The Government's Psychic Spies
For 23 years, the U.S. government paid psychics to spy on the Soviets… with their minds.
The full story
It's 1972. The Cold War.
The CIA hears the Soviets are pouring money into psychic research. So, not wanting to fall behind in the mind race, it funds two physicists at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI): Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ.
Meet the star subject.
Ingo Swann, a New York artist. The researchers hand him map coordinates and ask him to describe what's there. Without going there. They call it remote viewing. (Our Eagle calls it Google Earth with your eyelids.)
Then the Army wants in.
A secret unit at Fort Meade, Maryland. The code names keep changing: Gondola Wish. Grill Flame. Center Lane. Sun Streak. And finally… Star Gate. Sources disagree on exactly when each name started, so we don't pretend to know.
1983: the Gateway Process.
On June 9, 1983, Army Lt. Col. Wayne McDonnell writes a 29-page analysis of the Gateway Process, sound tapes meant to help you leave your body. It's on the CIA's website. Right now. And page 25 was missing from the public file, until the Monroe Institute later supplied it.
1995: the report card.
By 1995 the bill is about $20 million. The CIA brings in outside evaluators from the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Their operational verdict: In no case had the information provided ever been used to guide intelligence operations.
Lights out.
The program was shut down that same year. Fair note: the CIA didn't run Star Gate itself. It funded the early SRI work (1972–77), the Army and later the DIA ran the unit, and the CIA took it back in 1995 for the review. The psychics… did not see it coming.
Timeline
- 1972CIA funds SRI physicists Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ, citing Soviet psychic research.
- Early SRI yearsArtist Ingo Swann helps develop coordinate remote viewing at SRI.
- NextThe Army stands up a remote-viewing unit at Fort Meade, Maryland.
- Code namesGondola Wish → Grill Flame → Center Lane → Sun Streak → Star Gate (dates vary by source).
- June 9, 198329-page Army analysis of the Gateway Process (Lt. Col. Wayne McDonnell).
- Sep 29, 1995AIR delivers 'An Evaluation of Remote Viewing' for the CIA.
- 1995Program terminated after roughly 23 years and about $20 million.
The receipts
Every claim in the episode traces back to these. Primary documents first.
- CIA: “Ask Molly: Did CIA Really Study Psychic Powers?”CIA's own history: 1972–77 CIA work, DIA after, 1995 review and termination.
- FAS Intelligence Resource Program: Star GateProgram history, code names, Ingo Swann, “some $20 million.”
- CIA Reading Room: Analysis and Assessment of Gateway Process (1983)The 29-page Army report, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210016-5.
- CIA Reading Room: AIR, “An Evaluation of Remote Viewing” (1995)Source of the “in no case…” quote, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180006-4.
- VICE: Found: Page 25 of the CIA's Gateway Report (2021)How the missing page 25 turned up.
- CIA Reading Room: the full STARGATE collectionThousands of declassified session reports and memos. Go dig.
Don't just watch. Look.
Twenty-three years and about $20 million, and the public learned the details only after the files were declassified. Government secrecy and spending deserve public eyes. Start by reading the declassified files yourself (they're linked above). Then don't just watch: build, report or join through America House.
Others talking about it
Documentaries, interviews and deep dives from around the internet. Their opinions are theirs; our facts are in the receipts above.
Third Eye Spies (full documentary)
Feature documentary built around Russell Targ, the SRI physicist in our story. Lance Mungia on YouTube
Russell Targ: Inside the Stargate Program at SRI
Targ himself, in a long interview, on what happened at Stanford Research Institute. FMBRTV on YouTube
STARGATE: Full Interview with Joe McMoneagle
One of the program's best-known viewers, telling it from the inside. Believer's account. Area52 on YouTube
Inside the CIA's Remote Viewing Program: Project Stargate
A quick documentary-style overview of the whole saga. Top5s on YouTube
The Gateway Process: the CIA's Classified Space & Time Travel System
A wildly popular deep dive into the 1983 Gateway report. Entertaining; check claims against the primary doc. The Why Files on YouTube
Watching isn't enough.
Every episode ends the same way: “What?! This is ridiculous.” Good. That's the point. The next thought is “we've got to keep an eye on what our government is doing.” And the next step is yours. Through America House, you can actually do something about it, whoever you vote for.
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