The US Government’s secret pursuit of the psychic drug

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“The Stargate Conundrum” was meant to be a history about the people involved with and history of remote viewing, largely originating from research done in 1998 and 1999. For several years, I kept the material to one side, leaving open the possibility that it might develop into a book. In 2005, I decided against that idea, as I preferred to keep the material concise if not condensed and decided to publish it as such on the webpage.

The material began to be uploaded on the webpage just after Christmas 2005. Waking up on the first dawn of 2006, I found my inbox contained just two messages, both from Uri Geller. This was followed by a telephone conversation around 15h00 that same day, in which he congratulated me for a job well-done (at this time, only part one of three was available on the website), stating that I, amongst the various accounts written and published, had probably come closest to the truth. He did stipulate how at the end of part 1, I wrote about how “even” Uri had not been present at Puharich’s funeral. It was written to underline that a man like Puharich, who had known so many people, at the end of his life had died in almost total isolation. It could indeed be read the other way and Uri underlined that he seldom goes to a funeral, as for him, death is not “real”.

In the course of our conversation, he also provided some additional input, insights and ideas that I churned over in my mind and which allowed me to go one step further – I would qualify it as the “ultimate truth” about what some people tried to do with Uri and the project in the early 1970s. I spoke about this to a few researchers, one of whom considered it to be “stunning” and another who wanted me to write it down as a film script – as it was the only way it could ever be told. Another researcher stated that he had complementary evidence that my conclusion was actually something that was indeed happening at that moment in time.
That Uri really liked the article seems evident, as he has it listed on his webpage’s front page and is available in a copied format there too.

It then took several more months before the rest of the people involved in those events or who are seen as experts on it became aware of the series of articles… and decided to contact me… en masse, at a time when I was shuttling back and forth across Europe and the UK.
Amongst the first to do so was Jack Sarfatti. He observed that it was curious that it was in 1953 that Puharich was getting started with the Army and that he would meet Puharich twenty years later. He also noted that he may have met Colonel Corso before 1953, when Sarfatti’s grandfather was working at Army Quartermasters in Garment District of Manhattan where he used to visit after school. He was then in Eugene McDermott's group – part of the Arthur Young Cabal in 1954-56 – and met Arthur himself in 1974. Sarfatti reiterated that the enigmatic phone calls he received occurred in the summer of 1953. “I met Walter Breen soon after that via Robert Bashlow who recruited me and Johnny Glogower. Also Robert Solovay (briefly). Breen was working for Professor William Sheldon at Columbia Psychiatry Department funded by Eugene McDermott, a World War II Intelligence leader, co-founder of Texas Instruments and University of Texas at Dallas – and part of the Charles Lindburgh, Arthur Young ‘Round Table’ group. Saul-Paul Sirag says that L. Ron Hubbard was part of that scene along with Puharich.
The two men from ‘Sandia, New Mexico’ appeared in maybe 1955 for a brief visit. Breen said he was in an US Army Air Corps plane crash in New Mexico in late 1940s.”
Sarfatti, a leading and controversial quantum physicist, obviously had an opinion on the physics’ quote worked into the third section. He noted that “all physicists will rightly reject those crackpot quotes from ‘Valerian’ you cite as ‘not even wrong’ nonsense.” He did give an intriguing reason why they were crackpot: “Their purpose was to make it easy for the debunkers to discredit all psychotronic weapons work. They are misdirection to throw scientists off the track – not to even touch the problem.” He added that “Valerian (if I recall the name correctly) is allegedly a shady character of interest to the USG Intelligence Community. Indeed all the information around Tom Bearden that Ira Einhorn was involved with is misinformation. Ira was not a physicist and could not tell the difference. Ira was simply a pawn used by Bearden who has a bizarre agenda still. The body of information Bearden, Evans, Crowell & Company is disinformation on non-lethal ‘psychotronic weapons’ from the Cold War Era associated with the KGB using a New Age Cult around Tesla, the most prominent Serbian scientist-engineer. David Williams is currently the Pied Piper hawking all sorts of silly bogus ‘free energy’ claims and running a Free Ira Einhorn movement.” I will add that Puharich too was Serbian and one of Tesla’s biggest fans; both made patented inventions that were far ahead of the times they lived in.

Most of the work on The Stargate Conundrum occurred, as mentioned, in 1998, when the end of the Remote Viewing project was much more recent and controversial than it is now. Some felt that I was thus particularly harsh or too harsh on Jessica Utts. It was her statistical analysis that had been used by those intent on ending the Remote Viewing project as a “waste of money” as the “scientific foundation” to base their decision on. At a most basic level, I wanted to underline that academics, like Utts, must finally realise the potential impact of their reports. In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, scientists worked on entangling the power of the atom, doing their research and not realising what their sponsors were using their research for: to develop the atom bomb. The Jasons were involved in the VietNam War and felt outraged when their involvement was first leaked and they then temporarily became the scapegoat for the entire anti-war movement. In each case, when they found out, they felt horrified and some became politically active in trying to stop further developments and strive for world peace… but other scientists continued, and some in their turn woke up when they realised what their research had been made into. So, at best, Utts is yet another example of a scientist doing something without knowing the implications of her work… and it’s about time scientists, with almost a century of such examples behind them, wake up and realise that which in the non-academic world is well-known: actions have consequences. It’s even a law of physics!
In her report, Utts stated that Remote Viewing had been proven to exist and the government should stop proving it. Instead, a follow-up needed to be set up and that would lead, she felt, to practical applications in less than a decade. Eleven years on, where are they? Utts is at a basic level correct and it is why Geller wanted “out”. Scientists tested him, confirmed he was genuine, before he was being shipped off to another laboratory, which confirmed he was genuine, before… In my opinion, the current framework in which “academically accepted testing” occurs does not allow for a next step. What I “blame” Utts for, was to say that work should be stopped, something else should be done, but then being totally incapable of defining what the “something else” should be. That omission is something that outside the walls of academia would never be allowed.

Another person who did not come out “well” was Courtney Brown. My treatment of him was in the eyes of some not totally clear. One comment read: “I just got a book from Courtney Brown that is positive about Remote Viewing yet your article seems to say that Courtney debunked Remote Viewing?” If that is how it reads, it is not what I tried to write out. What I tried to write was that Brown’s book and the way he went about it had a great impact on the general public and its opinion about remote viewing. His sometimes outrageous statements (Martians hiding under a mountain somewhere in the US, aliens flying in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet, etc.), which soon turned out to be false, or were incredible to begin with, brought the remote viewing technique into serious disrespect. Brown contacted me, stating I should read the freely available introduction to his new book on remote viewing, in which he explained the circumstances as to how that negative press came about. I remain unconvinced…

Apart from Uri Geller, another important person that contacted me personally was Hall Puthoff, which meant that out of the four key people, all but Ira Einhorn, who is in prison, and Puharich (dead, but then you never know with him!) did not make contact. Puthoff provided me with an overview of the now declassified list of scientific papers he and his team had published during the Remote Viewing Project, stating it underlined that they had been busy. I agree and I underline I never said they were a waste of time… it were others who said so. The list of documents underlines the frontiers they were breaking down as part of the project and the redefinition of our reality that was occurring at the same time.

Puthoff did point out an error: “I see that you have repeated [the] claim that Harold Chipman was involved in the funding loop for the SRI program. This is incorrect […]. I of course knew all the details of the funding stream, since I was directly involved. Chipman had no role to play, even covertly. Dr. Kit Green, one of our oversight monitors from CIA, has notified [some people] in detail about his incorrect claim.” In a follow-up email, Puthoff stated that “I must admit that I don't remember meeting Chip at SRI, but also have to admit that doesn't mean much because we met so many people on a one-time basis. I still remain certain, though, that he was not involved in funding us, just as Kit gave details on in an earlier email to you, and because I knew the details of our funding streams, much of which is still classified. Chip was associated with the SF office, if I recall, along with a female person […] and we were strictly forbidden to ‘fraternize’ with the SF office because one of the main reasons that we were classified was that we had anything to do with CIA, and they didn't want us blowing our cover!” In a meeting with Sarfatti, Russell Targ, Puthoff's colleague, stated he did remember a visit of Chipman to the SRI facilities.

I also hinted, echoing the opinions of Ingo Swann, that there were at least two remote viewing projects (the second most likely starting somewhere from the late seventies or later onwards) and possibly continuing to this very day. Recently, journalist Gary S. Bekkum has referred to released information about the Star Gate project. Of interest is a letter dated September 22, 1994, from Jay Sloan, former officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), in which he is preparing for a briefing of Andy Marshall, the Pentagon's leader of Net Assessment. After the meeting, a second memo states that someone "came down a couple of weeks ago and briefed Marshall on 'psychotronic weapons' - foreign program etc. (talked a bit about PHOENIX). This was in response to his query about what the weapons were. The session went very well... however the briefing did not formally talk about SG [STAR GATE] or any other related programs/efforts."

So, in short, this letter shows that Star Gate was not the sole project and that there were “other related programs”. It speaks about another such project, code-named Phoenix, and reveals that some of these other projects had briefed Marshall several weeks before the Star Gate briefing occurred – which itself occurred a few months before Star Gate, the latest incarnation of the US remote viewing project, was finished. An intriguing timeline, though timelines themselves don’t prove anything.

Sarfatti and this memo mention psychotronic weapons. I should underline that Geller himself, while being tested, was once taken aside and asked whether he could stop a pig’s heart. Geller has stated this experiment went too far for him and was a contributing factor why he pulled out. I also note that psychotronic weapons are, of course, exactly a “next stage” which academics seem unable to define as the next step after Remote Viewing, but it seems that certain projects – PHOENIX? – may have studied or even developed such that.

Author Gary Osborn has known several of the people involved too and his reaction was that “Yes, I can see why Puthoff, Geller and others would endorse it. It is very close to the truth as I see it. Brilliant stuff; stimulating, insightful and inspiring. It places these connections in a clearer light. ‘The Stargate Conspiracy’ was also very informative but although one got the feeling that there was something to it all, it was difficult to see what it could be. I understood of course what might lie behind it all, but I also understood why others would have found it difficult. Even Ira [Osborn sent him a copy of the The Stargate Conspiracy] told me that although the main thrust of the book was exciting, and was something he had been waiting for, it lacked clarity. Ira thought that the most interesting section of the book, and something he thought should have made the subject of a book in itself, was the theories presented in the Epilogue. He thought that this was closer to the truth.” It is a funny observation to make, for shortly after “The Stargate Conspiracy” came out, one observer actually held me responsible for “turning the minds” of Picknett and Prince away from the material in the Epilogue and instead writing the main thrust of the book, which he considered to be spurious. I personally do not consider “The Stargate Conundrum” to be the sequel to this Epilogue – if anything, Graham Hancock’s book “Supernatural” is a “follow-up” or a “child” of that Epilogue.

I thank everyone for their contributions and rectifications. But a final word of thanks should go to David Crockett Williams, who grasped the overall message of the series of articles: “I think that Philip's article is a really important one not only for the information it presents, but for the framework it offers for contextual discussion of various points raised. Here is how I introduced the article in sending it to my Rainbow Family lists this morning:

“Science of the New Age, Psychic Drugs, Primary Perception: ‘On free energy technologies as a mind-matter phenomenon.’

This is a landmark 41pp article on the history of psychoactive chemicals, plants, mushrooms, DMT, etc., in connection with the New Age Paradigm Shift Movement, documenting a half century of scientific research into the ‘paranormal,’ i.e. ESP (remote viewing), psychokinesis, etc., regarding universal human psychic abilities, suppressed because the ‘ruling religious right’ would condemn the truth as ‘of the devil.’

This piece articulates the reasons why 1970s Hippie (New Age) Guru Ira Einhorn was apparently framed for a brutal murder as a ‘signal’.

This research explains the suppression of how to enable in humans the ‘primary perception’ that is measurable in all life forms other than human beings, except between humans and their cells, i.e. how and why the Rainbow Gathering ‘works’ without leaders or formal organization, via a ‘Human Hiving Instinct’ that has vast implications for resolving religious strife and quickly manifesting global peace now. To maintain our present system of nation-states ruled by artificial laws enforced by violence, extraordinary measures are taken to confuse and baffle, ‘brainwash’ the public to discredit and deny these innate natural human ‘psychic’ abilities with ‘smokescreens’ such as promoting the ‘psychedelic’ UFO/ET issue, the grain alcohol beverage industry, prescription mood drugs, etc.’

Philip's article supports the UFO/ET issue as bogus and as disinformation to distract awareness and recognition from what Buddhism teaches as the Buddha nature of all things, e.g., what Cleve Backster calls ‘primary perception’.

What is also supported in that article is the theme of many of my rants to Jack Sarfatti over the last 7 years - that there is a ‘psi factor’ at work in these so-called free energy technologies. Philip might better mention in his article that this name ‘zero point energy’ comes not from the metaphysical vernacular he seems to use to define it, but from chemistry denoting the surprisingly high energy measurements at the temperature of absolute zero possessed even by vacuum systems. This energy was calculated by John Archibald Wheeler in 1963 at 1 x 10^93 g/cc energy equivalent apparently by extrapolating graphs of energy measurements going close to absolute zero, -273 degrees Celsius, the ‘zero point’ of temperature from which this zero point energy field gets its name.” With this, it is mentioned. Others also tackled the subject of zero point energy and provided me with most intriguing insights, specifically on linking it with “the metaphysical vernacular” I tried to use to hint at a “psi factor” in “zero point energy”. As those insights are theirs, I will not list them here as mine…

Overall, I was surprised with the extremely positive comments I got regarding this article… a discussion which was even temporarily joined by James Randi, for obvious reasons and for once not focusing on Geller, but on Brown. I must say that when I saw the headers of the two emails from Uri on New Year 2006, I thought the message would contain an expression of outrage and threats of legal action – after all, why else send an email early on New Year? But instead, his reaction was positive, and so was everyone else’s. The article also got noted by “newcomers” to the field and resulted in one such person and his wife becoming a good friend – and comrade “in arms” to continue trying to get the message out and bring it to the people, both on a practical and theoretical level. It is a project that I hope will take off in the next six to nine months… though seeds have already been sown somewhere.

When he made contact, Geller also asked whether I had read Jonathan Margolis’ biography (Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic?) of him. I had not. But have since. It is an intriguing and detailed overview of the man and the problem he presents. I remember one interviewer asking Geller that “if you are psychic, why are you not rich?”, to which Geller replied. “I am rich.” Margolis also included the then (the book was published in 1998) new information that Sony Corporation had proved that ESP existed, but that it closed down its ESP research facility because there did not seem to be any way to turn the knowledge into marketable products. It underlines the problem of science to take the next step, as I discussed above, though largely, it is a problem we all face. Margolis notes that when Arthur C. Clarke met Geller and Geller bent a spoon for him, Clarke said “My God, it’s “Childhood’s End” come true. My God what is this world coming to?” Later, Clarke changed his mind and said that Geller had somehow “tricked” him into seeing this – we all know, after all (don’t we?) that a man cannot bend metal by thought.

Margolis’ book lists some excellent examples that show that apart from spoon bending, Geller has proven time and again that he is able to do “something”, but “some very impressive” things, even some experiments which have not received a wide airing outside of this biography. Geller has shown that money and psychic powers do go together, and that is already a paradigm shift in itself.
Few reactions focused on the paradigm shift I speak about and Gary Osborn was the only person who noted that I seemed to want to retro-actively create this paradigm shift as it had failed in the 1970s. If I were to desire such things, I would not do it retro-actively, but with new material… “Once tried, if failed… change tactics…” but that’s beside the point. What I wanted to underline is a classical standoff: there is a reason why Geller continues to be the centre of controversy. Mystic or magician? He is just one example in a very long series of evidence – proof – that there is more to the brain and this reality than what we normally see. In the Netherlands, we have seen how the story of Mirjan Dajo is a clear, convincing example, which convinced doctors that this man could perform “impossible” things. Quantum physicists work with a non-local form of consciousness… and a “psi factor” is something they are willing to discuss only in small groups, mostly circling like electrons around the nucleus that is currently Sarfatti. The paradigm shift that needs to happen, to go to a next step, the paradigm shift that was squashed in the 1970s, is as simple – and as complex – as this: stop continuously trying to answer whether or not Geller, or anyone else, has paranormal powers or not. There is more than sufficient evidence – proof – out there. Continuing to focus on this is becoming boring, does not lead to anything and merely creating controversy… is easy. Instead, define the next phase and see how to apply these practically, which will indeed involve a redefinition of the framework in which you perform tests, do this, do that… A “redefinition of the framework” is nothing more or less than “a paradigm shift”. And if we feel that such a thing can only come about by controversy, perhaps Geller should go on Celebrity Big Brother…

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