Project Stargate

Project Stargate was the umbrella designation for a series of classified U.S. government programs investigating psychic phenomena, particularly remote viewing, from 1978 to 1995. The program was initiated by the Army Intelligence and Security Command and later transferred to the CIA, motivated by intelligence reports suggesting the Soviet Union was conducting similar psychic research.

The project's primary focus was remote viewing, a claimed psychic ability to perceive distant or hidden targets using extrasensory perception. The program employed individuals who claimed to possess psychic abilities, tasking them with gathering intelligence on foreign military installations, locating hostages, and identifying the locations of weapons systems and personnel.

Key personnel included physicist Harold Puthoff and former Army intelligence officer Ingo Swann, who developed the remote viewing protocols used in the program. The project operated under various code names throughout its existence, including Gondola Wish, Grill Flame, Center Lane, and Sun Streak, before being consolidated under the Stargate designation in 1991.

Over its 17-year duration, the program cost approximately $20 million and involved more than 20 psychics and support personnel. Participants claimed various successes, including the location of a Soviet submarine and intelligence on foreign military activities, though the reliability and accuracy of these claims remained disputed throughout the program's existence.

In 1995, the CIA commissioned the American Institutes for Research to conduct an independent evaluation of the program. The assessment concluded that remote viewing had never provided actionable intelligence and that any apparent successes could be attributed to chance, conventional intelligence sources, or subjective interpretation of vague information. The program was subsequently terminated and declassified in the same year.