CIA's PROJECT STAR-GATE

More about History in the search for secret information - Anyway the CIA! can.

NOTE HOW - MANY GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED.

in 1974, Russell Targ and his colleague Hal Puthoff carried out a demonstration of psychic abilities for the CIA. Pat Price, a retired police commissioner, described the inside and outside of a secret Soviet weapons laboratory in the far reaches of Siberia -- given only the geographical coordinates of latitude and longitude for a reference. (That is, with no on- site cooperation.) This trial was such a stunning success that they were forced to undergo a formal Congressional investigation to determine if there had been a breach in National Security. Of course, none was ever found, and the government supported them for another fifteen years.

DISTANCE OK -

As part of the Stargate Project, CIA and US military spent $20 million to use “remote viewers” as psychic spies for the US government. In one particularly interesting case from 1984, CIA gave a self-proclaimed psychic a sealed envelope and tried to trick him to supposedly project to Mars to approximately 1 million years B.C. The psychic just got confused by the landscape and described planetary catastrophe, strange structures (including pyramids), and the strange inhabitants on the Red Planet.

https://www.slideserve.com/oliver-gill/project-stargate

CIA's Project Stargate attempted to use "advanced biofeedback techniques" and "brain hemisphere synchronization" to help train psychics to steal computer passwords directly out of the minds of human targets.

Conclusions
The foregoing observations provide a compelling argument against continuation of the program within the intelligence community.

Even though a statistically significant effect has been observed in the laboratory, it remains unclear whether the existence of a paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been demonstrated. The laboratory studies do not provide evidence regarding the origins or nature of the phenomenon, assuming it exists, nor do they address the important methodological issue of interjudge reliability.
Further, even if it could be demonstrated unequivocally that a paranormal phenomenon occurs under the conditions present in the laboratory paradigm, these conditions have limited applicability and utility for intelligence gathering operations. For example, the nature of the remote viewing targets are vastly dissimilar, as are the specific tasks required of the remote viewers.

Most importantly, 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.

Thus, we conclude that continued use of remote viewing in intelligence gathering operations is not warranted.

  1. Project Stargate Presented by Kristen Smith

  2. Overview • Remote Viewing defined • What prompted government research • Timeline of Project Stargate • Looking back

  3. Remote Viewing • “The alleged psychic ability to perceive places, persons and actions that are not within the range of the senses.” • Harold Puthoff – first person to use term and one of the first researchers for the government in 1970

  4. Terms • Remote Viewing – seeing distant objects or locations that you do not have any prior knowledge about • Telepathy – includes a receiver who reads the mind of a sender • Precognition – foreseeing future events • Psychokinesis – ability to create physical effects with your mind alone

  5. History of Remote Viewing • 1882 Society for Psychical Research created by Henry Sidgwick • Focus on the study of parapsychology • Search for paranormal phenomena like ESP

  6. What prompted Government Research? • Paranoia during the Cold War • Rumors that the Soviet Union had increased funding for psychic research • Fear of what successes in remote viewing research could do

  7. Components of Project Stargate • Examine the world competition and assess other psychic warfare projects • Provide remote viewers to any government agency that requests them • Continue research to advance, improve, and perfect remote viewing

  8. Timeline • 1972 CIA funds $50,000 to Stanford Research Institute (SRI) • 1976 CIA terminates funding • 1977 Project “Grill Flame” • Army intelligence begins funding • 1983 Project “Inscom Center Lane” • SRI combines efforts with Army

  9. Timeline (cont.) • 1984 National Research Council gives program poor evaluation • 1985 Project “Sunstreak” • Funding from Defense Intelligence Agency’s Scientific and Technical Intelligence Directorate • 1991 Project Stargate • 1995 All funding and research ends

  10. Problems • Lack of replication and repetition • Insufficient testing • Lenient test conditions • Sporadic results • 65% accuracy meant remote viewing potential

  11. 1972 SRI Research • Led by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff • Use of remote viewers for “psychic warfare” • Latitude/Longitude tests • Ingo Swann and Pat Price

  12. 1984 NRC Evaluation • National Research Council gave poor evaluation • Evidence was inadequate to prove anything about remote viewing • Government did not give up research because hope for success still strong

  13. 1991 Project Stargate • Provide new experiments and find new techniques to prove existence of remote viewing • CIA again questions benefits of program

  14. American Institutes for Research (AIR) • Evaluated Project Stargate on: • Research Program • Operational application in intelligence gathering • Headed by Dr. Jessica Utts and Dr. Raymond Hyman

  15. Evaluation • Existed a statistically significant anomaly, but evidence does not prove that paranormal ability was involved • No proof that remote viewing would be useful in intelligence gathering

  16. Looking Back • 25 years of research and $20 million • ESP and remote viewing should be seen as bogus and false • Funded for the wrong reasons for too long, too much money, and poor protocols by people who didn’t know what they were doing

  17. Sources • The American Institues for Research. “An Evaluation of Remote Viewing Research and Applications.” Ed. Michael D. Mumford, Andrew M. Rose, and David S. Goslin. 29 Sept. 1995. Parascope 7 Mar 2006. <http://www.parascope.com/en/articles/starGateReport.htm>. • Hyman, Ray. “The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality.” CSICOP Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. March/April 1996. <http://www.csicop.org/si/9603/claims.html>. • Randi, James. “Witchcraft in Washington, Dammit Zammit, Dennis Lee Again, Australian Common Sense, and Twisting Forks for Fun &Profit…” James Randi Educational Foundation 23 Nov 01. 26 Feb 2006 <http://www.randi.org/jr/112301.html>.

  18. More Sources • “Remote viewing.” Skeptic’s Dictionary. Ed. Robert Todd Carroll. 13 Feb 2006. 4 Mar 2006 <http://www.skepdic.com/remotevw.html>. • “Remote Viewing.” SRI International. 2006. 4 Mar 2006 <http://www.sri.com/about/remoteview.html> • Targ, Russell and Harold E. Puthoff. Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability. New York: Delacorte Press, 1977.

  19. Summary • Defined Remote Viewing • Explained why the government funded research • Timeline of Project Stargate and its goals • What we’ve learned