The CIA’s Psychic Spy Program

In the shadowy corners of the Cold War, where nuclear tension and espionage ruled the day, the U.S. government launched one of its strangest and most secretive programs ever conceived. It wasn’t a new missile system or stealth technology—it was an attempt to weaponize the human mind.

Welcome to Project Stargate.

A Program Born from Paranoia and Possibility

In the early 1970s, reports began to surface that the Soviet Union was investing heavily in psychotronic research—studies involving mind control, telekinesis, and psychic abilities. The CIA, never one to be left behind, responded with their own initiative. What started at Stanford Research Institute soon became a joint project with the U.S. Army under the umbrella term “Project Stargate.”

Its mission? To explore the viability of remote viewing—the alleged psychic ability to “see” distant locations or hidden objects using only the mind.

Remote Viewing and Real Missions

Remote viewers were put through rigorous tests. The process was simple in concept but eerie in execution: a “viewer” would sit in a quiet room, clear their mind, and attempt to describe a target they had never seen—sometimes located halfway across the globe.

While this may sound like pseudoscience, the results were startling enough for the CIA to keep the project running for over two decades.

Ingo Swann, one of the key figures in the program, described rings around Jupiter years before NASA’s Pioneer 10 confirmed them.

Pat Price, another civilian psychic, once described the inside of a secret Soviet research facility in such detail—down to the type of machinery present—that satellite confirmation left intelligence officials rattled.

These weren’t just academic exercises. Remote viewers were used in real operations:

• Tracking hostages in Iran

• Locating crashed aircraft in Africa

• Monitoring foreign nuclear facilities

• Attempting to identify the location of terrorist leaders

Stranger Than Fiction

Not all visions were grounded in reality. Some viewers claimed to see alien bases on the Moon, structures on Mars, and non-human intelligences influencing Earth. While these reports were never officially acted upon, they remain part of the declassified documents today.

Skeptics within the intelligence community often pointed to the inconsistent results. While some sessions yielded useful data, others were wild misses. Yet, even the harshest critics admitted: some of the results were too accurate to explain away.

The Official End… Or Not?

In 1995, under mounting scrutiny and after a review by the American Institutes for Research, the government officially shut down Project Stargate, deeming it of “no practical value.” The CIA declassified the project, and its bizarre history was exposed to the public.

But many insiders believe the program didn’t really end—at least not entirely.

Some former operatives claim that similar programs continued in black budget operations under new codenames. Others suggest private contractors took the reins, continuing experiments away from public oversight.

Final Thoughts

Whether you see it as Cold War paranoia, fringe science, or a glimpse into untapped human potential, Project Stargate remains one of the most intriguing chapters in modern intelligence history. It shows us how far governments are willing to go in search of an edge—even into the realm of the paranormal.

The mind is the last battlefield.
And the war might not be over.