Approved For Release 2000/0;
8R0020001 60001 -3
GONDOLA WISH ASSESSMENT REPORT
(U)
25 August
1978
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.
(S)
This
office has
been
investigating
the
intelligence threat
posed by Soviet state-of-the-art parapsychology since September
1977.
This
investigation
revealed
a serious
threat posed by
the Soviet
parapsychological
intelligence collection
capability,
and demonstrated
a need for
a comprehensive
countermeasures
program.
This
report
details
the criteria under which
the Monroe
Institute of Applied
Sciences
(MIAS),
Afton,
VA, was
selected
as
the organization
to
train
MI
personnel
in
a parapsychological
intelligence collection
technique,
so that they
can mimic Soviet collectors
in
an
operations
security
(OPSEC)
support effort.
This
project
is
referred
to
as
GONDOLA WISH.
2.
(S)
The parapsychological
technique
to
be
used
is
known
as
out-of-the-body experience
(OOBE).
An
OOBE
is
a parapsychological
experience
in which
one's
center of consciousness
seems
to be
in
a
spatial
location separate
from that of one's
physical
body.
An
OOBE differs
from what Stanford
Research
Institute
{SRI),
Menlo
Park,
CA,
calls
"Remote
Viewing."
3.
(S)
Intense
liaison with
CIA,
DIA,
and
the
Foreign Technology
Division
(FTD),
USAF, was
conducted prior
to
contacting MIAS,
in
an
attempt
to determine
any prior
US
Government evaluation of MIAS.
A
thorough
study of scientific material
concerning MIAS technology was
conducted
to evaluate
the
feasibility of the MIAS
training technique.
Appropriate security checks were made
to
insure
the
loyalty of MIAS
personnel
.
4.
(S)
Robert
A.
Monroe,
Executive
Director,
MIAS, was
eventually
contacted,
and agreed
to conduct
a training program
in OOBE for
MI
personnel
on
a
confidential
basis
for
a
fee
of $2,000
during
the
months
of October and November
1978.
ICF for payment
of the
$2,000
training
fee was
approved
by
BG
John
A.
Smith,
Jr.,
Deputy Commander
for Security,
INSCOM,
on
19 July
1978.
Approved For Release 2000/i
R0020001 60001 -3
Approved For Release 2000/0:
002000160001-3
GONDOLA WISH ASSESSMENT REPORT
(U)
25 August
1978
1.
(S)
GONDOLA WISH
is
a program designed
to integrate
the Soviet
and
East European
parapsychology intelligence collection
threat
into
the all-source operations
security
(OPSEC)
support scenario.
This
is
to
be
accomplished by training
MI
personnel
to mimic Soviet
intelligence collectors,
and then
utilize
these trained personnel
to demonstrate
the parapsychology
intelligence collection
threat,
identify.EEFI
exploitable
by parapsychologi cal
means,
determine
vulnerabilities,
and develop and recommend countermeasures.
An
organization which
can
provide
the necessary training,
the Monroe
Institute of Applied Sciences
(MIAS),
Afton,
VA,
has
been
contacted,
and
has
agreed
to
conduct training of MI
personnel
on
a confidential
basis.
The
remainder of this
report details
the criteria under
which
the
MIAS was
selected
by
this
office
for utilization
in
conjunction with
GONDOLA WISH.
2.
(S)
This
office
has
been
investigating
the intelligence
threat
posed by Soviet state-of-the-art parapsychology since September 1977.
This
investigation
has
involved
liaison with
the Medical
Information
and
Intelligence Agency
(MI IA)
,
the
Defense
Intelligence Agency
(DIA),
theCentral
Intelligence Agency
(CIA),
and
the
Foreign Technology
Division
_ (FTD)
,
USAF.
This
investigation
has
also included
a
review
of official
government documents
on
parapsychology,
independent
government contractor reports,
numerous
open source publications,
and interviews with scientific personnel.
This
investigation
revealed
a serious threatposed by
the Soviet parapsychological
intelligence
collection
capability,
and demonstrated
a need for
a
comprehensive
countermeasures
program.
3.
(S)
During March
1978,
the name
Robert Monroe surfaced during
a review of
an
open source document concerning
Dr.
Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross
,
a psychiatrist highly respected within
the medical
community
for her work with
terminally
ill
patients.
Dr.
Ross
stated
that she had undergone
a training program
in out-of-the-body
experiences
(OOBE)
conducted
by
Robert Monroe,
and succeeded
in
mastering histechniques without difficulty.
(An
OOBE
is
a
parapsychological
experience, either spontaneous
or induced,
in
which
one's
center of consciousness
seems
to be
in
a spatial
location
separate from
that of one's
physical
body.
An
OOBE
differs
from what Stanford
Research
Institute
(SRI),
Menlo
Park,
CA,
calls
"Remote Viewing,"
in
that during
Remote Viewing
the
subject does
not perceive himself
to be
at
the
target location,
but only observing
it.
In
an
OOBE,
the subject perceives
himself
Approved For Release 2000j
8R002000160001-3
Approved For Release 200
lDZQS£j
Eflfl2000160001-3
to be actually
at the
target
location.
The product
of Remote
Viewing
is
usually only
a graphic depiction of the target
area,
whereas
the product of
an OOBE may
include not only
a graphic
picture of the
target
location,
but
also
a
record of subliminal
telepathic communication with
individuals
at
the target location.)
4.
(S)
This
office queried
DIA
as
to
the
advisability of
contacting
Robert Monroe.
Individuals
at
DIA were knowledgeable
of Monroe,
and stated that the
CIA had shown
interest
in
him
in
the
1973
- 1974 time
frame.
DIA contacted
the
CIA,
and learned
that the
CIA had no
interest
in Monroe
at
the present time.
The
CIA's
assessment of Monroe during
the
1973
-
1974
time
frame was
very casual,
and
did not
lead
to any conclusions
concerning
Monroe's
abilities.
CIA representatives
stated
that Monroe was
"OK"
from
a security standpoint,
and
they had no objections
to
having
this
office approach
Monroe.
DIA also contacted government
scientific parapsychology experts
at
FTD, who stated
that they
were most interested
in Monroe's work,
but
had not,
as yet,
had
the
time
to evaluate
it.
FTD recommended that Monroe
be
contacted,
and requested that they be kept informed of any work with Monroe,
as
his
technique
could have significant
impact
on
their program.
(FTD has
the mission
to verify Soviet parapsychology
research
and
development by duplicating
known efforts
of the Soviets.
To
this
end,
contracts
have,
in
the past,
been
let
to
SRI
because of their
success with
Remote
Viewing.
SRI
has
not dealt with OOBE,
even
though
there
appears
to
be Soviet research
and development
in
this
area.
This
situation
is
a product
of
the
to
12 year scientific
lag
in
parapsychology
research
suffered
by
the
US.)
DIA then
queried
SRI
scientists
about Monroe.
SRI
representatives
stated
that they
had not evaluated Monroe's
teaching
technique.
SRI's
research
is with
Remote
Viewing, not OOBE,
and SRI
has
had some
success
at teaching
Remote Viewing.
Scientists
at
SRI
(Dr.
Targ
and
Dr.
Puthoff)
also stated
that they
knew Monroe
personally,
and believed him
to
be
a
credible
individual
who has
had parapsychol-
ogical
experiences which
are not beyond present understanding.
Based on
DIA's
inquiries,
they suggested
this
office contact Monroe,
if
it was
determined
that such
contact would
be beneficial
to our
investigation
of parapsychology.
5.
(S)
This
office
then
requested routine security
files
checks
be made
on
Monroe
to
insure his
loyalty.
These
checks were
conducted,
and no derogatory
information was
developed.
Further
investigation
of Monroe
revealed that
he
has
a scientific laboratory
known
as
the Monroe
Institute
of Applied Science
in
Afton,
VA.
The
training program offered
by Monroe
in
conjunction with
the
Institute
is
highly regarded by
a number of individuals
knowledgeable of
parapsychological
phenomena.
Dr.
Thelma Moss
of
the
University of
Approved For Release 2000/1
8R0020001 60001 -3
Approved For Release 2000!
88R0020001 60001 -3
California
at
Los
Angeles
is
aware of Monroe's work,
and
researchers
of altered
states
of consciousness
at
the Menninger Foundation,
Topeka,
KS,
recently validated
the
concepts behind Monroe's
patented
technique with
their "theta-gateway"
principle.
Dr.
Charles
T.
Tart,
professor of psychology
at the
Davis
campus
of
the
University of California,
and
a respected
scientific
investigator of parapsychology,
has
conducted investigations
of Monroe
under laboratory
conditions
and
is
convinced of
the
validity of Monroe's
experience.
Dr.
Tart recently recommended
that anyone wanting
to
learn
about OOBE should contact MIAS,
as
they were
the most knowledgeable
in
the
area.
At this
point,
it
appeared
as
though
Monroe would
at
least be
a valuable
individual
with whom we should
talk.
6.
(S)
On
April
1978,
Robert
A.
Monroe,
Executive
Director,
MIAS,
P.0.
Box 57,
Afton,
VA 22920, was
interviewed
at MIAS
concerning his
training program.
The salient points
of that
interview
are
as
follows:
In
1958,
Monroe,
then
a New York
broadcasting executive,
began having experiences
that drastically
altered
his
life.
Unpredictably,
and without willing
it,
Monroe
found himself leaving
his
physical
body
to
travel,
via
a
"second
body,"
to
locales
far removed from the
physical
and
spiritual
realities
of his
life.
With
some
trepidation,
he wrote
a book
about
his
experiences.
The book,
Journeys
Out
of
the
Body
, was
published
in
1971,
and brought out
as
'a second edition
in
1977.
Throughout
the book, Monroe maintains
the stance of
a careful,
objective
reporter who often
reports
his
own
confusion
in
this
unusual
area.
He
relies
upon
personal
experiences
for
interpretation,
rather
than
any occult,
religious,
or spiritual
framework.
In
the
1960's,
Monroe became
interested
in
the
possible
connection between
non-verbal
audio patterns
and brain
wave
rhythms.
From his
long experience with
sound,
he advanced
from rotating disc circuit breakers
to sophisticated,
custom-
built signal
generators,
and
the production
of tape
recordings
in which
he
has
as
many
as
sixteen
patterns
of sound mixed
together on stereo
channels.
Drawing
upon
his
discoveries
and
the work of others,
he employs
a system of binaural
beats
to
create
a
frequency following response
(FFR)
by the brain wave
rhythms.
The
FFR not only gives
some control
over the brain
wave emission
of each
hemisphere,
it
also promotes
brain wave
synchronization between
the
two hemispheres.
In
May
1975,
Monroe received
a generic patent for this method.
For
approximately
two years, Monroe has
offered
an
instructional
program using his
audio technique for individuals who wish
to
expand
their perspectives
beyond the
physical
world-.
Monroe
has
recently expanded his
training program,
and offers
classes
at several
locations
CONUS-wide.
Monroe's
public
training
program
is
not designed
to engender OOBE,
as
the requirements
for such
a state
are different for each
individual.
The audio
Approved For Release 20QMyiQlfcflW|^fS^(»C8R0020001 60001 -3
oculTtrt