Project Stargate: Unveiling the U.S. Government’s Secret Psychic Experiments

One of my favourite books is Psychic Warrior: The True Story of the CIA’s Paranormal Espionage Program. David Morehouse came from a military family—both his father and grandfather were officers—so it was no surprise when Morehouse joined the U.S. Army in 1979. After graduating at the top of his class, he quickly rose through the ranks to Major. In 1987, while taking part in a military exercise in Jordan, he was struck by a stray bullet that, luckily, lodged in his helmet. The impact was strong enough to knock him unconscious, and while he was unconscious, he experienced a visitation from an angel-like figure. It was after this incident that he developed psychic abilities, which eventually led to his recruitment into a top-secret operation known as Project Stargate.

During the Cold War, in response to the Soviet Union’s interest in the power of the human mind and the possibility of harnessing it for military use, the U.S. government launched its own program to explore psychic phenomena—specifically remote viewing—and its potential military applications. This program, known as Project Stargate, was operated primarily by the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Stargate engaged scientists, psychics, and military personnel to test the viability of extrasensory perception (ESP) for espionage and intelligence-gathering purposes.

Project Stargate was not the first program to investigate psychic abilities and followed in the footsteps of its predecessors, Project Scanate and Gondola Wish. As the program evolved, it was known by various names, including Grill Flame and Center Lane, before being renamed Project Stargate in the mid-1980s. The primary goal of Project Stargate was to determine whether remote viewing could be used as a viable intelligence-gathering tool. Remote viewers were asked to describe specific targets—such as military installations, hostages, or enemy activities—that were often located far away or in inaccessible locations. The hope was that these psychic abilities could help the U.S. military and intelligence community gain an advantage over adversaries, especially during the Cold War when tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were high.

Project Stargate focused on researching the possibility of using remote viewing and other psychic phenomena, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), for military and intelligence purposes. The primary method of research was remote viewing, a technique in which individuals, known as “remote viewers,” would attempt to find information about distant or unseen locations, objects, or events using only their minds. The program’s goal was to determine if this ability could be harnessed as a reliable tool for spying on foreign threats, locating missing personnel, or gathering intelligence that conventional methods could not obtain.

To explore this potential, Project Stargate recruited military personnel, psychics, and scientists, employing rigorous experimental protocols. Remote viewers were tasked with visualising specific, often classified, targets, and their results were compared against known intelligence to assess accuracy. The program utilised a variety of control methods to limit bias, including double-blind experiments, where neither the viewer nor the researcher knew the target in advance. Over the years, Stargate tested the effectiveness of remote viewing in both simulated and real-world situations, generating mixed results and leading to ongoing debate about the validity and utility of the findings.

This project was taken very seriously, and the participants included well-educated scientists, military servicemen, and civilians who had previously shown a high level of psychic ability. Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, physicists from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), were instrumental in conducting early remote viewing experiments. Their research at SRI laid the groundwork for the U.S. military’s interest in the practical applications of psychic phenomena. Ingo Swann, a New York artist who had demonstrated significant psychic abilities, became one of the most prominent figures in Project Stargate. Swann is credited with helping to develop many of the protocols used in remote viewing experiments. His contributions helped shape the structured methods that participants would follow during their sessions. Morehouse was not the only military member involved in the program; Joseph McMoneagle, a former U.S. Army officer, became one of the most successful remote viewers in the program. McMoneagle claimed to have participated in hundreds of missions during his time in Stargate.

Project Stargate had several notable moments, though its results were mixed and often controversial. Remote viewers were sometimes able to provide accurate descriptions of the locations of hostages or downed aircraft that had eluded conventional intelligence methods. In one instance, remote viewers reportedly helped locate a Soviet Tu-95 bomber that had crashed in Africa. They also provided descriptions of foreign military installations, particularly those of the Soviet Union, which were later confirmed by satellite imagery. These instances gave proponents of Stargate some evidence that remote viewing had practical value in intelligence work.

The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was also investigated by the remote viewers of Project Stargate (then operating under the name Project Sun Streak) in 1990, two years after the horrific event. Remote viewers were asked to replicate aspects of the bombing through psychic means. One subject described a “cylindrical shape” with something moving inside it, which matched the general description of the baggage container and the cassette player in which the bomb was hidden. However, while some of the descriptions resonated with the bombing details, the information was too vague and lacked enough specificity to be considered useful for intelligence purposes.

During Project Stargate, some remote viewers claimed to have visited not only distant locations on Earth but also other planets, as well as different points in time. One of the most famous accounts involved Ingo Swann, who reportedly described specific features of Jupiter during an experiment. His descriptions, given before the Voyager spacecraft arrived at the planet, were later found to align with scientific findings, such as the presence of Jupiter’s rings.

In addition to planetary exploration, some remote viewers alleged that they could perceive events from both the past and future. These included visions of ancient civilisations and future global disasters, though these claims were harder to substantiate and remain controversial. Critics argue that these “off-planet” and time-traveling visions were more speculative than grounded in actionable intelligence. Nonetheless, such claims added a layer of intrigue to the already mysterious and controversial Project Stargate.

In 1995, after spending over $20 million on remote viewing research, the CIA commissioned the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to conduct a review of Project Stargate. The resulting report concluded that while some remote viewing sessions had produced accurate information, the overall body of evidence did not support the notion that remote viewing was consistently reliable or useful as an intelligence tool. As a result, the program was officially terminated.

The declassification of over 12,000 documents related to Project Stargate in 1995 confirmed the U.S. government’s involvement in the investigation of psychic phenomena, including remote viewing, for intelligence purposes. These documents detailed the program’s operations, participants, and experiments, giving the public its first look into the U.S. military’s interest in extrasensory perception (ESP). While some remote viewers made impressive claims, such as accurately describing foreign military sites and aiding in locating lost aircraft, the overall success of the program remains debated.