Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R001 1 00040009-8
POLICY FOR SRI’S ESP RESEARCH PROGRAM
"
*
SRI
International pursues
research deemed of significance, relevance
and
leadership.
Such research problems are often controversial by their
very nature.
SRI International has stated
in
its policy concerning contro-
versial issues that
it is appropriate to be involved
in significant and
relevant research even though
it may be controversial, provided the research
is conducted professionally
in all respects.
A presently ongoing controversial SRI
research activity is the ESP
(extrasensory perception) work currently headed by Dr. Harold Puthoff and
Mr.
Russell Targ.
SRI
recognizes that
some people feel the apparent ESP
phenomena under study are the result of improperly designed experimental
protocol or outright trickery or fraud.
Others feel there are documented
experimental manifestations
of possible ESP phenomena which they believe are
not experimental artifacts,
fraud,
or trickery and thus warrant careful
research provided the studies are conducted in
a scientifically sound manner.
ESP research
is controversial
in that
it deals with a concept which many
find difficult to believe or impossible to quantify in terms of known physical
*
laws .and hence hard to understand as credible.
As a matter of policy, SRI
will design and conduct only those ESP experiments which will aid in developing
an understanding of the causal relationships
of
the phenomena and their re-
lationship with known or postulated physical
laws.
One purpose of this policy
is to define the framework for conducting ESP
research
at SRI.
SRI will rely upon its
line organization to manage the ESP
research activities,
as
it does
for any other research project.
Project leaders
and project supervisors will be assigned the responsibility for individual
projects
and
these,
in turn,
will report
to their appropriate line management.
Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R001 100040009-8
Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R001 100040009-8
Recognizing’ the sensationalism that ESP activities sometimes generate, it
is particularly important that
all
levels- of the management team, from
project leader up through all levels
of research management,
be particularly
careful
in following established SRI
research management procedures.
In this
regard,
in order to safeguard that all important nuances o£
proper research protocol will always stand up to peer scrutiny from both
within and outside SRI,
a special ESP Program Oversight Committee will be
established.
This committee will be appointed by the Senior Vice President*
Research Operations,
and will have four members from SRI’s senior scientific
or management staff,
and two or more appropriate, knowledgeable individuals
from outside SRI.
To ensure that the possibility
of trickery is obviated,
SRI will try to retain a responsible professional magician as a consultant
to the program and to serve on or to advise the ESP Committee.
Appropriate
members
of line management will serve
as ex officio members
of the committee.
The ESP Committee will review the ESP research program in depth quarterly,
paying particular attention to the quality
of
the research protocols being
used by the ESP research staff and the way SRI’s research management is conducting
the program for SRI
and its clients:
The committee will report its findings to
SRI management.
It
is believed essential that
the SRI ESP research activity have critical
peer review in order to ensure
its credibility and integrity.
For this reason
the ESP research staff will, after prior approval by SRI management, be per-
mitted to seek to publish results that may
be significant
in appropriate,,
refereed, professional journals or to offer to present their research results
at
appropriate professional society symposia and meetings.
From time to time
it
is expected that they will present their results
at internal SRI functions.
.
In addition,
their research results will be published
in the
form, of reports
which are carefully reviewed by the appropriate SRI research management and
issued
as
required by contract
research agreements
and current policy covering
all such SRI
research.
Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R001 100040009-8
Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R001 1 00040009-8
• Research concerning ESP
is being undertaken to attempt to find- facts
to present to the peer community
for scientific review and confirmation,
and not for speculation or publicity.
SRI,
therefore, will provide minimal
media publicity of this ESP research activity.
The ESP research staff or
any other SRI
staff member will not
grant, interviews or release statements
fcr general publication about the research without prior management approval.
This tight control
is believed vital to ensure that a proper, objective and
disciplined
(not sensational)
environment
is maintained for the conduct of
ESP research
at SRI
.
There
is nothing
in this policy to restrict its distribution;
in fact,
its distribution
in response to official public enquiries is encouraged.
Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R001 100040009-8