CIA operations are famous for being highly secretive, but it had been rumored for years that this clandestine intelligence agency used (and still uses) psychics in some of their most highly classified projects. The CIA denied they used psychics for decades but the truth bomb on this subject landed with a large explosion about three and a half years ago, on January 18, 2017.
The CIA was finally forced to formally admit they used psychics in their work when they declassified papers on Project Star Gate and posted them to their official website for all the world to see. The CIA also had to finally had to publicly admit they had been researching the validity of paranormal abilities for decades. When these declassified top-secret papers hit the website, the news media and others had a lot to pour through. However, it quickly became clear to the world that the use of psychics in the CIA was far more extensive than almost anyone had ever imagined.
To fully understand why psychics are useful to the CIA and why the CIA became interested in paranormal ability, you have to know why this intelligence agency came into existence and when exactly that happened. The CIA, or the Central Intelligence Agency, was founded in 1947, in the early days of the Cold War with the Soviets. The formation of the CIA was a direct response to dangerous and escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union immediately after World War II. The Cold War with the Soviets was considered by most experts at the time to be the most urgent national security issue facing the United States and their international allies.
In a broader sense, the CIA was actually an outgrowth of an earlier “secret service” formed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. This precursor to the CIA was modeled after the British Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6 because President Roosevelt’s advisors witnessed the value of their closest ally having highly trained people on the ground gathering intelligence. Having this intelligence was believed to be THE key to winning the war. Experts also deemed it essential to have well-trained analysts back home analyzing the data gathered by CIA field agents so the CIA could be thought of as two teams. Psychics could help both the “home team” and the “away team” so to speak.
In the early 1970s, U.S. military intelligence got word that the Soviets were putting serious resources toward research on telepathy and telekinesis. Moreover, they planned to use this in their espionage. It was also feared that the Soviets might use these psychic abilities as a weapon of some sort. This was Cold War days and the United States responded to the Soviet efforts with a $20 million research project of their own, which ultimately became known to the world as Project Star Gate… but we’re skipping ahead a couple of decades at least! This Cold War-era project was a hush hush, highly secret, top-level clearance only project so of course, it fueled many so-called “conspiracy theories” that basically turned out to be true.
Project Star Gate started in the early 1970s, with the precise start date/year disputed, although some pinpoint it as August 1973 based on certain funding allocations. It lasted at least more than twenty years and involved not just one project but many projects with one loosely defined purpose: to study the effectiveness of telepathy and telekinesis and figure out how to use it to augment traditional intelligence activities…. and to beat the Soviets at their own game! The project went well beyond “research” to actually using psychics in some of the CIA’s most important missions.
Project Stargate was also known by several other code names including Grill Flame, Gondola Wish, Sun Streak, and Center Lane, among others. Supposedly, the project ended in 1995 but that is up for debate in many circles. Some of the earliest research began at the Stanford Research Institute and was paid for by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Later, at least some of the work involving “remote viewers” was conducted at Fort Meade in Maryland and possibly other yet to be disclosed locations.
Joseph McMoneagle, a Vietnam vet and psychic who worked for the CIA, reported to the Washington Post that the special powers of at least fifteen “remote viewers,” including himself, were put to good practical use. McMoneagle worked in this capacity for fifteen years. He was reportedly one of the most talented psychics the CIA ever used and the fact that his remote predictions and paranormal intelligence helped save lives is certainly proof positive that the CIA successfully demonstrated that psychic ability is a real thing. He is said to have helped locate submarines, hostages, and specific “spy” items such as a short-wave radio disguised as a small calculator used by a KGB agent. He could even draw the layout of places he had never been to before. He also predicted the fall of Skylab with great accuracy.
Beyond the specific practical tasks of remote viewers, the CIA went to great lengths to design scientific experiments to determine if psychics actually have the gifts they claim to have. They also wanted to know how predictable and accurate these gifts could be and how to use them to give effectively. Perhaps the most famous psychic to be tested in the early days of the project was Uri Geller. Geller was also a magician and was already famous for his abilities to bend spoons and read other people’s minds. It was the latter talent the CIA was most interested in.
Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ were parapsychologists who worked in the CIA. They designed experiments to test Geller’s ability to draw a picture seen by someone else, i.e. read their mind and provide proof. The pictures were drawn and selected in another room and Geller was asked to draw what he saw in the mind of the person who had seen the picture before it was sealed in the envelope. Albeit not a perfect rendition, he was able to draw an uncanny likeness of many images such as smiley faces, cars, planes, grapes, stars, eyeglasses, boots, UFOs, symbols, and geometric abstractions. Often these images would be shown as the mirror image of the original. This went on for five weeks and the parapsychologists said that he had demonstrated his abilities in a “…convincing and unambiguous manner.”
Unfortunately, controversy ensued over the design of the experiments with Uri Geller which has tarnished the reputation of Project Stargate overall. This is a shame because most of the work done as part of Project Stargate was never seriously questioned internally or externally. In fact, the research conducted, and the real-world information provided by psychics gave great validity to the gifts of the psychics involved. However, detractors always seem to zero in on the problems found in the work with Uri Geller so it remains a cloud on the project to this day.
Regardless of whether or not you believe in Uri Geller’s abilities, and if he genuinely proved his psychic abilities to the CIA, there are several other lesser-known people with extraordinary paranormal talents who did indeed become valuable resources to the CIA. Angela Dellafiora Ford was another exceptionally talented medium who was able to remotely pinpoint the location of wanted fugitives, including a customs agent that had gone rogue. She was given his name and from this, she was able to give them the state and city where he was evading them…. and he was captured!
The extraordinary sixth sense that psychics possess is very useful to the CIA. When tracking down criminals on the run, psychics can offer valuable information on where the criminals are hiding and where they plan to go next. Psychics can help undercover CIA operatives infiltrate international terrorist groups and accumulate much-needed intel on their activity and future plans. Psychic abilities can be very useful in finding the whereabouts of hostages and in providing valuable information that can help execute a successful rescue mission of the hostages. Psychics can also help find items vital to the security of the United States are their allies. For example, psychics have helped find many scud missiles and various spy tools used by KGB agents. The information psychics provide is always used in conjunction with traditional methods of intelligence gathering, but in some cases, psychics provide the “clue” that cracks the case!
Yes indeed and quite extensively! Other federal agencies that are known to have paid psychic consultants include the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Psychics are not given their due credit for the valuable services they perform in government. This may be due to the negative PR the government believes it would receive if it publicly thanked psychics for their valuable role. However, since public perception is changing about psychics, with more than seventy percent of the public now believing in psychic paranormal abilities, perhaps this will change in the next decade or so.
The CIA was not at all transparent about using psychics even after various leaks and reporters had let the “cat out of the bag” so to speak. It actually took a barrage of FOIA requests (Freedom of Information Act requests) and a serious lawsuit from a non-profit that promotes transparency in government to finally force the CIA to declassify the papers about the Stargate Project and other projects involving psychics. This serves as a good example where people can make a true difference by speaking out and never giving up.
Psychics are the unsung heroes of the CIA and other federal agencies. Perhaps given the sensitive nature of what they help with, it will need to remain that way to a large extent. However, we should all be thankful to those psychics working behind the scenes to help keep us safe and help with the most serious crises our nation faces. Has Project Stargate really ended? Many doubt it… as does this author! The project may go on under a different name at a different facility, but in the opinion of this author, the value of psychic gifts to the CIA is far too valuable to end it. What do you think?
