The Aviary is an alleged cabal of intelligence agents and others who seek to mislead, debunk, and/or enlighten the UFO research community. Here is a list of members and their codenames: From Armen Victorian's Aviary:

(Victorian, Armen, "Non-Lethality: John B. Alexander, The Pentagon's Penguin" , Lobster Magazine, 6/93)

I believe the term "Aviary" was first coined by ufologist and self-described government informant William Moore, to include the agents he supposedly dealt with, who were often codenamed after birds. Victorian and others, like psychiatrist and ufologist Richard Boylan, have claimed that the Aviary is the official codeword, and that they have met with various agents. The individuals involved expanded to include almost anyone that supports or debunks UFO research that is in any way connected to the government. Michael Persinger has been included, as well as Susan Blackmore for interviewing him. It has degenerated to the point that it's now an inside joke on the newsgroups, with people giving each other codenames like Pigeon and Dodo Bird.

I have some serious problems with Victorian's article, but I intend to give the various Aviaries the full treatment when I have time.

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For over 20 years, the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory has been the center for government-sponsored parapsychology research in support of its intelligence program most recently known as STARGATE .

Mission Statement

The mission of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory is three-fold. To use the tools of modern behavioral, physiological, and physical sciences to:

Determine which parapsychological phenomena can be validated under strict laboratory conditions.

Understand their mechanisms.

Examine the degree to which they might contribute to practical applications.

The laboratory is a center for interdisciplinary research devoted to understanding a wide range of human experience. In addition to exploring parapsychological phenomena, the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory's charter extends to allied fields such as consciousness research, cognitive neuroscience, perception, physiology, psychology and physics.

Topics of Interest

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Conference center and hot springs resort in Big Sur, California. Since the early sixties, the Esalen Institute has held many seminars on various esoteric topics, and has been a nexus of many various individuals. Topics explored at the Institute include psychology, gesalt therapy, body work, psychic phenomena, mysticism, religion, psychedelics, human potentiality, and quantum physics.

The Institute was founded in 1964 by Mike Murphy and Dick Price out of Murphy's family resort. Murphy and Price had been running seminars at the resort beginning in 1962, with speakers gathered through an expanding network of contacts, beginning with Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley , George Bateson , Gerald Heard, and others.

(see Anderson, Walter Truett, The Upstart Spring, Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1983 for an expansive history of Esalen)

Joe K. Adams and Dell Carson led an early conference on psychic phenomena. (Anderson, pg 59). In their first seminar on Human Potentiality, led by Willis Harman , every program leader was involved with LSD research: Adams, Harman, Gregory Bateson, Gerald Heard, Paul Kurtz, and Myron Stolaroff . (Anderson, pg 72)

Other drug-culture luminaries, such as Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, taught at Esalen, and various psychedlics were used by the staff and students, although drug-use was not officially endorsed. Strangely, the Institute was never raided by the authorities. (Anderson, pg 108)

Charles Manson and members of his family played an impromptu concert at Esalen three days before their massacre at the Sharon Tate house. (Anderson, 239)

In the late 1970's, Esalen became involved with an Englishwoman named Jenny O'Connor, who claimed to be in psychic contact with the Nine (probably the same Nine that Andriah Puharich claimed to be in contact with). Dick Price and other members of the Esalen staff became increasingly dependent on the Nine, to the point of listing them as program leaders and members of the Esalen Gesalt Staff in brochures. (Anderson, pg 302-4)

In the 1970's, Mike Murphy became interested in Russian parapsychology, and visited the country to meet experimenters in this field. This led to a close connection between Esalen and some Russian officials, who set up an exchange program. Lasting into the 1980's, this exchange was dubbed "hot-tub diplomacy". John Mack was reportedly involved in this exchange.

Esalen also held seminars in quantum physics, and was the birthplace of the Physics/Consciousness Research Group . Some results of these seminars are documented in Zukav, Gary, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Morrow Quill, 1979.

In May 1982, Elisabeth and Russell Targ held a workshop on psychic phenomena for twenty-five professionals. This was part of a program with Stanislav Grof, who was studying non-chemical alternatives for altered states of consciousness. The Targs goal was to show that psychic experiences did not require an altered state .

(Targ, Russell and Harary, Keith, Mind Race, Villard Books, 1984, pg 99)

Other individuals who have come to lead seminars at Esalen at one time or another include Carlos Castaneda , Dutch psychic Peter Hurkos, Ira Einhorn , Rollo May, Jack Sarfatti , John Lilly , Terrance McKenna, Ian Wickramasekera, and Charles Tart. Werner Erhard was also close with Michael Murphy and Esalen.

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[The two buildings which housed the remote-viewing unit]

Headquarters of the National Security Agency, and houses facilities for FEMA . For an extended description of the base, see chapter three of James Bamford's The Puzzle Palace , Penguin Books, 1982.

Hal Puthoff worked there with the NSA during his service in the Army or as a civilian.

Home to the first remote-viewing operational units, called DT-S, codenamed: Grill Flame (1978-83), Center Lane (1983-6), and possibly Sun Streak.

These units were managed by the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), and overseen by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

These operational units supposedly provided intelligence for actual military operations, first for just the Department of Defense, but later for the entire intelligence community. They complimented research done at SRI , and were supported by a medical unit that monitored the viewers' health. A separate unit kept track of Soviet research.

The program started under Ed Thompson , and screened applicants for previous paranormal experiences.

(Primarily from Schnabel, Jim, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies, Dell, 1997)

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PO Box 6, Falls Church, VA 22040-0006

Phone: 703/534-8566 Fax: 703/534-8569

Founded: 1989

Founder and president: C.B. Scott Jones

Board members include Clark Sandground and Claiborne Pell .

Received original funding from Laurance Rockefeller . Passes funds from Rockefeller to UFO abduction researcher John Mack .

Worked with Dr. Igor Smirnov .

PSI TECH has done work for the Human Potential Foundation, predicting future environmental disasters. ( Ed Dames Interview on the Art Bell show, 5/31/96)

In November 1998, the Human Potential Foundation was dissolved and its principal undertaking, a global peace initiative, transferred to the newly established Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth, Inc.

Principal Website: www.peaceroom.com

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Also referred to as the International Foundation for Advanced Studies and the International Federation of Advanced Study.

Founded by Myron Stolaroff and Paul Kurtz , and located in Menlo Park, California. Studied the effects of LSD and mescaline from 1961 to 1965.

(Anderson, Walter Truett, The Upstart Spring, Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1983)

The foundation also offered LSD therapy for $500 a session. In late 1961, the foundation released The Psychedelic Experience: A New Concept in Psychotherapy.

(Stevens, Jay, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pg 177-9)

Also involved with the IFAS were Alfred Hubbard , Vice President Willis Harman , Charles Savage, Robert Mogar, James Fadiman, and Ethel Savage; with Hubbard reportedly supplying the drugs (then legal for research).

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Founded by Edgar Mitchell in 1973.

Former president: Willis Harman .

Former research director: Brendan O'Regan .

Click here to visit their home page.

Provided much of the early funding for the SRI studies.

"I wish to thank those who had faith in an idea that led to the founding of the Institute of Noetic Sciences: Henry Rolfs (deceased) and Zoe Rolfs, Richard Davis, Judith Skutch Whitson, Paul Temple, Phillip Lukin (deceased), and John White. And to those who came a bit later to carry the idea further: Osmond Crosby, Brendan O'Regan (deceased), Diane Brown Temple, and Willis Harman."

(Mitchell, Edgar, The Way of the Explorer, GP Putnam's Sons, 1996)

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Was/is owned by SCI ( Systems Consultants Inc .) SCI, founded in 1966, is a military contractor which studies intelligence electronic warfare and sensor technology. They receive most of their funding from the Navy.

MRU studies dowsing, the effects of electromagnetic radiation on the central nervous system, telepathy, infra and ultrasound, cranial implants, mind-altering drugs, bio-feedback and Krilian photography. President - Carl Schleicher. Schleicher denies that his organization has any connection to the government.

Employees/Members: (incomplete list, not necessarily current)

Christopher Bird

Rusian exile Stefan Possony. Psychological warfare expert with the Office of Naval Intelligence during WWII. On Board of Directors of the CIA front, the American Security Council.

Paul E.T. Jensen, managed Air Defense Task Force on electromagnetic warfare. Also studies telepathy.

Richard B. LaTondre, electomagnetic warfare expert, studied with the NSA . Served as an Electronics Warfare Officer and trained in combat intelligence and guerilla warfare.

Norman Korobow, author of several classified research papers for the Bureau of Naval Weapons.

Berthold Eric Schwartz, expert on the effects of LSD on hypnotically-induced seizures. UFOlogist, and has written on the link between UFO contactees and psychic phenomena. As of 11/94, semi-retired.

(Weberman, A.J., "The Story of Mankind Research Unlimited, Inc.", CoverAction Information Bulletin, #9, 6/80, pg 15-21)

Click below images to read " The Story of Mankind Research Unlimited, Inc ."

from BoycottBrazil Werbsite

Current (Late 1994) Information

Also called Mankind Research Foundation, Inc .

1315 Apple Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910

Phone: 301/587-8686 Fax: 301/587-8688

Studies alternative health treatments, Kirlian photography, dowsing, biotechnolgies for the handicapped, and drug addiction.

Some projects associated with psychotechnology:

Using "high frequency electro-stimulation of muscle and neural tissues" to stimulate atrophied muscles in the handicapped.

"Hearing aid device, developed as an auditory nerve by-pass to the brain via the skin". Sounds similar to the Neurophone.

"Blind 'I-C' device, based on advanced electronic signal processing technology which can enable a sightless person to 'electronically sight and view' his environment."

Behavior modification with subliminal suggestion, for drug and cigarette addiction.

Associated with:

The Center for Preventive Therapy and Rehabilitation

S.A.F.E. (Society for the Application of Free Energy): Studies psionics, dowsing, radionics, and radiesthesia.

The International Assocation for Psychotronic Research

All of the above share an address with MRU.

(Pamphlets from MRU, 11/94)

According to the Mankind Research Foundation home page (no longer working), MRF is associated with the Foundation for Blood Irradiation, Inc. (FFBI), Mankind Research Unlimited (MRU) and Accelerated Learning System (ALS), all of which would seem to be the same organization .

See also the information by AJ Weberman on his web site (no longer working). [Note: if you've got a crappy, out-of-date Macintosh like me, you might have problems going through the pages. Just replace the last number in the URL with the page you're looking for]

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P.O. Box 505, Lovingston, VA 22949. Click here to see their home page. Founded and directed by Robert Monroe from 1974 until his death in1995.

Had classified contracts with the U.S. Army Intelligence & Security Command (INSCOM) on orders by Gen. Albert Stubblebine . The Institute studied their hemi-synch techniques to see if they could enhance soldiers' performance and concentration. (Emerson, Steven, Secret Warriors, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1988, pg 103-4)

The primary area of research at the Monroe Institute involves using a binaural beat to cause different psychological effects. A binaural beat is created by using stereo headphones with each speaker emitting a slightly different frequency. The result is a tone at the frequency between the two, which allegedly causes the brain to "entrain" on the frequency, i.e. the brain waves regulate themselves to the same frequency.

The National Research council evaluated the Institute's claims that the method could be used to improve learning.

(National Research Council, Enhancing Human Performance, National Academy of Sciences, 1988, pg 111-4)

"..located near Charlottesville, Virginia. Bob Monroe, author of many books on Out of Body experiences, has long and close ties with the C.I.A . James Monroe, Bob's father, if I'm not mistaken, was involved with the Human Ecology Society, a C.I.A. front organization of the late 50's and 60's. The Monroe Institute has done research on accelerated learning and foreign language learning through the use of altered states of consciousness for the C.I.A. and other government organizations. Government interest in the more radical research going on at the institute remains only tantalizing speculation. Official classified document storage boxes have been seen at their mail-order outlet located in Lovingston, VA."

(Porter, Tom, Government Research into ESP & Mind Control , March, 1996)

The Monroe Institute trained the government viewers from Ft. Meade in out of body experiences. Courtney Brown also went through this training, which involves using the Institute's Hemisync tapes. These tapes, which work by using a binural beat to entrain brain waves, caused Brown to feel that he left his body and communicated with aliens.

(Brown, Courtney, Cosmic Voyage, Dutton, 1996)

Joseph McMoneagle trained at the Monroe Institute (although he fails to mention any connection to the military). According to him, the Hemisynch tapes were used during the "cool down" period before the remote viewing sessions, to relax the viewer.

(McMoneagle, Joe, Mind Trek, Hampton Roads, 1993)

Interestingly, Michael Persinger uses the Hemisync tapes in his work which debunks paranormal experiences, especially UFO abductions.

The Monroe Institute's involvement with the Army began in 1977, when Skip Atwater , at the suggestion of his mother, visited the institute. He spread the word to others in the remote viewing program, and soon others attended, including John Alexander , Joe McMoneagle , and Albert Stubblebine . Soon, Stubblebine began sending his officers there, under a program called "Rabid Advancement Personal Training".

(Schnabel, Jim, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies, Dell, 1997, pg 294-7)

In 1984, an unnamed INSCOM lieutenant with a history of mental illness suffered a psychotic episode while under the influence of the Hemisynch tapes at the institute. The officer was institutionalized at Walter Reed, and the event was the final straw that pushed Albert Stubblebine's resignation.

(Schnabel, 1997, pg 315-6)

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1515 E. Tropicana, Suite 400, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Click here for their home page.

Founded and funded by Robert Bigelow , this group includes John Alexander , his wife Victoria Alexander, Edgar Mitchell , Gordon Novel , Hal Puthoff , Bruce Maccabee , and airplane designer Burt Rutan . While the specific purpose and activities of this group are vague, from the staff it seems that they may be involved in attempts to build aircraft such as man-made UFOs.

( What's New at Area 51 and Ufomind: 9/96 Part I ) ( What's New at Area 51 and Ufomind: 9/96 Part II )

On 3/2/96, Hal Puthoff posted the following on alt.paranet.ufo:

National Institute for Discovery Science NIDS STATEMENT The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) is a newly formed, privately funded research organization. It focuses on scientific exploration that emphasizes emerging, novel, and sometimes unconventional observations and theories. In its programs, NIDS rigorously employs accepted scientific methods and maintains the highest ethical and quality standards. Because NIDS is a new institution, it is too soon to determine exactly what specific projects will be undertaken. However, the Institute is concentrating on exploring fundamental research on issues concerning the nature and evolution of life and consciousness in the universe, and their modes of interaction. A world-class science advisory board is assisting in designating and reviewing specific projects. Dissemination of the products of NIDS research will only occur once extensive peer review has been accomplished. The means of dissemination of this information will be through publication in scientific journals and other appropriate media accepted by the science community.

A few reports are listed on their home page , including an analysis of metallic implants and near-death experiences.

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Click here for their home page.

"This is where it all started back in 1975.

PCRG was co-founded by Jack Sarfatti and Michael Murphy at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California in 1974. Financed by Werner Erhard , Jean Lanier and the late George Koopman, the PCRG nurtured the creation of books like Space-Time and Beyond, The Tao of Physics, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Cosmic Trigger, and The Roots of Consciousness. The group included the physicists and authors, Fred Alan Wolf, Nick Herbert and Fritjof Capra, along with Saul Paul Sirag, Henry Dakin, Robert Anton Wilson, Uri Geller , Barbara Honneger, the late Brendan O Regan , George Leonard, Gary Zukav, Ira Einhorn , and artist Lynn Hershmann.

"Nobel Laureate, Brian Josephson, along with physicists David Finkelstein, Russell Targ , Karl Pribram, Henry Stapp, Phillipe Eberhard, and Ralph Abraham, all came for shorter visits. The group is now reborn on the World Wide Web twenty years later with both new and old faces. According to George Koopman, the PCRG was the inspiration for the film Ghost Busters."

( Origins of the Physics Consciousness Research Group )

According to Sarfatti, Koopman "provided money through military contracts with the Air Force and the U.S. Army Tank Command funneled through his company Insgroup in Irvine, California."

(Sarfatti, Jack, "In the Thick of It" )

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P.O. Box 661265, Los Angeles, CA 90066

Home Page

Founded in 1989 by President Ed Dames . Their Vice President is Jonina Dourif. A John L. Turner is listed as a monitor.

Board Members include John B. Alexander and Gen. Albert Stubblebine

Employees include "Ron Blackburn (former microwave scientist and specialist at Kirkland Air Force Base)" and formerly Major David Morehouse , in 1992.

"PSI-TECH has received several government contracts. For example, during the Gulf War crisis the Department for Defense asked it to use remote viewing to locate Saddam's Scud missiles sites. Last year (1992) the FBI sought PSI-TECH's assistance to locate a kidnapped Exxon executive."

(Victorian, Armen, "Non-Lethality: John B. Alexander, The Pentagon's Penguin" , Lobster Magazine, 6/93)

Some of the military remote-viewers that had done work for PSI TECH include: Lyn Buchanan , David Morehouse , Mel Riley , and Paul Smith .

(Schnabel, Jim, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies, Dell, 1997, pg 376)

"We also maintain an international service office in Hamburg, Germany." [An update of this document deleted this information, presumably the office is closed - Doc] "Our outside directors have included prominent figures from science and industry. Additionally, the company has at its disposal an adjunct Technical Analysis Team, consisting of a multidisciplinary group of distinguished scientists, engineers, and medical doctors from national labs, major corporations, and universities. These individuals provide analytical support to PSI TECH technical intelligence collection projects, as required."

( "PSI TECH - General Information" ) "In late 1991, during the Gulf War, PSI TECH provided intelligence on Saddam Hussein to the National Security Council, and located Iraq's hidden biological warfare stockpiles for the United Nations."

PSI TECH also offers training courses for professionals. "Since 1983, when Mr. Dames began teaching and employing these incredible skills, he has perfected remote viewing methods and techniques, employing his Technical Remote Viewingt training and operations protocols, which guarantee his commercial clients an unprecedented 100% data accuracy rate."

( "Major Edward Dames - Background Information" )

"My company's most interesting current assignment is to locate and identify the UNABOMBER. We are working hand-in-hand with law enforcement agencies to hunt the UNABOMBER down." The PSI TECH training course takes nine days and costs $4500.

( AOL Online Chat with Major Ed Dames" - February 1996 )

PSI TECH has done work for the Human Potential Foundation , predicting future environmental disasters.

( Ed Dames Interview on the Art Bell show, 5/31/96)

According to Ed Dames, some of PSI TECH's other clients have included:

"Accuracy in Media, a United States organization.

We looked at the KAL 007 shootdown. There were some inconsistencies that they wanted checked out."

"Alien Technology Transfer, an aerospace company has asked us to do some anti-gravity work."



(Dames, Ed, TREAT IV Conference , 3/2/92)

See also: Constantine, Alex, "Ed Dames & His Cover Stories for Mind Control Experimentation"

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Military contractor, located in California. Click here for their home page. I couldn't find anything on remote viewing.

SAIC took over the research aspect of the remote-viewing program from SRI when director Ed May and his Cognitive Sciences Laboratory moved there in 1991.

"SAIC, previously indicted on ten felony fraud counts by the Justice Department relating to its management of a Superfund toxic cleanup sight, has several prominent board members: Admiral Bobby Inman, former NSA Director and Deputy Director of the CIA; Melvin Laird, Richard Nixon's Defense Secretary; and retired General Max Thurman, Commander of the Panama Invasion. Previous board members include: Robert Gates, former CIA Director; William Perry, current Secretary of Defense; and John Deutch, current CIA Director."

SAIC owns Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), which in September, 1995 took over control of Internet Domain Name registration from the National Science Foundation.

("Spooks Spook Net Users", Paranoia, Issue 12, pg 26)

SAIC is also working with non-lethal weapons , but I haven't heard any details.

(Brandt, Daniel, "Mind Control and the Secret State" )

Hambones Comments about (SAIC)

SAIC, Psychics, and Info War

Ok, here's the dope on Scientific Applications International Corp. (SAIC), the company that owns Network Solutions Inc, the company that registers Internet Domain Names, a function that was turned over to them from the National Sciences Foundation in September 1995. You may have heard of their massive intelligence connections : board members include Austin's own Bobby Ray Inman (former NSA director and CIA deputy director) and Melvin Laird, Nixon's Secretary of Defense. Former board members include former CIA director Robert Gates, current CIA director John Deutch, and current Secretary of Defense William Perry. (Source: Paranoia #12, quoting Web Review).

Here's the poop from the Hambone files: SAIC also was involved in the Remote Viewing/psychic spying studies for the CIA and DIA, along with SRI International. It's also interesting that SAIC is involved in developing and promoting so-called "non-lethal weapons", which may be using remote-viewing as a front (stay tuned for a long, in-depth report on this subject from yours truly). Also interesting is that Information Warfare is often included as a sub-category of non-lethal warfare in military journals. Info War includes all the hacker and virus stuff, but it is broader than that. It includes the capability to intercept TV and radio transmissions from hostile countries, synthesize the voice and even the video of a foreign leader addressing his country, change the content, and re-broadcast it via satellite jamming. In the literature I've read, this technology is a reality to the folks at the Pentagon, and they're not overlooking it's potential for covert ops and psy-war. Another subset of Information Warfare involves "controlling the beliefs" of its subjects, including domestic ones. This used to be known as propaganda, or good-ole-fashioned lying, but I guess "Information Warfare" has that oh-so-sexy Wired appeal to it.

Military theorists like Lt Col Michael Aquino, US Army PSYOPS expert and founder of the Temple of Set , have argued that all war is psychological, and that killing people only provides an edge for the propaganda, which should not be limited to the enemy or during wartime.

But I'm sure we can trust the top men in the intelligence and military communities to act in our best interest.

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According to John Wilhelm, many of the principles in the SRI remote viewing experiments were Scientologists:



Hal Puthoff is claimed to have been at OT (Operating Thetan) Level III at the time of the experiments. He wrote the preface to Scientology: a Religion (can anyone provide a copy), and was married in a Scientology church. "Puthoff says his involvement with the church more than a decade ago was casual"

(McRae, Ronald, Mind Wars, St. Martin's Press, 1984, pg 108)

Ingo Swann was/is at OT Level VII. He presented a paper entitled "Scientological Techniques: A Modern Paradigm for the Exploration of Consciousness and Psychic Integration" (in Proceedings of the First International Congress on Psychotronic Research (Virginia: U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, 9/6/74, Document No. JPRS L/5022-1) at the First International Congress on Psychotronic Research in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Pat Price was at OT Level IV.

Eli Primose, an assistant in the Uri Geller tests.

George W. Church, Jr., owner of Science Unlimited Research Foundation, which funded some of the early studies.

Ingo Swann allegedly told Wilhelm that there were a total of fourteen "clears" working at SRI.

(Wilhelm, John, The Search for Superman, as reviewed in chapter 30 of Gardner, Martin, Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus, Prometheus Books, 1981, pg 320-1; Wilhelm, John, "Psychic Spying?", Washington Post 8/7/77, B1)

The relevance?

Not too much, as I can see. There is some historical relevance, as the Scientology factor supposedly scared off four potential sponsors of the research at SRI. (McRae, pg 108) Also, skeptics point towards Scientology's belief in psychic powers as a possible bias in the research.

I have my doubts that the Church of Scientology was ever used as a CIA front, as some have suggested. Scientologists have a form of therapy called "auditing", which involves relating details of one's life while being hooked to an "E-meter", which is a primitive lie-detector. This would violate some of the CIA's security protocals. Furthermore, the Church has revealed details about both MK-ULTRA and the government's psychic spying programs through the FOIA, which would be very inappropriate for a CIA proprietary. Also, there are direct connections between SRI and the intelligence community, so an indirect connection via Scientology isn't necessary for the purposes here. However, I could be very wrong.

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Menlo Park, CA.

Click here for their home page. I couldn't find anything there on remote viewing.

Founded in 1946 at Stanford University, it went independent in 1970 due to protest of its military contracts. Among them were studies with LSD and chemical warfare. Willis Harman and Alfred Hubbard were contracted to study the influence of LSD on the counter-culture and business.

Remote Viewing Program : Led by Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ . Originally funded by Science Unlimited Research Foundation, San Antonio, TX in April 1972.

The program began with Ingo Swann , after being told of the project by Cleve Backster .

Swann contacted Puthoff on 3/30/72, telling him of previous studies of his abilities. Swann came to the lab that June. His first experiment was to remote view and manipulate a shielded magnetometer. Near the end of this visit, he performed a series of experiments identifying objects inside boxes. Puthoff invited several potential sponsors of his project (including the CIA) to observe, and the CIA was impressed enough to fund an eight month pilot study. Swann returned to New York to clean up some previous commitments.

During this break, Russell Targ joined the research team. At the end of October, Andrija Puharich brought Uri Geller to SRI to be studied for six weeks. After several demonstrations under uncontrolled conditions, Geller did experiments in twisting metal, predicting die rolls, and copying pictures drawn by assistants. Geller was critically evaluated at SRI by Ray Hyman , among others.

Ingo Swann later in 1972 (Swann says he returned in October, Puthoff places Swann's return after Geller's six week study) to start the eight month pilot program funded by the CIA. Reportedly on Swann's suggestion, he began doing remote-viewing experiments using longitude and latitude as a target. A series of 100 experiments were done during the breaks between Swann's normal experiments.

These experiments were formalized into Project SCANATE . These coordinates were supposedly picked by a NSA (National Security Agency) monitor and transmitted to a CIA agent at SRI. On 5/29/73, during this series, Swann identified a military base (reportedly a satellite listening post). Puthoff read these coordinates to Pat Price , whose amazing results led him to join the SRI team. Click here for an extended review of this experiment.

Price and Swann continued their remote viewing experiments, this time using a person as a target. At an assigned time, the viewer would target the person and describe the scene where he/she was located. These experiments were the only ones which have been openly available to other scientists, and have been extensively reviewed (see references below).

In the summer of 1973, Swann finished the eight month pilot program and left SRI. He continued to work occasionally with the project until at least 1988.

By the end of 1973, the SRI team began to use average people in the remote-viewing project, not just "naturals" (i.e. people with natural psychic ability). These experiments included intelligence agents, and reportedly members of Congress. This series of experiments went on until around the fall of 1974, and the lab was allegedly running out of funding.

Author Richard Bach visited the lab for a series of experiments starting in April, 1975. Other experiments included experimenting with an "ESP teaching machne" for NASA. This device simply a random number generator which shows one of four pictures, and the subject tries to guess which picture is chosen each turn. Anoher experiment involved trying to see if individuals could pick signals from a subjects EEG. One subject is in a shielded room, with a strobe light activated at random times, and the other subject tries to detemine when the strobe is on.

(Targ, Russell and Puthoff, Harold E, Mind-Reach, Delacorte Press, 1977; Puthoff, Harold, "CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing Program at Stanford Research Institute" , Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring 1996)

In 1977, the Naval Electronics Systems Command contracted SRI (for $87,000) for "an investigation of the ability of certain individuals to perceive remote faint electromagnetic stimuli at a noncognitive level of awareness."

(McRae, Ronald, Mind Wars, St. Martin's Press, 1984, pg 5)

The activities of the lab are somewhat more sketchy after this point, but published accounts (such as Targ, Russell and Harary, Keith, Mind Race, Villard Books, 1984; Swann, Ingo, Everybody's Guide to Natural ESP, Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1991) suggest more of the same, with little expansion and almost no work to isolate the actual mechanisms at work.

Hal Puthoff remains fairly tight-lipped about the classified aspects of the program, but says that the activities focused on studying the possible threat of psi in enemy hands than on actual operations. However, Swann and Price did view many military targets as part of their experiments, so the line between research and operations becomes a bit fuzzy. (see Wilhelm, John, "Psychic Spying?", Washington Post 8/7/77, B1)

I am somewhat skeptical of the claim that the CIA entered the picture sometime after Puthoff began his experiments with Ingo Swann. Here we have a CIA connected parapsychologist (Backster) introducing a subject with a Top Secret clearance (Swann) to a former Naval Intelligence officer who has worked with the NSA (Puthoff) who is working at a military contracted research lab (SRI). I find it highly doubtful that the intelligence community was not involved until experiments were well under way. It's more likely that the CIA was involved from the beginning, and that they might have even initiated the program.

The early experiments were allegedly conducted by researchers involved with Scientology and believers in psi, which some feel may have tainted the data. There are several critical references below.

SRI has a history of mind-control research. "Under contract to the Army, SRI chemists studied psychoactive components like LSD for their potential as chemical-warfare agents". (McRae, pg 94) Puthoff has argued that his research at SRI had nothing to do with mind control (see Puthoff/Constantine Debate ). However, it is interesting to note that Puthoff and Targ researched mind-machine interfaces in context with the remote viewing project. (R. Targ, P. Cole and H. E. Puthoff, "Techniques to Enhance Man/Machine Communication," Stanford Research Institute Final Report on NASA Project NAS7-100 (August 1974). Note: I have not seen this paper, but it was referenced by Puthoff). However, this may be techno-speak for telekinesis, much like "novel biological information transfer" is for telepathy.

Around 1976, Dr. Sam Koslov , scientific assistant to the secretary of the Navy, received a briefing on various research projects, including those at SRI. Among the headings on the screen describing SRI's work included "ELF AND MIND CONTROL". ELF stands for extremely low frequency, and electromagnetic radiation in this band has an effect on the central nervous system and has been studied by the military under projects Pandora, Sanguine, and others. Koslov was reportedly upset and shut off Navy funding (although the Navy has been, and continues to be, one of the biggest supporters of electronic mind-control). (Wilhelm, 1977)

Some of the early experiments involved Elizabeth Rauscher as a consultant. In 1985, Hal Puthoff left the lab and was replaced as director by Edwin May , who had joined the lab in 1976. Russell Targ had left in 1982. For reasons unknown to me, the research aspect of the program were transferred from SRI to SAIC in 1991.

Experiments at SRI are documented in:

Targ, Russell and Harary, Keith, Mind Race , Villard Books, 1984

Targ, Russell and Puthoff, Harold E, Mind-Reach , Delacorte Press, 1977

Targ, Russell and Puthoff, Harold E, "Information Transmission Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding" , Nature, 10/18/74, v252, n5476, pp 602-607 (reprinted in Panati, Charles, ed., The Geller Papers, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1976)

Critical reviews of the early experiments are contained in:

Marks, David and Kammann, Richard, The Psychology of the Psychic , Prometheus Books, 1980

Gardner, Martin, Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus , Prometheus Books, 1981

Randi, James, Flim-Flam , Prometheus Books, 1982

Wilhelm, John, The Search for Superman, Pocket Books (Note: this text is reportedly hard to find, but is reviewed in Gardner's book above)

Partial list of researchers involved in the SRI study include:

Partial list of subjects:

Richard Bach, author and patron

Phyllis Cole, SRI lab technician

Duane Elgin, SRI futurologist

Hella Hammid, photographer

Keith Harary

Susan Harris

Gary Langford, SRI computer expert

Joe McMoneagle

Marshall Pease, SRI mathematician

Pat Price

Marylin Schlitz

Ingo Swann

Elisabeth Targ

Jacques Vallee , SRI computer consultant, ufologist

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Click here for their website.

Members: Thomas Bearden

Charles Whitehouse, board member. In 1977, Whitehouse sold the Navy a "multipectral image analyzer station" for $5,111. The device supposedly works by focusing psychic energies to locate hidden submarines, using pictures as its target. (McRae, Ronald, Mind Wars, St. Martin's Press, 1984, pg 4) Note: McRae has admitted to fabricating some of the more absurd elements of his book - this probably among them

Theodore Rockwell, "a prominent (Who's Who) nuclear engineer who has worked on naval nuclear propulsion systems and who also serves as vice president" (Durant, Robert J., "Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?")

Individuals presenting papers at one time or another:

Eldon Byrd

John B. Alexander