Stargate Project
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏛️ Program or study
Contents 7
| Type | Program or study |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Stargate, Star Gate, Grill Flame, Center Lane |
| On the Timeline | 9 events, 1972–2001 |
The Stargate Project was the last code name for a secret U.S. government program, run from 1972 to 1995, that investigated "remote viewing" — the claimed ability to perceive distant or hidden targets with the mind — for possible use in intelligence. It began with CIA-funded research at SRI International and later became an operational Army and Defense Intelligence Agency unit at Fort Meade, Maryland. A 1995 review concluded it had never produced useful intelligence, and the program was closed and declassified.[1][2]
Origins
By 1970 U.S. intelligence believed the Soviet Union was spending heavily on "psychotronic" research, and the CIA began funding studies in response. In 1972 physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff started remote-viewing experiments at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California, testing subjects including artist Ingo Swann, former Burbank police official Pat Price and performer Uri Geller. Psychologist Ray Hyman, asked by the Advanced Research Projects Agency to evaluate Geller, called him a fraud. Price produced sketches that some officials believed matched features of a Soviet research site.[1][3]
Military program
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- 1977: the Army began "Gondola Wish" to evaluate how adversaries might use remote viewing.
- 1978: it became an operational program, "Grill Flame", at Fort Meade under the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).
- 1983: renamed the INSCOM "Center Lane" Project; Maj. Gen. Albert Stubblebine was a strong supporter.
- 1985: Army funding ended and the program continued under the DIA as "Sun Streak".
- 1991: research contracting moved from SRI to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and the program took its final name, Stargate.[1]
Operations officer F. Holmes "Skip" Atwater oversaw the unit until 1987; physicist Dale Graff directed the program at the DIA; and physicist Edwin May led the research from 1985 to 1995. Well-known viewers included Joseph McMoneagle, Lyn Buchanan and David Morehouse, while Ed Dames served as a session monitor. Over its history the program received around $20 million.[1][4]
Claimed results
Participants have claimed successes, such as locating a crashed Soviet aircraft in 1976 and describing hidden facilities, but these claims are self-reported and have not been independently verified.[1]
The 1995 review and closure
In 1995 Congress moved oversight of the program to the CIA, which commissioned the American Institutes for Research to evaluate it. Statistician Jessica Utts concluded that the laboratory results showed a statistically significant effect suggesting psychic functioning; psychologist Ray Hyman disagreed, arguing the results had not been independently replicated and could stem from flaws in the experiments. The review's overall conclusion was that remote viewing had never provided actionable intelligence and that its continued use was "not warranted". The CIA ended the program that year and declassified it.[1][2][5] Critics such as psychologist David Marks identified design flaws, including possible sensory cues in the original SRI experiments.[1]
Legacy
In January 2017 the CIA posted thousands of pages of Stargate records online in its CREST database, and Edwin May donated program materials to Rice University's Archives of the Impossible. The program inspired Jon Ronson's book The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004) and its 2009 film adaptation.[1][6]
On the UAP Timeline
- Ingo Swann's magnetometer test (1972) (June 1972) — Ingo Swann's remote-viewing test with SRI leads to a CIA contract months later.
- Dale Graff and Wright-Patterson remote viewing (1979) — Dale Graff is said to have run a remote viewing program at Wright-Patterson, then moved to the DIA.
- Pat Price's alien base reports (July 1982) — The Army's remote viewing chief finds 1973 reports of claimed underground UAP bases.
- Montauk Phoenix and Rainbow claims (1983) — Alleged Montauk projects reportedly used radio and microwaves in mind experiments.
- Remote viewers and a military trial anomaly (1984) (May 1984) — Alleged CIA documents describe the Army's remote viewers studying an anomaly during military trials.
- Stubblebine's Mars lecture (1992) (22 May 1992) — Gen. Albert Stubblebine allegedly claims there are structures beneath the surface of Mars.
- End of Stargate (1995) (30 June 1995) — The CIA ends Star Gate, its remote viewing program.
- Arlington Institute board meeting (1999) (3 December 1999) — A defense think tank with former CIA chief James Woolsey holds a board meeting.
- Project Zodiac (3 March 2001) — Eric Davis tells Vallée about a story called 'Zodiac' involving real researchers.
References
- Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- M. Mumford, A. Rose and D. Goslin, An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications, American Institutes for Research (1995) · irp.fas.org · archived copy
- Mark Pilkington, "The remote viewers", The Guardian (5 Jun 2003) · theguardian.com · archived copy
- Douglas Waller, "The Vision Thing", Time (11 Dec 1995) · web.archive.org · archived copy
- Ray Hyman, "The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality", Skeptical Inquirer (1996) · csicop.org · archived copy
- CIA FOIA Reading Room: Stargate collection · cia.gov · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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