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created: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-09-21
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title: Albert Stubblebine
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aliases:
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- Albert Stubblebine
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@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ tags:
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- RemoteViewing
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- 1980s
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category: "Military"
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summary: "Major General Albert Stubblebine III was the U.S. Army INSCOM commander from 1981 to 1984 who was the military's most senior advocate of psychic research for intelligence applications, personally believed in training soldiers for anomalous physical feats, and provided high-level Army support that kept the STARGATE remote viewing program funded through its critical early operational phase."
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summary: "INSCOM commander from 1981 to 1984 who kept the Army's remote-viewing unit alive as Center Lane with security funds after Congress cut it, and pursued spoon bending and other human performance experiments."
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born: 1930-02-06
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died: 2017-02-06
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location: "New York, New York"
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---
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Major General Albert Newton Stubblebine III (February 6, 1930 - February 6, 2017) was a U.S. Army general who served as commanding general of the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] from 1981 to 1984, during which he was the most senior American military officer publicly associated with belief in psychic phenomena and their military applications. His command authority provided the institutional protection that allowed the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] and [[STARGATE PROJECT|Center Lane]] remote viewing programs to survive bureaucratic resistance and continue operating through the early 1980s. He died on his 87th birthday.
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Major General Albert Newton Stubblebine III (February 6, 1930 - February 6, 2017) was a U.S. Army general who served as commanding general of the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] from 1981 to 1984, during which he was the most senior American military officer publicly associated with belief in psychic phenomena and their military applications. His command authority provided the institutional protection that allowed the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] and Center Lane remote viewing programs to survive bureaucratic resistance and continue operating through the early 1980s. He died on his 87th birthday.
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### Military Career
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@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ Stubblebine was a genuine believer in the potential of unconventional human capa
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Reports from officers who served under him described Stubblebine attempting to walk through the wall of his Pentagon office, based on his conviction that this was theoretically achievable through the right mental training. These reports, which circulated within the Army intelligence community and later became part of the broader cultural record of the STARGATE era documented in Jon Ronson's *The Men Who Stare at Goats* (2004), illustrated both the sincerity of his beliefs and the distance between those beliefs and mainstream military culture.
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He pushed for expanded use of psychics throughout Army intelligence and organized training programs intended to develop soldiers' latent psychic capabilities. These included consciousness training exercises at [[Fort Bragg]] for special operations personnel. The cultural environment these programs created - sometimes called the "First Earth Battalion" culture after Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon's influential 1979 concept paper proposing a psychic warrior force - was an institutional artifact of Stubblebine's INSCOM command.
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He pushed for expanded use of psychics throughout Army intelligence and organized training programs intended to develop soldiers' latent psychic capabilities. These included consciousness training exercises at [[Fort Bragg]] for special operations personnel. The cultural environment these programs created - sometimes called the "[[First Earth Battalion]]" culture after Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon's influential 1979 concept paper proposing a psychic warrior force - was an institutional artifact of Stubblebine's INSCOM command.
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### Support for STARGATE
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@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ His advocacy also had limits: the program's credibility within mainstream Army i
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Stubblebine was relieved of the INSCOM command in 1984 and retired from the Army. After his departure, the program continued but lost some of its most senior Army champion. The DIA subsequently took over primary program management.
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### The Record
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Stubblebine received his first Grill Flame briefing as incoming commander of INSCOM on June 30, 1981, from the outgoing project manager, Lieutenant Colonel [[Murray Watt]], and his successor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Jachim. After the Senate intelligence committee's budget subcommittee cut the Army's psychoenergetic operations from the National Foreign Intelligence Program at the end of fiscal 1982, he "decided to continue INSCOM's project and provide funding with Security and Investigative Activities (S&IA) monies" under the provisional special access program [[Center Lane]]. The project manager's records of his meetings show him on November 30, 1983, confirming "his decision to hold a 'bonding' ceremony" for the RAPT training, to be led by Lieutenant Colonel [[John B. Alexander|John Alexander]], and on January 6, 1984, saying of Alexander's unauthorized debriefing of [[Russell Targ]] that "he had not instructed LTC Alexander to debrief Targ because Alexander was not a trained intelligence officer."[^1]
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At the briefing of June 30, 1981, attended by Brigadier General Flynn, Colonel Weinstein, Colonel White, and the two project managers, "MG Stubblebine instructed us to ensure that there were no legal problems concerning our joint contractual effort with DIA, especially to be watchful of mixing OM&A and R&D monies," and, reviewing the customer evaluations, "expressed the thought that the evaluations were a clear indication that we were on to something and that work in this area had to continue."[^2]
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### Post-Military Career
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After retirement, Stubblebine became involved in alternative health movements and supplement businesses. He married psychiatrist Rima Laibow, and the two became prominent voices in alternative medicine and health freedom advocacy, including campaigns against mandatory vaccination and opposition to pharmaceutical industry regulation. This later career was distant in character from his military intelligence background but reflected a consistent pattern of skepticism toward mainstream institutional authority.
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@ -55,5 +61,5 @@ Stubblebine died February 6, 2017 - his 87th birthday - at his home in [[New Mex
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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, pp. 160-185 (covers Stubblebine's INSCOM command and its role in the remote viewing program). Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997, pp. 210-240.
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[^2]: Ronson, Jon. *The Men Who Stare at Goats.* Simon & Schuster, 2004 (Stubblebine is a central figure; documents the wall-walking incidents and the Grill Flame culture under his command). Channon, Jim. "First Earth Battalion Operations Manual." U.S. Army document, 1979 (the concept paper that articulated the psychic warrior vision Stubblebine embraced).
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[^1]: 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. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "Briefing - Project Center Lane," c. 1984, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100180002-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^2]: Memorandum for the record, "Initial Grill Flame Briefing to MG Stubblebine as CG, INSCOM, 30 June 1981," July 1, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220001-0. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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---
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created: 2026-05-15
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updated: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-09-21
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title: Andrija Puharich
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aliases:
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- Andrija Puharich
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- 1950s
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- 1960s
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- 1970s
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summary: "Andrija Puharich was a physician and parapsychologist who founded the Round Table Foundation in 1949, conducted Army-contracted ESP research at Edgewood Arsenal, brought Uri Geller to Stanford Research Institute for CIA-funded testing in 1972, and died alone and impoverished in 1995."
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summary: "Physician and parapsychologist who lectured the Pentagon on ESP in psychological warfare in 1952, founded the Round Table Foundation, and brought Uri Geller to Stanford Research Institute in 1972."
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born: 1918-02-19
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died: 1995-01-03
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location: "Chicago, Illinois"
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---
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Henry Karel "Andrija" Puharich (1918–1995) was a prominent American physician, research scientist, and parapsychologist who became a central figure in the U.S. government's investigations into [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] during the [[Cold War]]. His lifelong quest to understand the nature of consciousness and anomalous mental phenomena led him to explore the intersection of science, mysticism, and the supernatural[^1].
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Henry Karel "Andrija" Puharich (1918-1995) was a prominent American physician, research scientist, and parapsychologist who became a central figure in the U.S. government's investigations into [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] during the [[Cold War]]. His lifelong quest to understand the nature of consciousness and anomalous mental phenomena led him to explore the intersection of science, mysticism, and the supernatural[^1].
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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].
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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].
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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 [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and related phenomena[^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].
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The Warrenton Estate, Puharich's home and laboratory, became the center of his research. Here, he conducted experiments on audio waves and human hearing, collaborating with ear surgeon [[Samuel Rosen]], whose accidental discovery of the "Rosen stapes" operation brought prestige and grants to the foundation[^1]. Puharich's mystical beliefs deepened through his mentorship with [[John Hays Hammond Jr.]], a wealthy inventor and ESP advocate. Hammond, influenced by [[Nikola Tesla]], believed scientific inspiration could come from an unknown energy force in dreams. Together, they built a [[Faraday Cage]] to test ESP on [[Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Waves|ELF waves]]. Their "Project I" involved psychics like [[Eileen Garrett]], whose ESP abilities reportedly increased inside the cage[^1].
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Puharich also investigated audio aberrations, collaborating with [[Warren S. McCulloch]], a cybernetics founder and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] asset. They discovered that a machinist hearing voices was actually picking up radio signals due to carborundum dust on his dental fillings, a finding that garnered attention from *[[The New York Times]]* and the [[U.S. Navy]][^1].
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Puharich's work caught the attention of the [[Pentagon]]. In 1952, Lieutenant Colonel [[John B. Stanley]] of the [[U.S. Army]]'s Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare, who also served as an Army liaison to the CIA, met with Puharich. This led to Puharich delivering classified briefings and being recalled to military service in March 1953, where he worked at the [[U.S. Army Chemical Center]] in Edgewood, Maryland[^1]. His task was to find a drug that could enhance ESP, mirroring the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s quest for a truth serum[^1].
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Puharich's work caught the attention of the [[Pentagon]]. In 1952, Lieutenant Colonel [[John B. Stanley]] of the [[U.S. Army]]'s Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare, who also served as an Army liaison to the CIA, met with Puharich. This led to Puharich delivering classified briefings and being recalled to military service in March 1953, where he worked at the [[U.S. Army Chemical Center]] in Edgewood, Maryland[^1]. His task was to find a drug that could enhance ESP, mirroring the Central Intelligence Agency's quest for a truth serum[^1].
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During this period, Puharich became obsessed with the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh), after [[Alice Astor Bouverie]] informed him of [[Harry Stump]]'s channeling of an "Egyptian persona" that spoke of such a drug. Puharich learned of [[R. Gordon Wasson]]'s expeditions to Mexico in search of the mushroom and briefed his Army superiors on it[^1]. However, the CIA, through [[James Moore]], bypassed Puharich and approached Wasson directly, leading to Puharich being sidelined from the [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA Subproject 58]][^1].
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During this period, Puharich became obsessed with the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh), after Alice Astor Bouverie informed him of [[Harry Stump]]'s channeling of an "Egyptian persona" that spoke of such a drug. Puharich learned of [[R. Gordon Wasson]]'s expeditions to Mexico in search of the mushroom and briefed his Army superiors on it[^1]. However, the CIA, through [[James Moore]], bypassed Puharich and approached Wasson directly, leading to Puharich being sidelined from the [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA Subproject 58]][^1].
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Puharich's personal life suffered during his Army service. His wife, Jinny, battled severe depression and underwent insulin shock therapy. After their divorce, Jinny died by suicide in 1959[^1]. Puharich later married Bep Hermans.
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Upon his return to civilian life in 1955, Puharich continued his research at the [[Round Table Foundation]]. He experimented with *teonanáctl* on himself and others, including [[Harry Stump]], with [[Aldous Huxley]] as a witness. While the experiments did not yield the divinatory powers Puharich hoped for in Stump, they highlighted the ethical complexities of his research[^1].
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Upon his return to civilian life in 1955, Puharich continued his research at the Round Table Foundation. He experimented with *teonanáctl* on himself and others, including Harry Stump, with [[Aldous Huxley]] as a witness. While the experiments did not yield the divinatory powers Puharich hoped for in Stump, they highlighted the ethical complexities of his research[^1].
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After the death of [[Alice Astor Bouverie]], a key financial supporter, and growing paranoia about CIA interest in his research, Puharich and [[Peter Hurkos]] traveled to Mexico in search of more mushrooms. The [[Round Table Foundation]] eventually closed in 1957[^1].
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After the death of Alice Astor Bouverie, a key financial supporter, and growing paranoia about CIA interest in his research, Puharich and [[Peter Hurkos]] traveled to Mexico in search of more mushrooms. The Round Table Foundation eventually closed in 1957[^1].
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Puharich continued to work on secret government contracts, including for [[NASA]] and the [[Air Force Systems Command]], exploring concepts like "skin reading" - the idea that the skin could function as an organ of sensory communication beyond touch. He demonstrated this with deaf individuals, convincing [[Paul S. Henshaw]] of the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] of its legitimacy[^1].
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His interests also extended to psychic healing, leading him to Brazil to study [[Arigo]], a healer who reportedly performed surgeries with a pocketknife. Puharich documented Arigo's work, hoping to secure military interest in "psychic healing on the battlefield," though without success[^1].
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In 1970, Puharich met [[Itzhak Bentov]], who introduced him to [[Uri Geller]], an Israeli with extraordinary psychokinetic and telepathic abilities. Puharich became obsessed with Geller, believing he could secure a government research contract if he could test him under laboratory conditions. His efforts led to Geller being tested by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI), though the CIA viewed Puharich as a "potential liability"[^1]. Puharich acted as Geller's official manager, often involving the press, which complicated the CIA's desire for secrecy[^1].
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In 1970, Puharich met [[Itzhak Bentov]], who introduced him to [[Uri Geller]], an Israeli with extraordinary psychokinetic and telepathic abilities. Puharich became obsessed with Geller, believing he could secure a government research contract if he could test him under laboratory conditions. His efforts led to Geller being tested by the Central Intelligence Agency at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI), though the CIA viewed Puharich as a "potential liability"[^1]. Puharich acted as Geller's official manager, often involving the press, which complicated the CIA's desire for secrecy[^1].
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Throughout his life, Puharich maintained a theory that extraterrestrials were trying to send messages to humans through psychic people, and that [[Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Waves|ELF waves]] were responsible for the sicknesses of the age[^1].
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Throughout his life, Puharich maintained a theory that extraterrestrials were trying to send messages to humans through psychic people, and that ELF waves were responsible for the sicknesses of the age[^1].
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Andrija Puharich died tragically in 1995, alone and impoverished, under threat of eviction from the estate of his last benefactor, [[R. J. Reynolds]]. He was 76 and suffering from dementia, kidney failure, and gangrene[^1].
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The CIA's own history of its interest in parapsychology, written in 1977, began with Puharich: "in 1952 the Department of Defense was lectured on the possible usefulness of extrasensory perception in psychological warfare," citing his paper "On the Possible Usefulness of Extrasensory Perception in Psychological Warfare" to a Pentagon conference of that year, which "induced one of the earliest U.S. Government parapsychology investigations" when the chief of the [[Technical Services Division]] commissioned a review from Stephen Abrams of the parapsychology laboratory at [[Oxford University|Oxford]]. In January 1973 an officer of the Office of Research and Development, reviewing the SRI film of Uri Geller, wrote that "Geller's connections with Dr. A. Puharich, with whom many unsavory reports have been linked, also is disturbing."[^2]
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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]: Kress, Kenneth A. "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusions," *Studies in Intelligence,* vol. 21, no. 4, winter 1977, declassified. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Research and Development, memorandum ORD-413-73, "Briefing by Stanford Research Institute," January 24, 1973, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400070029-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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- Charlie Rose
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- Charlie Rose (NC)
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- Charles Grandison Rose III
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- Charles G. Rose III
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- Charles Rose
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created: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-05-18
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updated: 2026-09-21
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category: "Intelligence & Government"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Stargate
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born: 1939-08-10
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died: 2012-09-04
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location: "Fayetteville, North Carolina"
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summary: "Charles Grandison Rose III (1939-2012) was a Democratic congressman from North Carolina who chaired the House Intelligence Committee's Evaluation Subcommittee, publicly championed the Grill Flame remote viewing program in the late 1970s, and later applied congressional pressure that helped reopen the DOJ inquiry into The Finders."
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location: "North Carolina"
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summary: "North Carolina congressman on the House intelligence committee, briefed on the CIA and Army remote-viewing programs from 1978 to 1981, who pressed for their funding and later on the Finders case."
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---
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Charles Grandison Rose III (August 10, 1939 - September 4, 2012) was a Democratic congressman who represented [[North Carolina]]'s 7th congressional district for twenty-four years, from 1973 to 1997. He became a vocal public advocate for the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]] remote viewing program and later, alongside Rep. [[Tom Lewis]] (R-FL), applied congressional pressure that contributed to the Department of Justice reopening its inquiry into [[The Finders]] case.[^1][^2]
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In October 1993, private consultant [[Henry "Skip" Clements]] provided Rose and Rep. Tom Lewis with copies of U.S. Customs Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]]'s 1987 reports on The Finders. Rose and Lewis applied congressional pressure on the DOJ. The CIA's response was dismissive - a CIA spokesman told Rose, "This story is a non-story. I think of it as a nothing-burger." Nevertheless, the combined congressional pressure and the prospect of a CBS 48 Hours segment prompted the DOJ's October 26, 1993 memo from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney to FBI Assistant Director Larry A. Potts, tasking the FBI with a preliminary inquiry.[^3]
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### The Documents
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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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### Briefings
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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, January 14, 1981, and, "on human use issue," April 16, 1981.[^5][^6][^7]
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### April 16, 1981
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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]
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### Afterward
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A 1979 magazine article identified him as chairman of the House subcommittee on intelligence evaluation and oversight, and CIA files preserve his public remark that "I've seen some incredible examples of remote viewing, so much so that I think we ought to pay close attention to developments in this field and especially to what the Soviets are doing." When the program was made public in 1995 he was reported as declining to discuss it: "Most of what I have seen in this area has been classified."[^8]
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### The Finders
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In October 1993 the Florida consultant [[Henry Skip Clements|Henry "Skip" Clements]], who had obtained the 1987 Customs reports of Ramon J. Martinez on The Finders, met Rose and Representative Tom Lewis of Florida, and the two "subsequently applied pressure to the Department of Justice"; the acting assistant attorney general, John C. Keeney, tasked the FBI with a preliminary inquiry on October 26, 1993.[^9]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
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[^2]: Wikipedia, "Charlie Rose (politician)."
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[^3]: 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 / January 3, 1994. Also: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders.
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[^4]: Congress.gov, member record, Charles Rose; "Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Rose, 12-term N.C. congressman, dies at 73," *Washington Post,* September 2012, headline and lede only.
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[^5]: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Legislative Counsel, "Briefing of Representative Charles Rose (D., N.C.), Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 9 February 1978," OLC 78-0576, CIA-RDP81M00980R000600250087-4, first page only. 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.
|
||||
[^6]: 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.
|
||||
[^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.
|
||||
[^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.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] began sending him classified files, most
|
|||
|
||||
Newspaper clippings filed by the defense in 1978 reported that Propper, Assistant Attorney General [[Stanley Pottinger]], and the director of central intelligence, George Bush, had "met to determine to what extent that agency could help in the investigation," and that "a carefully worded agreement placing the Letelier case in a 'national security' status allowed that cooperation." During the trial Townley telephoned Chile from Propper's office, with his consent for calls about the extradition proceedings, and once, on January 30, 1979, without it, a call that was taped at the other end and given to the defense.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The letter rogatory that carried the investigation to Chile, signed by Chief Judge William B. Bryant and certified by [[Cyrus Vance]] and [[Griffin Bell]], asked the Supreme Court of Chile to have "[[René Riveros|Juan Williams Rose]]" and "[[Rolando Mosqueira|Alejandro Romeral Jara]]" answer 55 written questions under oath, with Propper present. It stated that "at least one of these men met with one of the persons believed to be responsible" for the murders. The Chilean prosecutor in turn asked for a statement from Vernon Walters; Propper had already noted on June 9 that Walters had retired on July 2, 1976, and "was no longer there at the time either mission to the United States by DINA personnel took place"; he and Barcella sent the FBI's interview of June 14 on June 22.[^4]
|
||||
The letter rogatory that carried the investigation to Chile, signed by Chief Judge William B. Bryant and certified by [[Cyrus Vance]] and [[Griffin Bell]], asked the Supreme Court of Chile to have "[[René Riveros|Juan Williams Rose]]" and "[[Rolando Mosqueira|Alejandro Romeral Jara]]" answer 55 written questions under oath, with Propper present; the foreign ministry's legal adviser, Gustavo Chamorro, advised on March 3, 1978, that the secrecy of the Chilean sumario did not allow his attendance. It stated that "at least one of these men met with one of the persons believed to be responsible" for the murders. The Chilean prosecutor in turn asked for a statement from Vernon Walters; Propper had already noted on June 9 that Walters had retired on July 2, 1976, and "was no longer there at the time either mission to the United States by DINA personnel took place"; he and Barcella sent the FBI's interview of June 14 on June 22.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Afterward
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -35,20 +35,23 @@ On September 10, 1976, at Union City, Townley "outlined my DINA mission to assas
|
|||
|
||||
Asked by the prosecutor [[Eugene Propper]] and the agent [[Carter Cornick]] where he had been the night before the bombing, Novo said: "That is my trump card. That is the ace up my sleeve." The informant [[Ricardo Morales Navarrete|Ricardo Morales]], then an officer of the Venezuelan [[DISIP]], had planted a story that Bosch was telling associates the "Novo brothers" had killed Letelier. "Bosch is a liar and a traitor to freedom," Novo said.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
An undated memorandum to Contreras from Washington, written after the second Carter-Ford debate of October 1976 and enclosing photocopies of Letelier's diary then in the hands of the *Washington Star* reporter [[Jeremiah O'Leary]], reported: "Some friends from over there tell me again that the FBI reached the conclusion that the perpetrators of the attack on Letelier were 4 members of Brigade 2506, whose names are as follows: Roberto Carvallo, Carlos Pascual, Vicente Vásquez, and Guillermo Novo. They would have been deceived and paid by a Castro agent."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Trials
|
||||
|
||||
Indicted on August 1, 1978, Novo was tried with Alvin Ross and his brother Ignacio Novo from January 8, 1979. Michael Townley, who had pleaded, testified that DINA "ordered him to secure assistance from the CNM" so as to isolate itself, and that Novo had insisted Townley take part personally. A jailhouse informant, Antonio Polytarides, testified to Novo's admissions. The defense argued that Townley "was in fact an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency which had planned the assassination of Letelier." On February 14, 1979, the jury convicted all three. On March 23 Judge [[Barrington Parker]] sentenced Novo and Ross to concurrent life terms for conspiracy, for killing a foreign official, for the murder of Letelier under District of Columbia law, and for destroying a vehicle in interstate commerce, and a consecutive life term for the murder of Moffitt under District law; the judgment on the third count was vacated on March 27. Novo received five years, concurrent, on each count of false declarations; Ignacio received eight years. Polytarides's evidence was one sentence Novo spoke to him in mid-December 1978, when Polytarides was reporting to a customs agent on gun purchases: "I have been betrayed by some persons in my case, but we will pay them back." On September 15, 1980, the court of appeals reversed under *[[United States v. Henry]]*, decided that June, which barred testimony from informants cultivated by the government among pretrial detainees; Ignacio's conviction fell for want of a separate trial. The government's petition for rehearing was denied on December 9, 1980. Novo, held at [[Leavenworth]], and Ross, at [[Marion, Illinois|Marion]], were moved to Washington for the retrial; Parker refused on December 23, 1980, to hand the case to another judge and let their bail applications lie for weeks. At the retrial of May 1981 the jury acquitted Novo and Ross of the murders and convicted Novo of the false declarations. On June 26, 1981, his lawyer asked that another judge sentence him, since Parker "sentenced this defendant to two life sentences in the first case"; Parker refused and gave him 54 months with credit for the three years served, recommending a minimum-security prison near New York. In October 1981 he was released from federal prison by mistake, officials having confused him with his brother. An FBI informant had reported in January 1978 that he was organizing [[CORU]] cells in Union City "for military action in the U.S. and against the country of Venezuela."[^4][^5]
|
||||
Indicted on August 1, 1978, Novo was tried with Alvin Ross and his brother Ignacio Novo from January 8, 1979. Michael Townley, who had pleaded, testified that DINA "ordered him to secure assistance from the CNM" so as to isolate itself, and that Novo had insisted Townley take part personally. A jailhouse informant, Antonio Polytarides, testified to Novo's admissions. The defense argued that Townley "was in fact an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency which had planned the assassination of Letelier." On February 14, 1979, the jury convicted all three. On March 23 Judge [[Barrington Parker]] sentenced Novo and Ross to concurrent life terms for conspiracy, for killing a foreign official, for the murder of Letelier under District of Columbia law, and for destroying a vehicle in interstate commerce, and a consecutive life term for the murder of Moffitt under District law; the judgment on the third count was vacated on March 27. Novo received five years, concurrent, on each count of false declarations; Ignacio received eight years. Polytarides's evidence was one sentence Novo spoke to him in mid-December 1978, when Polytarides was reporting to a customs agent on gun purchases: "I have been betrayed by some persons in my case, but we will pay them back." On September 15, 1980, the court of appeals reversed under *[[United States v. Henry]]*, decided that June, which barred testimony from informants cultivated by the government among pretrial detainees; Ignacio's conviction fell for want of a separate trial. The government's petition for rehearing was denied on December 9, 1980. Novo, held at [[Leavenworth]], and Ross, at [[Marion, Illinois|Marion]], were moved to Washington for the retrial; Parker refused on December 23, 1980, to hand the case to another judge and let their bail applications lie for weeks. At the retrial of May 1981 the jury acquitted Novo and Ross of the murders and convicted Novo of the false declarations. On June 26, 1981, his lawyer asked that another judge sentence him, since Parker "sentenced this defendant to two life sentences in the first case"; Parker refused and gave him 54 months with credit for the three years served, recommending a minimum-security prison near New York. In October 1981 he was released from federal prison by mistake, officials having confused him with his brother. An FBI informant had reported in January 1978 that he was organizing [[CORU]] cells in Union City "for military action in the U.S. and against the country of Venezuela."[^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The CIA Defense
|
||||
|
||||
Defense counsel told the jury in opening that "the CIA and not the Chilean government masterminded the Letelier assassination." Parker ruled: "I'm not going to let you put the CIA on trial in this case," and barred cross-examination of government witnesses on the subject, so that the prosecutor could ask Senator [[George McGovern]] what Letelier had said to him about the agency ("Nothing that I can recall") while the defense could not follow. The appeal brief rested the theory on "Townley's admissions that he had had several contacts with the CIA," on discovery material showing he "had been interviewed by the CIA and had been given 'operational status,'" on the absence from the agency's folder on Townley of any indication that he had worked for DINA, and on "a CIA front organization" in [[Florida]] said to have "attempted to establish an alibi for Townley on the day of the Letelier assassination." The organization was [[Audio Intelligence Devices]] of John Holcomb in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], where Townley, by his own testimony, spent several hours on the morning of September 21, "signing in and out as was required," while the bomb went off in Washington. The government answered that Townley had twice telephoned the agency's public office in [[Miami]], in 1970 and 1973, and "never did any work whatsoever for the CIA"; that its director of security, [[Robert Gambino]], had testified he did not know whether there were agents in Chile in the early 1970s; and that Audio Intelligence Devices "has never been a 'front,' proprietary, or any other type of sub-organization owing allegiance to the CIA," while quoting a study of freelance operators to the effect that Holcomb "won't talk about any connections he may have to the CIA, but creates the impression that the ties are there, and binding." Newspaper clippings the defense filed to show prejudicial publicity reported that Propper, Assistant Attorney General [[Stanley Pottinger]], and the director of central intelligence, [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]], had met to decide how far the agency could help, under "a carefully worded agreement placing the Letelier case in a 'national security' status."[^6][^7]
|
||||
Defense counsel told the jury in opening that "the CIA and not the Chilean government masterminded the Letelier assassination." Parker ruled: "I'm not going to let you put the CIA on trial in this case," and barred cross-examination of government witnesses on the subject, so that the prosecutor could ask Senator [[George McGovern]] what Letelier had said to him about the agency ("Nothing that I can recall") while the defense could not follow. The appeal brief rested the theory on "Townley's admissions that he had had several contacts with the CIA," on discovery material showing he "had been interviewed by the CIA and had been given 'operational status,'" on the absence from the agency's folder on Townley of any indication that he had worked for DINA, and on "a CIA front organization" in [[Florida]] said to have "attempted to establish an alibi for Townley on the day of the Letelier assassination." The organization was [[Audio Intelligence Devices]] of John Holcomb in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], where Townley, by his own testimony, spent several hours on the morning of September 21, "signing in and out as was required," while the bomb went off in Washington. The government answered that Townley had twice telephoned the agency's public office in [[Miami]], in 1970 and 1973, and "never did any work whatsoever for the CIA"; that its director of security, [[Robert Gambino]], had testified he did not know whether there were agents in Chile in the early 1970s; and that Audio Intelligence Devices "has never been a 'front,' proprietary, or any other type of sub-organization owing allegiance to the CIA," while quoting a study of freelance operators to the effect that Holcomb "won't talk about any connections he may have to the CIA, but creates the impression that the ties are there, and binding." Newspaper clippings the defense filed to show prejudicial publicity reported that Propper, Assistant Attorney General [[Stanley Pottinger]], and the director of central intelligence, [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]], had met to decide how far the agency could help, under "a carefully worded agreement placing the Letelier case in a 'national security' status."[^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Branch, Taylor, and Eugene M. Propper. *Labyrinth*. Viking, 1982, pp. 101-108.
|
||||
[^2]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row*. McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 9-21, 147-152, 240.
|
||||
[^3]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* tomo 2, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991-2.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, CNI ficha on Guillermo Novo Sampol; declaración of Admiral McIntyre, 1978; Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78 (fiscal Héctor Orozco), as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, declaración of Michael Vernon Townley Welch, March 29, 1978.
|
||||
[^4]: *United States v. Sampol,* 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980).
|
||||
[^5]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami, file 2-471, "CORU," August 16, 1978. National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book 153, document 13. "Wrong Man Freed in Letelier Case," *Washington Post,* October 21, 1981, as summarized.
|
||||
[^6]: Brief for Appellants, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-appeal.pdf, points on cross-examination and discovery, citing trial transcript pp. 1233, 1262, 1348-1360, 1474, 4657-4668, 5019, 5061; Brief for Appellee, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-brief-appellee.pdf, citing trial transcript pp. 1584-1590, 4995, 5024-5031, and footnote 72; Motion for change of venue, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C. 1978), with newspaper clippings attached as exhibits, legible only in fragments, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-venue.pdf.
|
||||
[^7]: Petition of the United States for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., October 29, 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-rehearing.pdf, footnote 4; Transcript of sentencing, *United States v. Guillermo Novo Sampol,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., June 26, 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-novo-sentence.pdf; Motion for bail and for reassignment, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-bail.pdf; Motion for bail, defendant Alvin Ross Diaz, Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-alvin-bail.pdf; Orders of transfer, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., August 1978 and 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-transfer-2.pdf and Letelier-transfer.pdf.
|
||||
[^4]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, memorandum "Caso Letelier" to Colonel Manuel Contreras, signature read as Gregorio Amunátegui, undated.
|
||||
[^5]: *United States v. Sampol,* 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980).
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami, file 2-471, "CORU," August 16, 1978. National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book 153, document 13. "Wrong Man Freed in Letelier Case," *Washington Post,* October 21, 1981, as summarized.
|
||||
[^7]: Brief for Appellants, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-appeal.pdf, points on cross-examination and discovery, citing trial transcript pp. 1233, 1262, 1348-1360, 1474, 4657-4668, 5019, 5061; Brief for Appellee, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-brief-appellee.pdf, citing trial transcript pp. 1584-1590, 4995, 5024-5031, and footnote 72; Motion for change of venue, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C. 1978), with newspaper clippings attached as exhibits, legible only in fragments, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-venue.pdf.
|
||||
[^8]: Petition of the United States for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., October 29, 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-rehearing.pdf, footnote 4; Transcript of sentencing, *United States v. Guillermo Novo Sampol,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., June 26, 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-novo-sentence.pdf; Motion for bail and for reassignment, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-bail.pdf; Motion for bail, defendant Alvin Ross Diaz, Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-alvin-bail.pdf; Orders of transfer, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., August 1978 and 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-transfer-2.pdf and Letelier-transfer.pdf.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
||||
title: Hal Puthoff
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Hal Puthoff
|
||||
|
|
@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- 1990s
|
||||
- 2000s
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
summary: "Harold E. 'Hal' Puthoff is a physicist who co-founded the Stanford Research Institute remote viewing program with Russell Targ in 1972 under CIA contract, served as its principal investigator through 1985, and later contributed technical research to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program."
|
||||
summary: "Physicist who founded the CIA-funded remote-viewing program at Stanford Research Institute in 1972 with Russell Targ, ran it until 1985, and later worked on the Pentagon's AATIP."
|
||||
born: 1936-06-20
|
||||
location: "Chicago, Illinois"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -45,14 +45,20 @@ On June 27, 1972, Puthoff wrote formally to [[Kit Green]] at the CIA's Life Scie
|
|||
|
||||
Puthoff hired Targ as a research colleague, and together they developed the remote viewing experimental protocol: a subject remained at SRI while a second experimenter traveled to a randomly selected target site; the subject attempted to describe the target through verbal description and drawings; independent judges blindly matched transcripts to target sites.
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1996 Account
|
||||
|
||||
After the CIA declassified 270 pages of SRI reports in July 1995, Puthoff published his own account. In early 1972, doing laser research at SRI, he had written a proposal that Ingo Swann saw at [[Cleve Backster]]'s laboratory and wrote to him, and Puthoff invited him for a week in June 1972. He arranged access to "a well-shielded magnetometer used in a quark-detection experiment in the Physics Department at Stanford University," in a vault beneath the floor "shielded by mu-metal shielding, an aluminum container, copper shielding and a superconducting shield"; Swann "appeared to perturb the operation of the magnetometer" and then "went on to 'remote view' the interior of the apparatus, rendering by drawing a reasonable facsimile of its rather complex (and heretofore unpublished) construction." Within weeks "a pair of visitors showed up at SRI with the above report in hand. Their credentials showed them to be from the CIA. They knew of my previous background as a Naval Intelligence Officer and then civilian employee at the National Security Agency," and spoke of "increasing concern in the intelligence community about the level of effort in Soviet parapsychology being funded by the Soviet security services." An eight-month "Biofield Measurements Program" of 49,909 dollars followed, and Russell Targ joined; the second year, January 1974 to February 1975, was funded at 149,555 dollars. The first coordinate target, "the West Virginia Site," produced from one subject "a detailed map of the building and grounds layout" and from the other "information about the interior including codewords, data subsequently verified by sponsor sources"; Pat Price then "went on to scan the other side of the globe for a Communist Bloc equivalent and found one located in the Urals," also "verified by personnel in the sponsor organization as being substantially correct." The [[Semipalatinsk]] experiment of July 1974, "carried out in three phases," was "under direct control of the COTR," and "several details concerning the salient technology of the Semipalatinsk site appeared to dovetail with data from other sources, and a number of specific large structural elements were correctly described." The CIA "dropped out as a major player in the mid-seventies due to pressure on the Agency (unrelated to the RV Program) from the Church-Pike Congressional Committee," and Major General [[Edmund Thompson]], the Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence from 1977 to 1981, said: "I had one or more briefings by SRI and was impressed. The decision I made was to set up a small, in-house, low-cost effort in remote viewing." One application, Puthoff noted, "yielded not only a published, statistically significant result, but also a return of $26,000 in 30 days in the silver futures market." The article does not mention [[Scientology]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Protocol Development and Pat Price
|
||||
|
||||
Swann's suggestion to use geographic coordinates rather than outbound experimenters as the targeting mechanism - initially resisted by Puthoff and Targ as theoretically implausible - proved to generate consistent results and became the basis of Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV), the structured methodology used throughout the government program.
|
||||
|
||||
Pat Price, a retired Burbank police commissioner introduced to the program in 1973, produced what Puthoff considered the most operationally significant results of the SRI period. Price's remote viewing of the Soviet URDF-3 facility near [[Semipalatinsk]] - describing a large gantry crane, spherical metal objects estimated at 60 feet in diameter under construction, and a novel welding technique - was subsequently evaluated against classified satellite photography and assessed as substantially accurate. Price and Swann's subsequent remote viewing of the [[National Security Agency|NSA]] signals intelligence facility at Sugar Grove, West Virginia, triggered an NSA security investigation into whether remote viewing, if genuine, represented a vulnerability for classified installations.
|
||||
Pat Price, a retired Burbank police commissioner introduced to the program in 1973, produced what Puthoff considered the most operationally significant results of the SRI period. Price's remote viewing of the Soviet URDF-3 facility near Semipalatinsk - describing a large gantry crane, spherical metal objects estimated at 60 feet in diameter under construction, and a novel welding technique - was subsequently evaluated against classified satellite photography and assessed as substantially accurate. Price and Swann's subsequent remote viewing of the NSA signals intelligence facility at Sugar Grove, West Virginia, triggered an NSA security investigation into whether remote viewing, if genuine, represented a vulnerability for classified installations.
|
||||
|
||||
Price died of a reported heart attack in [[Las Vegas]] in July 1975, under circumstances Puthoff considered potentially suspicious. His suitcase of remote viewing notes and CIA materials disappeared before Puthoff arrived in Las Vegas. No evidence of foul play was established.
|
||||
|
||||
On September 26, 1977, Puthoff sent Dave Johnson, whose office the memorandum does not give, the reply of Senator [[William Proxmire]] to a letter from a Wisconsin-born colleague: "Since fear of the 'Proxmire Effect' is often cited in discussions with sponsors and potential sponsors, I asked a friend of mine in psychoenergetics research to query his senator with regard to this field."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Published Research
|
||||
|
||||
Puthoff and Targ published the SRI program's experimental results in two major peer-reviewed venues: "Information Transmission Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding" in *Nature* (October 1974, volume 251, pages 602-607), and "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research" in *Proceedings of the IEEE* (March 1976, volume 64, number 3, pages 329-354). Both papers presented statistical significance claims for anomalous information transfer under controlled conditions and triggered extensive methodological debate in both journals' correspondence sections.
|
||||
|
|
@ -73,6 +79,5 @@ Puthoff became a founding member and scientific advisor to To the Stars Academy
|
|||
|
||||
### 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. 28-90 (comprehensive account of Puthoff's SRI career). Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "Information Transmission Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding." *Nature* 251 (October 1974): 602-607. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances." *Proceedings of the IEEE* 64, no. 3 (March 1976): 329-354.
|
||||
[^2]: CIA FOIA Reading Room, document CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030006-8 (Puthoff letter to Green, June 27, 1972). Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[^3]: Elizondo, Luis. *IMMINENT: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs.* William Morrow, 2024. Lacatski, James T., Colm A. Kelleher, and George Knapp. *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insider's Account of the Secret Government UAP Program.* RTMA, 2021.
|
||||
[^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.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Héctor Orozco Sepúlveda
|
||||
- Hector Orozco
|
||||
summary: "Chilean army general named ad hoc military prosecutor in March 1978 for the Letelier passport case, who took the DINA officers' statements and had the FBI interview Vernon Walters."
|
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summary: "Chilean brigade general named ad hoc military prosecutor in March 1978 for the Letelier passport case, who took the DINA officers' statements and had the FBI interview Vernon Walters."
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location: "Santiago, Chile"
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created: 2026-09-21
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updated: 2026-09-21
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@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ Héctor Orozco Sepúlveda was appointed ad hoc military prosecutor of causa 192-
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His file holds the sworn statements of [[Manuel Contreras]], [[Armando Fernandez Larios|Armando Fernández Larios]], [[René Riveros]], and [[Rolando Mosqueira]] (March 22), [[Michael Townley]] (March 29), [[Mariana Callejas]] (April 4), [[Pedro Espinoza]] (April 24), and [[DINA]]'s passport clerk (April 12); Mosqueira had already testified before the civilian judge on March 20. On March 23 he widened the investigation with requests to Enrique Montero, General Odlanier Mena of the CNI, General Washington Carrasco, General Nilo Floody, and the military mission in Washington. On April 10 he ordered Espinoza, [[Raúl Iturriaga Neumann]], Townley, and others re-examined on the code names Quetropillán and Avispa, a confrontation between Townley and Espinoza "as to who assigned Townley each of the operations he carried out abroad," and a handwriting sample from Callejas against a document in the file. Before May 1 he asked the American authorities for a sworn statement from General [[Vernon Walters]], or failing that his answers to whether "in exercising his duties as former Deputy Director of the CIA, he asked General Contreras to send him some contacts to receive the names of certain lobbyists." The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] interviewed Walters on June 14, 1978, and the Chilean embassy reported by secret telex that this had been done "acceding to Fiscal Orozco's request." His oficio of June 23 explained that routine requests went through the CNI to the FBI, while letters rogatory were reserved for the sworn interrogatories. On March 14, 1979, the military judge Enrique Morel replaced him with General Santiago Sinclair, a month after Contreras and Espinoza, through [[Sergio Miranda Carrington]], had asked the Supreme Court for access to the file in the extradition proceedings.[^2]
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His oficio of June 23, 1978, listed his requests to the FBI through the CNI: on April 27 for everything "relating to the planning of the death of Orlando Letelier, the trip of Captains Riveros and Mosqueira to the United States, their possible contacts with General Vernon Walters, and the contacts of Michael Townley with various American, Croatian, or Cuban organizations and individuals"; on May 4 for the interrogation of Fernández Larios's sister, her husband, and the FBI agents who had questioned her; and on May 8 for "everything relating to various Cuban citizens allegedly implicated in the Letelier case," whom his order of that day named as [[Jose Dionisio Suarez|Dionisio Suárez]], [[Rolando Otero]], [[Orlando Bosch]], [[Guillermo Novo]], [[Felipe Rivero]], [[Frank Castro]], "El Gorilita," and "Mono Navarrete." He also obtained sworn written answers from the diplomats in Washington, General [[Nilo Floody]] and Admiral [[Ronald McIntyre]].[^3]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78 (fiscal Héctor Orozco), as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, decree of March 21, 1978, and order of March 23, 1978.
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[^2]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78 (fiscal Héctor Orozco), as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, resolutions of April 10 and before May 1, 1978, and the declaraciones cited; Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* tomo 2, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991-2.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, oficio of June 23, 1978; telex of the Chilean embassy in Washington; decree of Enrique Morel Donoso, March 14, 1979; pleading of February 19, 1979.
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[^3]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* tomo 2, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991-2.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, oficio of June 23, 1978; Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, resolution of May 8, 1978.
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@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ They could not find Walters, who was giving up his post and on leave; "finally a
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### The Letters Rogatory
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A letter rogatory of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, signed by Chief Judge William B. Bryant and certified by Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] and Attorney General [[Griffin Bell]], was delivered unsealed to the Chilean foreign ministry by the chargé d'affaires, Thomas Boyatt, and forwarded to the Supreme Court on February 27, 1978. It stated that "two members of the Chilean armed forces entered the United States one month before the murder of Mr. Letelier and Mrs. Moffitt. At least one of these men met with one of the persons believed to be responsible for the acts in question. Previously, both had obtained visas to enter the United States by using fraudulent documents from a country other than Chile," the Paraguayan passports of Townley and Fernández Larios, and asked that "Juan Williams Rose" and "Alejandro Romeral Jara" answer 55 written questions under oath with [[Eugene Propper]] present: who gave the orders; whether they had discussed the mission with Contreras or with "the President of Chile, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, or with any of his direct subordinates"; their contacts with [[Guillermo Novo]], [[Ignacio Novo]], [[Jose Dionisio Suarez|José Dionisio Suárez]], [[Alvin Ross]], [[Orlando Bosch]], and [[Felipe Rivero]]; whether they had brought explosives; whether they had stayed at the Chilean embassy or military mission; and a meeting in February 1976 with [[Rolando Otero]], "at that time a fugitive from United States law," attended by "a man who introduced himself as Major Torres of DINA" and another calling himself Marcelo Estobel. Chile's Supreme Court noted that no treaty on letters rogatory existed between the two countries. General Nilo Floody, the officer the two captains had called on in Washington, reported to the prosecutor that they had visited him. In March 1978 the civilian judge Marcos Libedinsky, who had taken the statements of the two captains on March 20 and released them on bond, found that the passports "were used in August 1976 to travel to the United States and then return to Chile by two Army Captains, in fulfillment of a confidential mission assigned to them by their superiors," and sent the case to the military courts, where on March 23 it was joined to the file of the ad hoc military prosecutor [[Héctor Orozco]], before whom Riveros testified on March 22.[^4]
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A letter rogatory of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, signed by Chief Judge William B. Bryant and certified by Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] and Attorney General [[Griffin Bell]], was delivered unsealed to the Chilean foreign ministry by the chargé d'affaires, Thomas Boyatt, and forwarded to the Supreme Court on February 27, 1978. It stated that "two members of the Chilean armed forces entered the United States one month before the murder of Mr. Letelier and Mrs. Moffitt. At least one of these men met with one of the persons believed to be responsible for the acts in question. Previously, both had obtained visas to enter the United States by using fraudulent documents from a country other than Chile," the Paraguayan passports of Townley and Fernández Larios, and asked that "Juan Williams Rose" and "Alejandro Romeral Jara" answer 55 written questions under oath with [[Eugene Propper]] present: who gave the orders; whether they had discussed the mission with Contreras or with "the President of Chile, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, or with any of his direct subordinates"; their contacts with [[Guillermo Novo]], [[Ignacio Novo]], [[Jose Dionisio Suarez|José Dionisio Suárez]], [[Alvin Ross]], [[Orlando Bosch]], and [[Felipe Rivero]]; whether they had brought explosives; whether they had stayed at the Chilean embassy or military mission; and a meeting in February 1976 with [[Rolando Otero]], "at that time a fugitive from United States law," attended by "a man who introduced himself as Major Torres of DINA" and another calling himself Marcelo Estobel. Chile's Supreme Court noted that no treaty on letters rogatory existed between the two countries. General [[Nilo Floody]], head of the military mission in Washington, answered the prosecutor that the two were at his home in late August "to greet me," that he did not know their mission, and that his secretary, telephoning Walters's office at his request, was told "that he no longer belonged to the CIA." In March 1978 the civilian judge Marcos Libedinsky, who had taken the statements of the two captains on March 20 and released them on bond, found that the passports "were used in August 1976 to travel to the United States and then return to Chile by two Army Captains, in fulfillment of a confidential mission assigned to them by their superiors," and sent the case to the military courts, where on March 23 it was joined to the file of the ad hoc military prosecutor [[Héctor Orozco]], before whom Riveros testified on March 22.[^4]
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### Footnotes
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@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ Otero fled to [[Chile]]. In 1976 the FBI's legal attaché in [[Buenos Aires]], [
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The letter rogatory sent by the federal court in Washington to Chile in February 1978 put to the bearer of the name Juan Williams Rose, which Michael Townley had carried on a Paraguayan passport in July 1976 and Captain [[René Riveros]] of DINA on a Chilean one in August: "In February 1976, you met with Rolando Otero Hernández, who at that time was a fugitive from United States law. Present at that meeting was a man who introduced himself as Major Torres of DINA," and another "under the name Marcelo Estobel," and asked their true names. Townley testified that at the meetings in Union City in September 1976 the talk included "spreading rumors to justify and explain Otero's arrest in Chile and his subsequent handover to the FBI. The idea was to blame Otero himself for his 'blunder.'"[^5]
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Admiral [[Ronald McIntyre]] of the Chilean naval mission testified that when the leadership of [[Brigade 2506]] came to his office in early September 1976 "the only discordant note" was the feeling of its president, Roberto Carballo, "over the detention in Chile and handover to US authorities of the Cuban Otero," and that the New Jersey group had refused to attend the visit of the training ship Esmeralda in July "precisely because of the handover of Otero," in a letter signed by Novo.[^6]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: *United States v. Otero-Hernandez,* 418 F. Supp. 572 (M.D. Fla. 1976).
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@ -31,3 +33,4 @@ The letter rogatory sent by the federal court in Washington to Chile in February
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[^3]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row*. McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 9-10, 130.
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[^4]: Deposition of Ricardo Morales Navarrete, Dade County Circuit Court, criminal case 81-17247, index.
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[^5]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78 (fiscal Héctor Orozco), as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, letter rogatory, Exp. 20931, questionnaire; declaración of Michael Vernon Townley Welch, March 29, 1978.
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[^6]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* tomo 2, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991-2.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, sworn declaration of Admiral Ronald McIntyre, 1978.
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