Army psychoenergetics programme history, 1972-1984
What this is
That the document dates Army interest in psychoenergetics to 1972 via the Surgeon General/MIIA and DIA, and records an $80K one-year SRI R&D contract awarded by the Missile Intelligence Agency in August 1977.
That INSCOM dates its own involvement to September 1977 and describes GONDOLA WISH as designed to integrate the Soviet and East European psychoenergetic collection threat into all-source OPSEC support.
That the Army ACSI cancelled GONDOLA WISH in spring 1978 and replaced it with a Remote Viewing collection programme nicknamed GRILL FLAME, and that in October 1978 ACSI tasked INSCOM to establish it.
That William J. Perry, as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, ordered curtailment of Program 6 money supporting psychoenergetics in March 1980 while leaving non-R&D intelligence applications untouched.
That Senate Select Committee on Intelligence budget action associated with Senator Wallop curtailed Army psychoenergetic operational activity within the NFIP at the end of FY 82, and that INSCOM continued the work outside the NFIP on S&IA money as a provisional special access programme named CENTER LANE.
That INSCOM's stated aim within the joint services programme was both to collect intelligence by Remote Viewing and to test whether it could be taught to intelligence professionals who were not already psychics.
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“The US Army's interest in psychoenergetics goes back to 1972, when the Surgeon General through the Medical Intelligence Information Agency (MIIA), together with DIA, published studies of Soviet Block work. In 1976, the Missile Intelligence Agency (MIA) informally expressed interest in US replication of claimed Soviet experiments in psychokenesis. SRI developed a small program for them and in August 1977, MIA awarded SRI an $80K one-year R&D contract.”
'Soviet Block' and 'psychokenesis' are as printed - not corrected. The document is undated in its text; a handwritten annotation at the top right reads '15 Oct 84' and the top right also carries a faint stamp that reads WORKING PAPER. The 15 Oct 84 date is handwritten, not printed, so it is an annotation rather than a document date.
“The US Army Intelligence and Security Command's involvement with psychoenergetics began in September 1977. At that time, an INSCOM element implemented the GONDOLA WISH Program which was designed to integrate the Soviet and East European psychoenergetic intelligence collection threat into the all-source Operations Security (OPSEC) support scenario.”
KNOWN SENTENCE CHECK - MATCH. The brief lists as already known: 'designed to integrate the Soviet and East European psychoenergetic intelligence collection threat into the all-source Operations Security (OPSEC) support scenario' attributed to 'programme history, printed 1'. My transcription of that span matches character for character. One qualification on the citation: this page carries NO printed page number - neither page of this two-page file does - so per section 3 I have recorded printed_page as null. If the project's stored citation says printed 1, that is an inference, not something on the paper.
“By Spring of 1978, the Army ACSI concluded there was sufficient evidence to warrant the development of a comprehensive program to explore military applications of psychoenergetics. He cancelled the GONDOLA WISH effort, placed a complete security envelope over Army's interest in psychoenergetics, and implemented a new program directed towards intelligence collection using Remote Viewing. The new effort was given the unclassified nickname GRILL FLAME. In October 1978, ACSI tasked INSCOM to establish a program using psychoenergetics for intelligence applications utilizing Remote Viewing.”
KNOWN SENTENCE CHECK - SUBSTANCE MATCHES, FORM DOES NOT. The brief lists as already known: 'He cancelled the GONDOLA WISH effort ... and implemented a new program ... given the unclassified nickname GRILL FLAME.' Every word of that is on the page, but the stored version silently welds together TWO separate sentences: the first ends at 'using Remote Viewing.' and the second is 'The new effort was given the unclassified nickname GRILL FLAME.' Section 3 of the brief says do not silently join two separated sentences into one, so the stored form breaks the project's own rule. The full literal text is above. Also note '1978' is underlined on the page in what appears to be pen. The word 'cancelled' is doubled-l as printed here; the 25 September 1978 memorandum spells it the same way.
“In March 1980, William J. Perry, then Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, ordered curtailment of all P6 monies supporting the program, but posed no objection to continuance of non-R&D intelligence applications efforts. This action eventually caused DARCOM to cease all activity.”
The same action is referred to later on the page as 'The March 1980 Perry Memorandum withdrew the Program 6 monies supporting psychoenergetic R&D efforts, but it did not put us out of business.' The first mention writes it 'P6', the second 'Program 6'. Both as printed.
“INSCOM participated in this joint services effort until the end of FY 82 when the budget subcommittee of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Senator Wallop) curtailed all psychoenergetic operational activities conducted by the Army in the National Foreign Intelligence Program (NFIP). The congressional conferees agreed, however, to let DIA complete the third year of their effort and directed that future funding -- if any -- of this psychoenergetic activity be budgeted outside the NFIP. So in the Fall of 1982, in keeping with these congressional desires and wishing to maintain the momentum of effort already established, the CG, INSCOM decided to continue INSCOM's project and provide funding with Security and Investigative Activities (S&IA) monies. INSCOM terminated formal involvement with GRILL FLAME at the end of FY 82, and continued its efforts under a provisional special access program nicknamed CENTER LANE.”
This is the passage that explains the funding question put to the Commanding General in the 12 July 1984 memorandum for record (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700340001-7): 'Why are S&IA monies being used?' and 'Has Senator Wallop reversed his stand on the use of the GDIP?'. Recorded here as a page-level observation only; no connection is proposed.
“Remote Viewing as an operational technique to collect intelligence and to determine if Remote Viewing could be learned by professional intelligence personnel who were not ‘established psychics.’”
This sentence begins on pdf page 1 - it reads in full, across the break, 'DIA was R&D oriented and INSCOM's GRILL FLAME Project was to use Remote Viewing as an operational technique to collect intelligence and to determine if Remote Viewing could be learned by professional intelligence personnel who were not "established psychics."' The portion quoted above is the pdf page 2 fragment only. Do not cite it as a complete sentence on page 2.
Where no sheet is shown, the quote was still read off the page, rendered from the file we hold. A page image has not been prepared for the web for that page yet.
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Every claim on this map that rests on this document, and every claim tested against it and deliberately not used — in the order you would meet them reading the file itself. Where the check was written down, our wording is followed by the document’s own sentence, so you can hold the two side by side. 1 of 1 name a page.