Skip to content

Project STARGATE

Project STARGATE was a classified programme run by the United States Army and funded in part by the Central Intelligence Agency that trained and used remote viewers for intelligence purposes from the 1970s until its termination in November 1995.

1972-1995 · Fort Meade, Maryland, USA · United States Army; Central Intelligence Agency · Terminated

Project STARGATE was the code name for a secret programme, run principally by the United States Army, that trained and used remote viewing (RV) practitioners for intelligence purposes during the Cold War.1 The effort grew out of a broader search by the US government for what has been described as a “mind reading” weapon to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union.2 It began in the 1970s as a classified project at a research lab in California, before its operational element moved to an army base in Maryland.3 A related, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-funded remote-viewing programme had already been running at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) since 1972.4 Project STARGATE was terminated in November 1995,5 reportedly because of unreliable results.6

No established method for training someone in remote viewing existed when the programme was organised,7 so its founders first turned to SRI International, where the phenomenon had already been studied for nearly five years.8 The Army resolved to find, train, and use remote viewers for the effort,9 drawing on William G. Braud’s paper “Psi Conducive States” to help identify possible subjects.10 Military personnel tasked with locating psychics compiled their own list of indicators against a military background,11 including consistent success whatever the task,12 being well liked by peers while considered different from the norm,13 and a willingness to pursue new avenues of approach.14 One of the programme’s original recruits was Joseph McMoneagle,1 who over an eighteen-year consultancy from 1984 to 1995 took part in protocol design, research and development evaluations, and thousands of remote-viewing trials supporting experimental research and active intelligence operations,15 performing applications remote viewing until the programme closed in November 1995.16 McMoneagle later recalled that in the programme’s early stages there was considerable concern for participants’ psychological stability,17 addressed through extensive psychological testing, numerous interviews, and a gradual programme of exposure intended to ensure that only centred and stable individuals were allowed to participate.18 That vetting process was later dropped to reduce costs,19 which McMoneagle said left previously stable individuals, in more than one case, stripped of their psychological boundaries and left emotionally or mentally unstable.20

Within Project STARGATE, no one was considered a remote viewer until training was complete,21 a process that typically took a minimum of three to eighteen months depending on the individual’s talent.22 Highly talented trainees could become productive within ninety days,23 while those with little natural aptitude either used the full training term or failed to complete it.24 Early methods for evaluating remote-viewing material were tuned specifically to drawings.25 On the military side, viewers worked from military maps whose letter-and-number coordinate combinations varied between maps rather than following a standard grid, a form of Coordinate Remote Viewing intended to counter scepticism about the viewers’ eidetic memory.26 The true map coordinates were sealed inside opaque envelopes marked on the outside with false coordinates, lacking degrees, minutes, and seconds, that served only as an identifier for that day’s project.27 Protocols were further extended to address additional target categories, including ideas, concepts, plans, thoughts, feelings, and emotions.28 McMoneagle was himself trained in dowsing while assigned to the programme at Maryland Fort Meade.29

Ed Dames was part of the programme during the 1980s,30 selected as one of five prototype Army members trained by Ingo Swann during 1983 and 1984.31 Swann developed the remote-viewing structure used to train that prototype team,32 and had Dames remote-view the Washington Monument as one of his first training targets.33 Dames has said he was trained by Swann as a remote viewer while serving in the United States Army during the 1980s.34 He went on to serve as the operations and training officer for the Department of Defense’s Project Stargate program.35 Dames also used Robert Monroe’s programme, developed through The Monroe Institute, on altered states and out-of-body experiences to evaluate potential recruits.36 Scepticism persisted even within the military: the United States Air Force (USAF)’s chief of staff for intelligence did not believe the programme’s remote viewers could do what they claimed.37

Findings from the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, for which Edwin C. May and colleagues were directly responsible from 1986 until the programme’s termination,38 were shared with and used by the operational unit at Fort Meade for most of the programme’s existence.39 According to McMoneagle, laboratory findings that called for changes to specific applications were sometimes dismissed as unnecessary or discarded by Fort Meade’s project managers,40 and there was a large discrepancy between good and bad managers, with full managerial responsibility resting with the Fort Meade unit.41 Operationally, remote viewers took part in efforts to locate hostages kidnapped by Islamic terrorist groups42 and to trace the movements of fugitive criminals within the United States.43 The 2017 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declassification of Project Stargate records released approximately 12 million pages of records revealing new details about the programme.44 As of the 2013 publication of one first-hand account, however, ninety-nine percent of material relating to the operational Fort Meade unit had still not been declassified.45

Since the programme’s closure, McMoneagle has had dealings with dozens of television production companies, journalists, authors, and radio hosts.46 Over the programme’s eighteen-year run, McMoneagle estimated that roughly eighty to eighty-five people were involved on both the scientific and operational sides, counting support and viewer personnel,47 of whom probably fewer than three dozen were remote viewers themselves,48 with about half of the remaining non-viewer staff working as scientists and the rest performing support functions such as evaluation, analysis, and operational monitoring.49 McMoneagle said that dozens of targets worked by viewers within the programme produced successful predictions relating to people, places, or things, generally 90 to 365 days ahead.50 According to Remote Viewing Secrets, opinion within the programme was divided on whether the skill could be taught: some members believed anyone could learn remote viewing, while others believed it could not be taught at all.51

  1. McMoneagle described it as the secret Army project using trained remote viewers for intelligence purposes during the Cold War
    “I was one of the original remote viewers recruited into what is now commonly referred to as Project STARGATE, the once secret Army project designed to use trained remote viewers for intelligence purposes during the Cold War.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:1518-1738
  2. The US sought a 'mind reading' weapon to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union
    “During the height of the Cold War, the United States government embarked on a mission to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union. To do this, they sought to use a new weapon that could give them an edge in the conflict. Mind reading.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:02:38.4-00:02:51.9
  3. Began as a classified California lab project before moving to a Maryland army base
    “they initiated a highly classified project that began in a research lab in California in the 70s before moving to a Maryland army base”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:02:54.5-00:03:01.4
  4. A CIA-funded remote viewing programme ran at Stanford Research Institute from 1972
    “A famous remote viewing program, known as Project Stargate, was run for the Central Intelligence Agency at the Stanford Research Institute starting in 1972”
    The Fourth Mind ch22:13288-13439
  5. Terminated in November 1995
    “Project STARGATE was terminated in November 1995.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch26:17103-17147
  6. Cancelled in 1995, allegedly due to unreliable results
    “and cancelled in 1995, allegedly due to unreliable results.”
    The Fourth Mind ch22:13444-13495
  7. No known training method existed when the programme was organised
    “There were no books or articles that clearly outlined a method for finding someone who might be psychic, nor did any known method for training someone in remote viewing exist.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:919-1088
  8. Founders turned to SRI International, where remote viewing had been studied for nearly five years
    “The first place they looked, of course, was SRI-International, where remote viewing had already been studied for nearly five years, and comments relative to training and gifted versus non-gifted subjects could be found.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:1216-1429
  9. The Army decided to find, train, and use remote viewers
    “Back when the United States Army decided to find, train, and use remote viewers for Project STARGATE, no one knew what this meant.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:788-912
  10. Braud's 'Psi Conducive States' paper was used to identify possible subjects
    “An additional document which was available and known to have been used by Army STARGATE founders to identify possible remote viewing subjects was a paper published in the Journal of Communications titled Psi Conducive States, by William G. Braud”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:6126-6366
  11. Military personnel compiled their own list of indicators to identify psychics
    “The military people tasked with finding psychics added their own list of possible indicators that would show up against a common military background. ... These were the general guidelines that were used to hunt down the original psychics used in the STARGATE program.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:9411-9677
  12. Indicator: consistent success whatever the task
    “1: Consistently successful whatever the task.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:9582-9622
  13. Indicator: liked by peers but considered different from the norm
    “2: Liked by peers but considered different from the norm.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:9629-9681
  14. Indicator: willing to pursue new avenues of approach
    “4: Willing to pursue new avenues of approach.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:9738-9774
  15. McMoneagle's 1984-1995 consultancy: protocol design, R&D evaluations, thousands of trials
    “participating in protocol design, R&D evaluations, thousands of remote viewing trials in support of both experimental research as well as active intelligence operations for Project STARGATE”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch4:1292-1474
  16. McMoneagle performed applications remote viewing until the programme closed in November 1995
    “I did applications (sometimes referred to as operational) remote viewing in support of that unit for a period of nearly eighteen years, until it closed in November 1995.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:1752-1916
  17. Early concern about participants' psychological stability
    “Way back in the beginning, there was concern about a number of things in the STARGATE Project, but probably highest on the list was the stability of the players.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch15:488-641
  18. Vetting involved testing, interviews, and gradual exposure to admit only stable individuals
    “The outset of the STARGATE Project involved extensive psychological testing and numerous interviews, as well as a gradual program of exposure, to insure that centered and stable individuals were allowed to participate, individuals who could cope with and integrate what they would be exposed to.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch15:12087-12379
  19. Vetting later dropped to reduce costs
    “Later in the program, a decision was made to no longer do this testing in order to reduce costs.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch15:12383-12524
  20. Dropping vetting left some previously stable individuals unstable
    “Without going into specific personalities, I can say that in more than one case, otherwise stable individuals were stripped of their psychological boundaries, and subjected to areas of inquiry that they should not have been. As a result they became quite unstable, emotionally, mentally, or sometimes both.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:34511-34812
  21. No one considered a remote viewer until training was complete
    “In STARGATE we never considered anyone a remote viewer until s/he finished training.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch22:492-567
  22. Training typically took three to eighteen months
    “training in our program was almost always a minimum of anywhere from three to eighteen months, usually depending upon how much innate talent the person had walking through the door”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch22:582-758
  23. Talented trainees could become productive within ninety days
    “Someone with a lot of natural talent could usually be quite productive within ninety days.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch22:764-849
  24. Less talented trainees used the full term or failed to complete it
    “Those with very little either took the full term of training, or failed to complete it. (Yes, we did have those too.)”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch22:855-967
  25. Early evaluation methods were tuned to drawings
    “At the beginning of the project, all of the methods for evaluating or judging the material were tuned to drawings.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch16:18779-18884
  26. Military maps used varying coordinate combinations to counter scepticism about eidetic memory
    “So, to deal with the skeptical issues, the military side of the house did what the military does best—they improvised. Instead of using standard grid coordinates that anyone can read, they used military maps, which use a different coordinate system.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch17:11119-11361
  27. Real coordinates sealed in envelopes marked with false, incomplete coordinates
    “So, at least on the military side, we began putting the real map coordinates inside sealed and opaque envelopes, and then we would write false coordinates on the outside. ... Point being, they really had no actual meaning, other than to identify that day's project.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch17:11790-12135
  28. Protocols extended to target categories: ideas, concepts, plans, thoughts, feelings, emotions
    “Protocols developed within the military during Project STARGATE stretched many of these well known protocols to address additional areas that include ideas, concepts, plans, thoughts, feelings, and/or emotions as targets.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch17:3054-3267
  29. McMoneagle trained in dowsing while assigned to the programme at Fort Meade
    “I was originally trained in dowsing while assigned to the STARGATE unit at Fort Meade.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch17:36051-36131
  30. Ed Dames was part of the programme in the 1980s
    “Major Ed Dames, who was part of the Sci-Spy program in the 80s.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:26:21.6-00:26:25.2
  31. Dames selected as one of five prototype Army members trained by Swann, 1983-1984
    “When I was selected as one of the five prototype members, Army members, to be trained by Ingo Swann, my mentor, to whom I later became protege, and that was 1983 and 1984.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:29:32.8-00:29:45.0
  32. Swann developed the remote-viewing structure used to train the prototype team
    “Ingo had just developed his structure.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:29:51.0-00:29:53.7
  33. Swann had Dames remote-view the Washington Monument as an early training target
    “The moment that changed me was when Ingo Swann had me remote view the ... as one of my first training targets, the Lincoln Monument, the Washington Monument.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:35:44.6-00:35:57.9
  34. Dames claims he was trained by Swann while serving in the Army in the 1980s
    “a gentleman by the name of Major Ed Dames, a retired U.S. Army major who claims that he was trained by Ingo Swann as a remote viewer in Project Stargate while serving in the Army in the 80s”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:23:47.1-00:23:58.1
  35. Dames was the operations and training officer for the DOD's Project Stargate program
    “I am the former operations and training officer for the Department of Defense Stargate program.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:29:25.9-00:29:31.6
  36. Dames used Bob Monroe's programme on altered states and out-of-body experiences to evaluate recruits
    “One thing that we did use, and I especially as an operations officer, to evaluate potential recruits for the program was the Bob Monroe's program developing altered states and out-of-bodies.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:37:42.6-00:37:55.8
  37. The USAF chief of staff for intelligence did not believe the viewers could do what they claimed
    “chief of staff for intelligence for the u.s air force though they he did not believe it what that we could do what we could do”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:36:28.3-00:36:35.0
  38. Edwin C. May and colleagues responsible for the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory's work, 1986-1995
    “and to Dr. Edwin C. May and his colleagues—from 1986 through the termination of the project in November 1995.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:7827-7931
  39. CSL findings were shared with the operational unit at Fort Meade for most of its existence
    “findings and materials from the lab were shared and used within the operational element of Project STARGATE, located at Fort Meade, Maryland, at least for most of the time it existed.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:8678-8853
  40. CSL findings were sometimes dismissed or discarded by Fort Meade project managers
    “Research that established changes to specific remote viewing applications was sometimes not viewed as constructive or conducive to the operational requirements by the Fort Meade project managers. In such cases, this research was summarily dismissed as unnecessary or simply discarded.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:9090-9364
  41. Large discrepancy between good and bad managers; full responsibility rested at Fort Meade
    “There was always a large discrepancy between good managers and bad managers within STAR-GATE.... Since full managerial responsibility for the project resided within the Meade unit, the science side of the house was sometimes subjected to these irregularities, as were certainly the remote viewers.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets para 44
  42. Viewers took part in operations to locate hostages kidnapped by Islamic terrorist groups
    “From locating hostages kidnapped by Islamic terrorist groups to tracing the paths of fugitive criminals within the United States.”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:03:48.5-00:03:54.7
  43. Viewers took part in operations tracing fugitive criminals within the United States
    “tracing the paths of fugitive criminals within the United States”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:03:51.9-00:03:54.7
  44. 2017 CIA declassification released roughly 12 million pages of records
    “recently, in 2017, the CIA declassified some 12 million pages of records, which revealed new details about the program, now known as Project Stargate”
    How The CIA Spent Millions On Psychic Spies - PROJECT: STARGATE (Documentary 1 of 3) 00:03:31.6-00:03:41.2
  45. As of 2013, 99% of Fort Meade operational material remained undeclassified
    “The Operational, or Fort Meade Unit, for which ninety-nine percent of the material has not yet been declassified or made available to the public.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:12963-13101
  46. Since closure, McMoneagle has dealt with media companies, writers, and radio hosts
    “Since then, I've had interaction with dozens of television production companies, a number of newspaper, magazine, and book writers, and live and taped radio show hosts.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch26:17153-17315
  47. Roughly 80-85 people were involved over the programme's eighteen years
    “Over the course of eighteen years, counting support and viewer personnel, probably eighty to eighty-five people were involved in the project on both the scientific and the operational sides of the house.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:2589-2786
  48. Probably fewer than three dozen were remote viewers
    “Probably fewer than three dozen people were viewers.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:2887-2931
  49. About half of non-viewer staff were scientists, the rest performed support functions
    “Of the others, about half were scientists, and the remainder performed support functions, such as evaluation, analysis, and operational monitoring.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:2940-3076
  50. Dozens of targets produced successful predictions 90 to 365 days out
    “Literally dozens of targets worked by viewers within the STARGATE Program made successful predictions relating to events involving people, places, or things, generally out to between 90 and 365 days.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch23:12195-12389
  51. Opinion divided on whether remote viewing could be taught
    “some members of the unit may say that they believe anyone can be taught remote viewing. Others seem to say something quite the opposite—that remote viewing cannot be taught.”
    Remote Viewing Secrets ch9:3779-3945

Language

30 languages covering 80% of the world's literate population

English English English (US) English (US) Spanish Español Portuguese Português Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia French Français Swahili Kiswahili Vietnamese Tiếng Việt Turkish Türkçe German Deutsch Italian Italiano Uzbek Oʻzbekcha Polish Polski Tagalog Tagalog
Mandarin 中文 Traditional Chinese 繁體中文 Japanese 日本語 Korean 한국어
Arabic العربية Urdu اردو Persian فارسی
Russian Русский Ukrainian Українська
Hindi हिन्दी Bengali বাংলা Thai ไทย Burmese မြန်မာ Telugu తెలుగు Marathi मराठी Tamil தமிழ்