Stargate Project
Encyclopedia
The Stargate Project was the umbrella code name
CIA cryptonym
CIA cryptonyms are code names or code words used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to reference projects, operations, persons, agencies, etc. The cryptonyms as described in this article were in use at least from the 1950s to the 1980s...

 of one of several sub-projects established by the U.S. Federal Government to investigate claims of psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

 phenomena with potential military and domestic applications, particularly "remote viewing
Remote viewing
Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...

": the purported ability to psychically "see" events, sites, or information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...

 from a great distance. These projects were active from the 1970s through 1995, and followed up early psychic research done at The Stanford Research Institute (SRI), The American Society for Psychical Research
American Society for Psychical Research
The American Society for Psychical Research is an organisation dedicated to parapsychology based in New York, where it maintains offices and a library. It is open to interested members of the public to join, and has a website...

, and other psychical research labs.

The Stargate Project was terminated in 1995 following an independent review which concluded:

Background

Information in the United States on psychic research in some foreign countries was sketchy and poorly detailed, based mostly on rumor or innuendo from second-hand or tertiary reporting, attributed to both reliable and unreliable disinformation
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...

  sources from the then Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

.

Despite the dubious origins of much data, the CIA and military intelligence decided they should investigate and know as much about it as possible. Various programs were approved yearly and re-funded accordingly. Reviews were made semi-annually at the Senate and House select committee level. Work results were reviewed, and remote viewing was attempted with the results being kept secret from the "viewer". It was thought that if the viewer was shown they were incorrect it would damage the viewer's confidence and skill. This was standard operating procedure throughout the years of military and domestic remote viewing programs. Feedback to the remote viewer of any kind was rare;they were kept classified and secret.

Remote viewing attempts to sense unknown information about places or events. Normally it is performed to detect current events, but during military and domestic intelligence applications viewers claimed to sense things in the future, experiencing precognition
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...

.

The Stargate Project

The Stargate Project created a set of protocols designed to make the research of clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...

 and out-of-body experiences more scientific
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...

, and to minimize as much as possible session noise and inaccuracy. The term "remote viewing
Remote viewing
Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...

" emerged as shorthand to describe this more structured approach to clairvoyance. Stargate only received a mission after all other intelligence attempts, methods, or approaches had already been exhausted.

It was also reported that there were over 22 active military and domestic remote viewers providing data. When the project closed in 1995 this number had dwindled down to three. One was using tarot cards. People leaving the project were not replaced. According to Joseph McMoneagle
Joseph McMoneagle
Joseph McMoneagle was involved in remote viewing experiments conducted by U.S. Army Intelligence and the Stanford Research Institute. He was one of the original officers recruited for the top-secret program now known as the Stargate Project...

, "The Army never had a truly open attitude toward psychic functioning". Hence, the use of the term "giggle factor" and the saying, "I wouldn't want to be found dead next to a psychic."

As with all intelligence information, intelligence gathered by remote viewing must be verified by other sources. Remote-viewing information could not stand alone. (According to Ray Hyman
Ray Hyman
Ray Hyman is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, and a noted critic of parapsychology.-Career:...

 in the AIR report, if Ed May's conclusions are correct remote viewers were right 20% of the time and wrong 80% of the time.)

In 1995, the project was transferred to the CIA and a retrospective evaluation of the results was done. The CIA contracted the American Institutes for Research for an evaluation. On June 30, before the AIR review was to begin, the CIA closed the Stargate project. An analysis conducted by Professor Jessica Utts
Jessica Utts
Jessica Utts is a statistics professor at the University of California, Irvine and an author of textbooks on statistics.- Statistics education :...

 showed a statistically significant effect, with gifted subjects scoring 5%-15% above chance, though subject reports included a large amount of irrelevant information, and when reports did seem on target they were vague and general in nature. Ray Hyman
Ray Hyman
Ray Hyman is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, and a noted critic of parapsychology.-Career:...

 argued that Utts' conclusion that ESP had been proven to exist, especially precognition, "is premature and that present findings have yet to be independently replicated." Based upon both of their collected findings, which recommended a higher level of critical research and tighter controls, the CIA terminated the 20 million dollar project, citing a lack of documented evidence that the program had any value to the intelligence community. Time magazine stated in 1995 three full-time psychics were still working on a $500,000-a-year budget out of Fort Meade, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, which would soon close.

Remote viewing

According to The Ultimate Time Machine by Joseph McMoneagle
Joseph McMoneagle
Joseph McMoneagle was involved in remote viewing experiments conducted by U.S. Army Intelligence and the Stanford Research Institute. He was one of the original officers recruited for the top-secret program now known as the Stargate Project...

 and Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, examples of confirmed future targets being sensed by Stargate remote viewers include:
  • The predicted launch date for a newly constructed submarine months before it actually rolled from its construction crib and into the harbor by Joseph McMoneagle. McMoneagle guessed the submarine would be launched about four months later, sometime in the month of January 1980. Satellite photos confirmed this in mid-January 1980 According to Paul H. Smith, McMoneagle predicted several months in the future.

  • The predicted release of a hostage in the Middle East and a correct description of the medical problem precipitating his release. The information was provided three weeks before the hostage takers made their decisions.

This conclusion seems to be associated with the following text: "When one of the hostages was released early because of medical conditions and shown the information we [remote-viewers] had accumulated, he was enraged. In his mind, the only way we could possibly had such accurate information, would be to have someone inside the embassy with the hostages..."
The information given by Keith Harary, at SRI, the Stargate Project, was: "He seems to be suffering from nausea. One side of his body seems damaged or hurt. He will be on an airplane in the next few days." The target turned out to be the hostage Richard Queen
Richard Queen
Richard Ivan Queen was born in Washington D.C. and worked for the U.S. State Department as Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassasy in Tehran, Iran...

, held by Iranian militants and now desperately ill with symptoms including muscle weakness, lack of coordination, difficulty in vision, spasticity, vertigo, facial numbness, tremor, and emotional lability, multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

, that affected his nerves on one side. In part due to his input, Harary says he was later informed by contacts at SRI, President Carter dispatched a plane to bring Queen home. There is no reference to a three week prediction. There is no mention of the Iran hostage crisis
Iran hostage crisis
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian...

 (November 4, 1979 - January 20, 1981) or this incident in the 1984 book, The Mind Race: Understanding and Using Psychic Abilities, by Russell Targ and Keith Harary, which centers around remote viewing experiments and SRI.

  • Upon reading of the May 17, 1987, attack on the frigate the U.S.S. Stark in The Washington Post, Paul H. Smith became convinced that his remote viewing, three days earlier, of an attack on an American warship, including the location, the method, and the motive, was precognition. The American Warship "viewing" session was around 30 pages long, including writing and sketching of ships, parts of ships, map-like diagrams, etc.

  • In regards to domestic applications of what would become remote viewing, various field testings in remote viewing were done in the mid-1970s. In a particularly well known serial crime incident, a single lone suspect in question was later captured by law enforcement and put into prison. About twenty years later the convict changed his confession, and verified almost exactly to what was remote viewed by those domestic remote viewer(s). On the eve of reopening this case, the FBI stepped in, and asked that the case be put on hold. This case has been upgraded to Classified, with no indication at this time that it will be reopened. This noted case has been published and later suggested by name in the movie Suspect Zero
    Suspect Zero
    Suspect Zero is a 2004 thriller film directed by E. Elias Merhige. It opened to decidedly mixed reviews, and failed to earn back half of its estimated $27 million production costs at the box office.-Plot:...

    .

Major General Albert Stubblebine

A key sponsor of the research internally at Fort Meade, MD, MG Stubblebine was convinced of the reality of a wide variety of psychic phenomena. He required that all of his Battalion Commanders learn how to bend spoons a la Uri Geller
Uri Geller
Uri Geller is a self-proclaimed psychic known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other supposed psychic effects. Throughout the years, Geller has been accused of using simple conjuring tricks to achieve the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy...

, and he himself attempted several psychic feats, even attempting to walk through walls. In the early 1980s he was responsible for the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for U.S. Army commanders and national decision makers. INSCOM is both an organization within the United States Army and the National Security Agency,...

 (INSCOM), during which time the remote viewing project in the US Army began. Some commentators have confused a "Project Jedi", allegedly run by Special Forces
United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...

 primarily out of Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...

, with Stargate. After some controversy involving these experiments and alleged security violations from uncleared civilian psychics working in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs), Major General Stubblebine was placed on retirement. His successor as the INSCOM commander was Major General Harry Soyster, who had a reputation as a much more conservative and conventional intelligence officer. MG Soyster was not amenable to continuing paranormal experiments and the Army's participation in Project Stargate ended during his tenure.

Ingo Swann

Originally tested in the "Phase One" were OOBE-Beacon "RV" experiments at The American Society for Psychical Research
American Society for Psychical Research
The American Society for Psychical Research is an organisation dedicated to parapsychology based in New York, where it maintains offices and a library. It is open to interested members of the public to join, and has a website...

, under research director Dr. Karlis Osis. A former OT VII
Operating Thetan
In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time ". According to religious scholar J...

 Scientologist, who alleged to have coined the term 'remote viewing' as a derivation of protocols originally developed by René Warcollier
René Warcollier
René Warcollier was a French chemical engineer and parapsychologist. He was a founder and president of the Institut Métapsychique, and edited and wrote theoretical and experimental reports for its journal.-Biography:...

, a French chemical engineer in the early 20th century, documented in the book Mind to Mind. Swann's achievement was to break free from the conventional mold of casual experimentation and candidate burn out, and develop a viable set of protocols that put clairvoyance within a framework named “Coordinate Remote Viewing” (CRV). In a 1995 letter Ed May  wrote he had not used Swann for two years because there were rumors of him briefing a high level person at SAIC on remote viewing and aliens, ETs. Though Swann was a good receiver, May had two current receivers that were better.

Pat Price

A former Burbank, California, police officer who participated in a number of Cold War era Remote viewing
Remote viewing
Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...

 experiments, including the US government sponsored project SCANATE and the Star Project. Working with maps and photographs provided to him by the CIA, Price claimed to have been able to retrieve information from facilities behind Soviet Lines. He is probably best known for his sketches of cranes and gantries which appeared to conform to CIA intelligence photographs. At the time, his claims were taken seriously by the CIA.

In addition to his participation in remote viewing experiments, Price believed that aliens had established four underground bases on Earth. He offered reports on these locations to Harold E. Puthoff
Harold E. Puthoff
Harold E. Puthoff is an American physicist who, earlier in his career was involved in research on paranormal topics. In 1967, Puthoff earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University...

, formerly of SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...

, the principal scientific investigator for Project SCANATE.

For a time he worked alongside/in competition with Ingo Swann
Ingo Swann
Ingo Swann is an artist and author, best known for his work as a co-creator of the discipline of remote viewing, specifically the Stargate Project...

.

Joseph McMoneagle

McMoneagle claims he had a remarkable memory of very early childhood events. He grew up surrounded by alcoholism, abuse and poverty. As a child he had visions at night when scared, and first began to hone his psychic abilities in his teens for his own protection when he hitchhiked. He enlisted to get away. McMoneagle became an experimental remote viewer, while serving in U.S. Army Intelligence.

Paul H. Smith

Smith is a retired U.S. Army Major and intelligence officer. Smith was one of the five people trained as a prototype test subject in Ingo Swann's psychic development of the CRV protocols in 1983. Upon the closure of the Army's Center Lane remote viewing program, Smith was re-assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s follow-on remote viewing unit, Sun Streak, which later became Star Gate. He was the main author of what is known today as the “CRV Manual”. Its purpose was simply to serve as a guide and a reference for the terminology and it served to show inquisitive lawmakers what the millions of dollars were being spent on. Swann wrote to Smith giving Smith's manual his approval. Smith has published articles on remote viewing in UFO Magazine, and about dowsing
Dowsing
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation , without the use of scientific apparatus...

 and remote viewing in The American Dowser, the quarterly journal of the American Society of Dowsers. His book Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate: America's Psychic Espionage Program was the book bonus feature for the March 2006 Reader's Digest as The Most Secret Agent. In his book Smith tells the reader there are those who can bend spoons with their minds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3X9h1WlQpA&feature=related claims he has remote viewed into the future and bilocated, has some doubts about the place of extraordinary memories of his fellow remote viewers, shows he believes in Ingo Swann's teachings, honesty and versions of events, and supports the military potential of remote viewing. Smith blames bureaucrats afraid to take a risk, selective data and close-minded skeptics for the closing of Star Gate.

Ed Dames

Dames was one of the first five Army students trained by Ingo Swann through Stage 3 in coordinate remote viewing. Because Dames' role was intended to be as session monitor and analyst as an aid to Fred Atwater rather than a remote viewer, Dames received no further formal remote viewing training. After his assignment to the remote viewing unit at the end of January 1986 he was used to "run" remote viewers (as monitor) and provide training and practice sessions to viewer personnel. He soon established a reputation for pushing CRV to extremes, with target sessions on Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....

, Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

, UFOs, and aliens. He has been a guest more than 30 times on the Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently...

 radio show.

Further reading

  • Ronson, Jon
    Jon Ronson
    Jon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare At Goats. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper, City Life and Time Out magazine...

    , The Men who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004, ISBN 0-330-37547-4 —- written to accompany the TV series The Crazy Rulers of the Worldhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6708686897899858973 The military budget cuts after Vietnam and how it all began.
  • Smith, Paul H, Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate — America's Psychic Espionage Program, Forge Books 2005, ISBN 0-312-87515-0
  • Targ, Russell and Puthoff, Harold E, Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Abilities, Hampton Roads 2005, ISBN 1-57174-414-2 (originally published 1977 by Delacorte, ISBN 0-440-05688-8) - original book describing the early SRI remote viewing protocol while the experiments were ongoing, recently updated
  • Utts and Josephson,The Paranormal: The Evidence and Its Implications for Consciousness,1996

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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