vault backup: 2026-05-17 21:47:57

10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John L. LaMothe.md

@@ -1,20 +1,25 @@
 ---
+created: 2026-05-15
+updated: 2026-05-17
+title: John L. LaMothe
 aliases:
-- John LaMothe
+  - John LaMothe
   - Captain John LaMothe
+  - John L. LaMothe
 category: "Military"
 tags:
   - Person
   - Military
-  - General
-summary: "U.S. Army intelligence officer who authored the 1972 DIA report on Soviet psi research, spurring U.S. concerns about a 'psi gap'."
+  - PSI
+  - DIA
+  - Soviet
+  - 1970s
+summary: "John L. LaMothe was a U.S. Army Medical Intelligence Office captain who authored the 1972 classified report Controlled Offensive Behavior - USSR, warning of Soviet psychoenergetics research capabilities and spurring U.S. government concerns about a psi gap."
 ---
 
-# John L. LaMothe
-
 Captain John L. LaMothe was an author and military intelligence officer with the Medical Intelligence Office of the [[U.S. Army]], Office of the Surgeon General. He was tasked with conducting a joint intelligence assessment of the "Soviet psychoenergetic threat," a term coined by the [[Pentagon]] to include all matters related to Soviet anomalous mental phenomena research and [[Electromagnetic Weapons|electromagnetic weapons]] programs[^1].
 
-His two-year effort resulted in a 174-page classified report titled *Controlled Offensive Behavior—USSR*, published in 1972. The report aimed to aid in the development of countermeasures for the protection of U.S. or allied personnel, concluding that the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] were rapidly developing "methods of controlling or manipulating human behavior through subtle, non-identifiable means," including psychopharmacology, subliminal messaging, and electromagnetic weapons[^1].
+His two-year effort resulted in a 174-page classified report titled *Controlled Offensive Behavior - USSR*, published in 1972. The report aimed to aid in the development of countermeasures for the protection of U.S. or allied personnel, concluding that the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] were rapidly developing "methods of controlling or manipulating human behavior through subtle, non-identifiable means," including psychopharmacology, subliminal messaging, and electromagnetic weapons[^1].
 
 LaMothe's report highlighted the "unusual, disproportionate interest" of Communist state authorities, the military, and the [[KGB]] in [[Parapsychology|parapsychology]], confirming military involvement in [[Psi]] research. He broke down the danger into four categories of existential threat posed by Soviet agents with psychoenergetic abilities[^1]:
 
@@ -30,7 +35,7 @@ Citing scientists and experts like [[Oliver J. Caldwell]] and [[Sybil Leek]], La
 Despite the controversy, LaMothe's report circulated through the military and intelligence communities, prompting the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to take action and escalate its own psychic research programs[^1].
 
 ### Publications
-*   *Controlled Offensive Behavior—USSR* (1972)
+*   *Controlled Offensive Behavior - USSR* (1972)
 
 ### 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.