Discovery Lab Answers

Sri Stargate

The Stargate program was the U.S. government’s classified remote viewing research initiative, running from approximately 1972 to 1995. It represents the longest and most systematically funded psi research effort in modern history.

Program origins and institutional structure

The program began in 1972 when Russell Targ, a physicist, met with Dr. Christopher Green of the CIA to discuss parapsychology. Harold Puthoff, also a physicist at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), subsequently wrote to Green at Targ’s suggestion to describe remote viewing research ^[1]. This initial contact launched what would become a multi-decade government-sponsored effort anchored at SRI International during its earliest phase, with later research conducted at SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) and operational units at Fort Meade ^[1].

Research scope and methodology

Remote viewing—structured attempts to describe distant targets using no normal sensory information—was developed at SRI International in the 1970s as a carefully controlled free-response ESP protocol. The Stargate researchers applied standardized procedures, including the Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) protocol, which operated in six stages, with early experimental work typically using stages 1 through 3 ^[2].

The program’s research track record was substantial. Under government funding, Stargate accumulated what researchers described as “an exceptional” track record ^[4]. The work generated extensive documentation, including operational memorandums, reports, and research data spanning the two decades of active investigation ^[1].

Evidence evaluation

Jessica M. Utts conducted a major statistical evaluation of the Stargate corpus in 1995–1996. Her assessment, commissioned by the CIA as part of the American Institutes for Research (AIR) review, reported aggregate effect sizes of d = 0.209 across 770 SRI sessions and d = 0.230 across 455 SAIC sessions, finding the statistical evidence for anomalous cognition consistent with conventional scientific standards [retrieved ESP-Nexus page on Utts’s Stargate evaluation].

Program conclusion and declassification

The Stargate program concluded in 1995, after more than two decades of operation. Since then, numerous documents and reports have been released by both former remote viewers who worked at Fort Meade and by researchers involved in the SRI research program, though some materials remain classified ^[3].

For a comprehensive overview of remote viewing as a research phenomenon and its role in psi research more broadly, see the Remote viewing page. For the statistical evaluation of the program’s evidence, the Remote viewing statistical evaluation and analysis page and Non Sensory Access to Information: The 1995 AIR Assessment of Remote Viewing page provide deeper technical detail. The Harold E. Puthoff scientist hub documents his role in establishing the SRI program’s protocols and institutional framework.