001-4 (copy at CIA-RDP96-00788R001300050001-3). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, H. E., to Manfred Gale, "SRI/Gale Committee Meeting of 24-25 July," August 3, 1979, with the enclosure "Standard Remote Viewing (RV) Procedures: Local Sites," by H. E. Puthoff, R. Targ and E. C. May, August 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100060001-6 (memorandum alone at CIA-RDP96-00788R002000240028-5). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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