Memorandum for Record: Security Review of "Mind Wars"
What this is
That on 9 May 1984 an INSCOM CENTER LANE office produced a security review of Ron McRae's 1984 book Mind Wars, published by St. Martin's Press.
That the reviewer counted twenty-three specific references to Remote Viewing in the book, attributed to eight named people plus two unnamed individuals said to be working with CIA.
That the reviewing officer assessed as highly reliable the book's claims that remote viewing is real, accurate and replicable, that it was being pursued by CIA, Navy, Army and the Pentagon for applications, and that SRI-International was the key institute with Puthoff the key individual.
That the reviewer assessed as highly reliable the book's identification of MG Thompson as ACSI heading the Pentagon effort, the use of psychics in the search for MG Dozier, NSC and White House briefings under both Carter and Reagan, an influence on MX missile deployment decisions, and the existence of Project SCANATE run by SRI-I with CIA funding and NSA participation.
That the reviewer concluded the book, taken with Jack Anderson's columns and Targ's The Mind Race, gave hostile intelligence services a clear trail to follow.
That the reviewer's stated fear was that surveillance of the publicly named individuals would lead to the units, agencies and projects using remote viewing, and that the memorandum was signed by Joseph W. McMoneagle as CENTER LANE Project Officer.
That the enclosure locates the book's naming of the Army ACSI, MG Thompson, as head of the psychic task force at page xxvii of the introduction.
That the reviewer recorded the book as reporting Ingo Swann's claim that publicising the research might lead to his assassination.
That the reviewer recorded the book as reporting that a DTIC keyword search across ten psychic-research terms returned no mention of SRI, no SRI contracts, no intelligence reports on Soviet research even unclassified, and no SCANATE report.
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“IAGPA-F-SD 09 May 1984 MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD SUBJECT: Security Review of ‘MIND WARS’ (U) 1. (U) Reference; MIND WARS; The True Story of Secret Government Research into the Military Potential of Psychic Weapons; by Ron McRae; St. Martin's Press, New York; 1984.”
The subject line puts MIND WARS in quotation marks on pdf page 1 but the continuation headers on pdf pages 2 and 3 print it without quotation marks: 'SUBJECT: Security Review of MIND WARS (U)'. Both as printed. A handwritten file reference at top right reads '501-07' or similar; the characters are not fully certain and I have not relied on them.
“2. (S/CL-1/NOFORN) There are twenty three (23) specific references to Remote Viewing, its use, or accuracy made in statements by; Barbara Honegger, Hal Puthof, Russel Targ, LTC John Alexander, Congressman Rose, Ingo Swann, G. Gordon Liddy, and two additional but unnamed individuals purportedly working in the area of psychoenergetics with the CIA (See attached Inclosure).”
SPELLINGS AS PRINTED, AND THEY ARE INCONSISTENT WITHIN THE DOCUMENT. This paragraph writes 'Hal Puthof' with one f and 'Russel Targ' with one l. Subparagraph 3c on the same page writes 'Dr. Hal Puthoff' with two f's. The enclosure at pdf page 4 writes 'Harold Puthoff' and 'Russell Targ' with the full spellings. Transcribed as printed in each case; do not normalise. 'Inclosure' is the document's own spelling, retained throughout.
“3. (S/CL-1/NOFORN) In reviewing the book the following statements can be determined as having a high reliability for truth: a. Remote Viewing (RV) is real, it is accurate, is replicable, is being pursued by at least the CIA, Navy, Army and Pentagon in general. That it is being pursued for intelligence and military applications. b. The government's interest in RV is clearly ‘applications’ oriented. c. Stanford Research Institute International (SRI-I) is the key institute involved with the government in RV research and Development. The specific individual is Dr. Hal Puthoff.”
This is the reviewer's judgement about what a published book got right, written for a security purpose - it is evidence of what an INSCOM officer in 1984 assessed as accurate, not an independent finding about remote viewing. Anything drawn from it must carry that framing. The reviewer's stated concern throughout the memorandum is disclosure risk, not the validity of the phenomena.
“d. The head of the Pentagon's psychic task force is the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI), then named; MG Thompson. e. Department of Defense used psychics to look for MG Dozier. f. The National Security Council and White House are briefed on all developments in on-going psychic research in both the Jimmy Carter and Regan terms of presidential office. g. PSI had a direct affect on the government decisions with respect towards the MX Missile system vulnerability and its deployment. h. There was a Project named SCANATE, run by SRI-I, funded by the CIA and co-participated in with the National Security Agency (NSA).”
'Regan' for Reagan and 'affect' for effect are as printed - not corrected. Subparagraph d names MG Thompson: the 27 Oct 78 Information Paper in this same batch (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210021-9) is signed 'E. R. THOMPSON / Major General, USA / ACofS for Intelligence', so the surname and post match, but this page gives no initials and I make no identification. NAME TRAP CHECK: LTC John Alexander named in paragraph 2 is not Congressman Rose, Robert L. Hall, Richard Hall or Rep. Durward Hall; none of the section 7 traps arises on these pages, but Congressman Rose is given by surname only throughout.
“j. Key psychics involved in the past ten years of research (both scientific and operational) at SRI-I are Ingo Swann and Pat Price (now deceased). k. RV is being tested currently at NSA to break codes. l. All PSI research (even the word) is always classified and only passed over encrypted or secure channels. m. The severe lack of information throughout the entire system available to the general public, to include even unclassified documents, indicates information on governmental research into RV or PSI is being deliberately hidden (and therefore inferred as not only valid, but of unbelievable potential). 4. (S/CL-2/NOFORN) The above in combination with information provided in the numerous Jack Anderson columns (which Ron McRae is know to be a staff writer for), as well as the book ‘MIND RACE’ by Russel Targ (who is referenced in this book); is sufficient to provide a clear trail for any offensive action by HOIS which is targeted towards:”
There is no subparagraph i in the sequence on this page - the list runs h, j, k, l, m. As printed. 'is know to be' is as printed. HOIS is not expanded on the page; it is standard usage for Hostile Intelligence Service. Pat Price appears here as 'Pat Price (now deceased)'; the 1978 working paper CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160011-2 gives him in full as 'Patrick H. Price'.
“e. Spotting those individuals who are available for targeting and could provide far more extensive information pertinent to the above EEI. f. And, if a watch is put on those known persons, it would be only a matter of time until the exact location and identity of units, agencies, and/or projects utilizing RV in modes of applications are identified and/or exposed. JOSEPH W. MCMONEAGLE Project Officer CENTER LANE”
CATALOGUE FACT - ORIGINATOR. The work order lists this document only as 'Memorandum for Record: Security Review of "Mind Wars"' with no author. The signature block gives JOSEPH W. MCMONEAGLE, Project Officer, CENTER LANE. A handwritten annotation at lower left reads 'w/Incl.' A separate handwritten 'Incl 1.' appears at the foot of pdf page 4, marking where the enclosure begins.
“Intro: Pg xxvii, third para The head of the psychic task force is named as; Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Major General Thompson.”
THE ENCLOSURE IS AN INDEX TO A COPYRIGHTED BOOK, NOT A DOCUMENT IN ITS OWN RIGHT. pdf pages 4 to 7 consist of a two-column table: left column a citation into Ron McRae's Mind Wars, right column the reviewer's summary of what is said there, occasionally with a quotation from the book. Per section 6 I have quoted only the reviewer's own summary lines and have not reproduced the book's text at length. The quoted line above is the reviewer's summary, not McRae's prose. Anyone citing this enclosure must be clear that its right-hand column is an Army officer's paraphrase of a trade book - it is evidence of what INSCOM read in 1984, and is not evidence for the facts summarised.
“text, pg 55, second para One of the psychics tested at Stanford Research Institute, Ingo Swann, claimed that publicizing the research might result in his assassination. Statement made in reference to jamming computers psychiclly.”
'psychiclly' is as printed. This is the reviewer's summary of a published claim attributed to a named living person in 1984; it is doubly removed from the person - a paraphrase of a book's report of a statement. It should never be cited as Swann's own words. The section 6 privacy exclusion does not apply, as this is not medical or intimate information, but the attribution chain is fragile and a later reader needs to see it.
“text, pg 134, last two para's Author search of computer listings at Pentagon (DTIC) Defense Technical Information Center, using key words; dowsing, extrasensory perception, hyperspace, map dowsing, parapsychology, psychoelectronics, psychokinetics, psychotronics, telekinesis, and telepathy, resulted in No mention of SRI or SRI contracts and none of the intelligence reports on Soviet research (even unclassified), the SCANATE report was not listed.”
- this is the only negative finding recorded anywhere in the enclosure, and the reviewer transcribed it without comment. It is a claim about what was ABSENT from a Pentagon database in or before 1984, made by an author and reproduced by an Army reviewer; it is not an INSCOM verification of that absence. This is the last entry in the enclosure; pdf page 7 carries only this one row and is otherwise blank.
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.
What this document is used for, page by page
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. 5 of 5 name a page.