Schnabel, Jim. Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic
Spies. New York: Dell Publishing, 1997. 452 pages.
This is a straightforward history of government interest in remote
viewing, a paranormal experiment that the CIA began at the Standard Research
Institute in 1972. Military intelligence started their own team at Fort
Meade in 1977. Each program involved only a handful of people. When the
CIA lost interest, a couple of generals (Edmund R. Thompson and Albert N.
Stubblebine), congressmen (Claiborne Pell and Charlie Rose), and a powerful
Senate staffer (Richard D'Amato) kept it alive under the Pentagon budget.
It ran out of steam due to its own eccentricities, its enemies within the
budgetary process, and the Republican victory in 1994.
Remote viewing is neither fraudulent nor silly, but on rare occasions
it can lean toward either. More often it is just plain wrong, or distorted
by subjective interference. The brass kept worrying about the "giggle
factor" should the secret programs be discovered by the press. Stubblebine
earned the nickname "General Spoonbender," and his power at the Pentagon
soon declined. The remote viewers themselves had unconventional ideas:
several were Scientologists, others were into UFO lore, and most took
themselves too seriously. The burnout rate was high. It's just as well.
When all is said and done, everyone benefits if our ethically-challenged
spooks have really given up on this creepy, unpredictable phenomenon.
ISBN 0-440-22306-7
Extract the names from this source
Back to search page