Document · SRC-V99-056 · Declassified policy memo

STAR GATE disposition memo (CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150002-0)

CIA Reading Room · 1995

STAR GATE disposition memo (CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150002-0) · 7 pages · PDF 0.4 MB

US federal government record (CIA, declassified). Public domain; hosted here so it can be read and searched. Original source ↗

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Page 1

I,
A.
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Proposed Star Gate Management Strategy:
Background :
congressionally Directed Action(s) :
In early 1995, Senate conferees directed the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) to transfer the "Star Gate" program
from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to CIA.
Specifically, the conferees directed the transfer of ten
civilian billets and $500, 000 in Star Gate program resources
The conferees' language also adopted a
by July 1, 1995.
previous directed action to DIA relating to Star Gate in
which the Senate Appropriations Committee requested a
technical review of Star Gate going back twenty years, a
declassification review, and establisYunent of a cooperative
activity with the Russians in parapsychology. As directed, a
status report on this transfer was presented by CIA to
appropriate committee staff during March and April. However,
while the transfer status was reviewed and a program manager
was identified in those presentations, by agreement,
presentation of the management strategy for Star Gate was
deferred until September 3 0th. This date was selected in
order to allow CIA to complete the requested technical review
with an external blue ribbon panel commissioned by the
It was agreed by
American Institutes for Research (AIR) .
interested staff members and CIA that CIA's final proposed
management strategy would be based closely on AIR's review.
B. Prograrn History, Context of Review;
Star Gate is a DIA program which involved the use of
paranormal phenomena, primarily "remote viewing, " for
intelligence collection. During Star Gate's history, DIA
"Operations , "
pursued three basic program obj ectives :
using remote viewing to collect intelligence against foreign
or using laboratory
targets; "research and development, "
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studies to find new ways to improve remote viewing for use in
the intelligence world, and finally, "foreign assessment" or
the analysis of foreign activities to develop or exploit the
paranormal for any uses which might affect our National
Security. Prior to the advent of Star Gate in the early
1990s, DIA, CIA, and other government organizations ,
conducted various other programs pursuing some or all of
these objectives. CIA's program began in 1972, but was
discontinued in 1977. DIA's direct involvement began later
and continued until Star Gate was transferred to CIA this
July.
During the last twenty years, all government programs
involving parapsychology have been viewed as highly
controversial, high-risk, and have been subj ected to various
critical reviews. This review is distinguished, however, in
two key respects. A totally external panel of experts,
operating in an open forum, with no equities concerning the
ultimate fate of Star Gate as a CIA program per se, conducted
the technical review. Also, in conjunction with this review,
the National Intelligence Council (NIC) provided oversight
during a fresh assessment of Russian programs in
parapsycho logy .
II. preliminary Declassification:
In compliance with the Congressionally directed action
(CDA) , and in order to facilitate AIR's technical review, the
CIA declassified its past parapsychology program. In
addition, CIA worked with DIA to continue declassification of
Star Gate program documents, a process which had already
begun at DIA in response to the CDA. At CIA's request, DIA
also officially declassified the fact that it had had a
parapsychology program. CIA collected all relevant CIA and
DIA program files and constructed detailed bibliographies of
those documents relevant to the technical review. CIA' s
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Office of Research and Development (ORD) then contracted with
AIR, based on AIR's long-standing expertise in conducting
studies relating to behavioral science issues, in order to
conduct the technical review. The bibliographies were
submitted to AIR which then made specific recommendations as
to which documents would be necessary for the review. All
requested documents were declassified and transferred to AIR.
CIA then continued to study the long-range declassification
alternatives for the remaining program files .
III. Technical Review, Major Objectives :
ORD asked AIR to address a number of key obj ectives
during the technical review of Star Gate. These included an
obj ective and comprehensive evaluation of the research and
development in this area with a focus on the validity of the
technical approach according to acceptable scientific
s tandards .
It also asked AIR to evaluate overall program
utility or "usefulness" to the intelligence conununity. ORD
believed that the controversial nature of past parapsychology
programs within the intelligence community, and the
scientific controversy clouding general acceptance of the
validity of paranormal phenomena, demanded that these two
issues of utility and scientific validity be addressed
separately. In addition, AIR was asked to consider whether
any changes in the operational, or research and development
activities of the program might bring about improved results
if the results were not already optimal. Finally, AIR was
asked to advise CIA as to appropriate strategies for program
activity in the future. AIR was directed to base its
findings on the data and information provided as a result of
DIA and CIA program efforts, since it was neither possible
nor intended that AIR review the entire field of
parapsychological research and its applications. AIR was
directed to assemble an objective panel of experts in order
to assist in this review: in fact, AIR's conunissioned
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reviewers consisted of a leading proponent of parapsychology
actively involved in contemporary research and development ,
and a well-known skeptic who has closely followed these
contemporary developments .
IVO Foreign Assessment :
The NIC provided oversight to an assessment of current
This
Russian parapsychology research and development .
recently concluded assessment was conducted largely by DIA
Star Gate program officers on special, temporary assignment
to CIA. These officers conducted their assessment under the
direct supervision of both the National Intelligence Officer
for Science and Technology, and the CIA's Office of
Scientific and Weapons Research. Their assessment was
reviewed by various officers of the NIC and CIA but it was
not coordinated within CIA or the Intelligence Cornmunity.
The recortmendations relating to future assessment of foreign
parapsychology research and development are closely based on
this assessment .
V. Proposed Management Strategy:
Based on the general conclusions of AIR's completed
technical review regarding utility and scientific validity,
the NIC's assessment of Russian parapsychology, discussions
with various CIA elements having declassification authority,
and after conducting additional discussions with Star Gate
customers, CIA now proposes a management strategy for the
Star Gate program. That strategy is presented below in the
It includes recommendations
form of key recommendations .
addressing the future of all three program elements :
operations, research and development, and foreign assessment .
It also includes a proposed allocation of future program
resources consistent with the CDA's obj ectives relating to
declassification. Attached to these recomlnendations is the a
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summary of the AIR final report and the DI's position after
reviewing the NIC's assessment .
A. Key Recon•anendations :
1. Terminate remote viewing operations within the
intelligence connunity.
The Xnerican Institutes of Research, after
interviewing multiple current users of remote viewing,
the information provided by remote
concluded that
viewing is vague and ambiguous, making it difficult if
not impossible for the technique to yield information of
sufficient quality and accuracy for actionable
intelligence. "
2. Terminate research and development relating to remote
viewing within the intelligence comnunity.
The American Institutes for Research, after
assessing its blue-ribbon panel review of CIA and DIA
sponsored research spanning over twenty years, concluded
. . . it remains unclear whether the existence of a
that
paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been
demonstrated. The labora tory studies do not provide
evidence regarding the sources or origins of the
phenomenon. . . "
This does not mean that research in parapsychology
is not important or that it should not continue in the
public domain, but it does argue strongly that despite
significant past investment over many years, governxnent-
sponsored programs have not been successful in proving
the existence of remote viewing as a paranormal
phenomenon.
3. Perform a comprehensive declassification review of
all DOD and CIA program file to prepare them for
official transfer to the National Archives .
It was stated in the CDA that "The Commi ttee also
believes that the time has come for a re-evaluation of
the classification of the existence of this effort as
well as the results that have been obtained over time. "
In addition, it was directed that "The DCI 's
declassification commi t tee should review the history and
nature of this program to determine what parts of it may
be declassi fied and be converted into an open world
activi ty. "
—s.10FORN
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Full declassification review will require an
allocation of resources given the volume and diversity
of the records in question. The records relate to a
least five different programs including Star Gate, Grill
Flame, Center Lane, Sun Streak, and SCANATE. The
eventual release of these records will allow public
examination of twenty years of goverrment-sponsored
research efforts in parapsychology.
• Apply no resources to the assessment of foreign
developments in parapsychology.
After overseeing the recent assessment of Russian
programs, The CIA Directorate of Intelligence in
consultation with the NIC states that "Among the areas
of science and sociological change we are moni toring, we
view developments in parapsychology as a relatively low
threat to the Uni ted States and, consequently, as a low
priority among all the threats we are trying to moni tor
" In addition, the DI stated that "In none of
and ,
this Russian research do we see credible evidence of
developments that could significantly add to the threat
that Russia currently poses to US national securi ty. "
B. Proposed Resource Allocations :
Further Declassification, Archiving, FOIA requtest processing:
Since Star Gate was officially transferred to CIA on
July 1st, 1995, under EO 12958 CIA is now responsible for
records management as though it were the originating Agency
of the Star Gate program files. These program records
actually consist of 43 document boxes of diverse program
material relating to at least five past CIA and DOD
parapsychology programs at various government agencies
including SCANATE, Sun Streak, Center Lane, Grill Flame, and
Star Gate. The records are highly diverse, including
documentation of operations ,
assessments, program reviews ,
from the early 1970s to 1995.
sensitive due to sources and
organizations and operations
training, internal memoranda ,
etc. They span a period of time
Some of these records remain
methods of other intelligence
which are discussed.
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The Congressionally Directed Action requests a
comprehensive declassification review of these program
records. We believe this review should involve the
declassification, transfer, and eventual release of
appropriate records to the National Archives. The CIA' s
Review Declassification Team believes that four person-years
will be required to accomplish this task.
An estimated $400K in each of FY 96 and FY 97 also would
be needed for contract labor and capital investments in
computer hardware and software necessary to allow scanning
and text searching of the documents in question. In
addition, it will be necessary to reproduce all transferred
records consistent with the standards for permanent records
set by the National Archives .
—NOFORN
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Record

Author / institution: CIA Reading Room
Date: 1995
Source type: Declassified policy memo
Used for: CASE-017: 1995 termination recommendation; AIR finding that operational products were too vague and inconsistent for actionable intelligence
Limitations: Laboratory statistical findings and paranormal interpretation remain disputed (Utts vs Hyman)

Link

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000100150002-0.pdf

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