Stargate Project The Stargate Project was the umbrella code name of one of several sub - projects established by the U . S . Federal Government to investigate claims of psychic phenomena with potential military and domestic applications , particularly " remote viewing " : the purported ability to psychically " see " events , sites , or information from a great distance . These projects were active from the 1970s through 1995 and were primarily handled by the DIA and CIA . They followed up early psychic research done at The Stanford Research Institute ( SRI ) , Science Applications International Corporation ( SAIC ) , The American Society for Psychical Research , and other psychical research labs . The Stargate Project was claimed to have been terminated in 1995 following an independent review which concluded : Background . Information in the United States on psychic research in some foreign countries was sketchy and poorly detailed , based mostly on rumor or innuendo from second - hand or tertiary reporting , attributed to both reliable and unreliable disinformation sources from the Soviet Union . Despite the dubious origins of much data , the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency decided they should investigate and know as much about it as possible . Various programs were approved yearly and re - funded accordingly . Reviews were made semi - annually at the Senate and House select committee level . Work results were reviewed , and remote viewing was attempted with the results being kept secret from the " viewer " . It was thought that if the viewer was shown they were incorrect it would damage the viewer ' s confidence and skill . This was standard operating procedure throughout the years of military and domestic remote viewing programs . Feedback to the remote viewer of any kind was rare ; it was kept classified and secret . Remote viewing attempts to sense unknown information about places or events . Normally it is performed to detect current events , but during military and domestic intelligence applications viewers claimed to sense things in the future , experiencing precognition . The Stargate Project . The Stargate Project created a set of protocols designed to make the research of clairvoyance and out - of - body experiences more scientific , and to minimize as much as possible session noise and inaccuracy . The term " remote viewing " emerged as shorthand to describe this more structured approach to clairvoyance . Stargate only received a mission after all other intelligence attempts , methods , or approaches had already been exhausted . It was reported that there were over 22 active military and domestic remote viewers providing data . When the project closed in 1995 this number had dwindled down to three . One was using tarot cards . People leaving the project were not replaced . According to Joseph McMoneagle , " The Army " never " had a truly open attitude toward psychic functioning " . Hence , the use of the term " giggle factor " and the saying , " I wouldn ' t want to be found dead next to a psychic . " In 1995 , the project was transferred to the CIA and a retrospective evaluation of the results was done . The CIA contracted the American Institutes for Research for an evaluation . An analysis conducted by Professor Jessica Utts showed a statistically significant effect , with gifted subjects scoring 5 % - 15 % above chance , though subject reports included a large amount of irrelevant information , and when reports did seem on target they were vague and general in nature . Ray Hyman argued that Utts ' conclusion that ESP had been proven to exist , especially precognition , " is premature and that present findings have yet to be independently replicated . " Based upon both of their collected findings , which recommended a higher level of critical research and tighter controls , the CIA terminated the 20 million dollar project , citing a lack of documented evidence that the program had any value to the intelligence community . " Time " magazine stated in 1995 three full - time psychics were still working on a $ 500 , 000 - a - year budget out of Fort Meade , Maryland , which would soon close . Claims of successful remote viewing . According to the American Institute for Research , which performed the review of the project , no remote viewing report ever provided actionable information for any intelligence operation . A number of successful viewings have been claimed in " The Ultimate Time Machine " by Joseph McMoneagle and " Reading the Enemy ' s Mind : Inside Star Gate America ' s Psychic Espionage Program " by Paul H . Smith . Examples of confirmed future targets that are claimed to have been sensed by Stargate remote viewers include : Project personnel . Major General Albert Stubblebine . A key sponsor of the research internally at Fort Meade , MD , MG Stubblebine was convinced of the reality of a wide variety of psychic phenomena . He required that all of his Battalion Commanders learn how to bend spoons a la Uri Geller , and he himself attempted several psychic feats , even attempting to walk through walls . In the early 1980s he was responsible for the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command ( INSCOM ) , during which time the remote viewing project in the US Army began . Some commentators have confused a " Project Jedi " , allegedly run by Special Forces primarily out of Fort Bragg , with Stargate . After some controversy involving these experiments and alleged security violations from uncleared civilian psychics working in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities ( SCIFs ) , Major General Stubblebine was placed on retirement . His successor as the INSCOM commander was Major General Harry Soyster , who had a reputation as a much more conservative and conventional intelligence officer . MG Soyster was not amenable to continuing paranormal experiments and the Army ' s participation in Project Stargate ended during his tenure . Ingo Swann . Originally tested in the " Phase One " were OOBE - Beacon " RV " experiments at The American Society for Psychical Research , under research director Dr . Karlis Osis . A former OT VII Scientologist , who alleged to have coined the term ' remote viewing ' as a derivation of protocols originally developed by René Warcollier , a French chemical engineer in the early 20th century , documented in the book " Mind to Mind " . Swann ' s achievement was to break free from the conventional mold of casual experimentation and candidate burn out , and develop a viable set of protocols that put clairvoyance within a framework named “ Coordinate Remote Viewing ” ( CRV ) . In a 1995 letter Ed May wrote he had not used Swann for two years because there were rumors of him briefing a high level person at SAIC on remote viewing and aliens , ETs . Though Swann was a good receiver , May had two current receivers that were better . Pat Price . A former Burbank , California , police officer who participated in a number of Cold War era Remote viewing experiments , including the US government sponsored project SCANATE and the Stargate Project . Working with maps and photographs provided to him by the CIA , Price claimed to have been able to retrieve information from facilities behind Soviet Lines . He is probably best known for his sketches of cranes and gantries which appeared to conform to CIA intelligence photographs . At the time , his claims were taken seriously by the CIA . In addition to his participation in remote viewing experiments , Price believed that aliens had established four underground bases on Earth . He offered reports on these locations to Harold E . Puthoff , formerly of SRI International , the principal scientific investigator for Project SCANATE . For a time he worked alongside / in competition with Ingo Swann . Joseph McMoneagle . McMoneagle claims he had a remarkable memory of very early childhood events . He grew up surrounded by alcoholism , abuse and poverty . As a child he had visions at night when scared , and first began to hone his psychic abilities in his teens for his own protection when he hitchhiked . He enlisted to get away . McMoneagle became an experimental remote viewer , while serving in U . S . Army Intelligence . Ed Dames . Dames was one of the first five Army students trained by Ingo Swann through Stage 3 in coordinate remote viewing . Because Dames ' role was intended to be as session monitor and analyst as an aid to Fred Atwater rather than a remote viewer , Dames received no further formal remote viewing training . After his assignment to the remote viewing unit at the end of January 1986 he was used to " run " remote viewers ( as monitor ) and provide training and practice sessions to viewer personnel . He soon established a reputation for pushing CRV to extremes , with target sessions on Atlantis , Mars , UFO s , and aliens . He has been a guest more than 30 times on the Coast to Coast AM radio show .