NATIONAL ACADEMY TO ASSESS POTENTIAL FOR 'PSYCHWARS'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605540005-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 3, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
y Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605540005-0
ARTICL[ R. i- ~.., ,.
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON TIP~ES
3 ~~arch X9$6
.National academ to assess
y
potential _ for ` s chwars'~
By Ed Rogers , ; , ;.,;; ,:. scientist for the school of computer and infor-
THE WASHINGT N TIMES mation science at Syracuse University, has
The prestigious National Academ of Sci- now accepted an appointment to the Koestler
y ~ Chair of Parapsychology at the University of
ences is checking into hordes of published Edinburg.
claims that research being done for the CIA
and the Pentagon could lead to psychic spying The skeptics are not optimistic that even
and mind warfare. the National Academy of Sciences investiga-
Believers in the paranormal claim that cer- tion will end the controversy any more than a
twin people, called "psychics,"-can see objects negative Air Force report in 1969 dispelled
beyond the normal vision range, through
"clairvoyance;' and move objects by mental Philip J. Klass, a senior Aviation Week re-
power, through "psychokinetics:' search editor whose hobby is debunking
For more than a decade, newspapers, mag- UFOs and the claims of other paranormal
azines and books have claimed the govern- cults, warned that the academy's study is
ment is spending "millions of dollars" on re- "fraught with pitfalls:'
search into occult phenomena that make the "Considering the broad scope of the asst
exotic "star wars" technology look tame. ment and the limited time and resour~es
These reports claimed that psychic espi- available, I very much doubt that it will come
~, the mind are on the verge of beauty. power of up with a definitive answer to whether psy-
The most spectacular of these re orts chic phenomena do or do not exist," Mr. Klass
claimed a "psychic" used in research for the said.
CIA in 1972 by the Stanford Research Insti- The national academy's two-year review is
tute, now SRI International; was able to de- being conducted by a new "Committee On
scribe Soviet military bases by clairvoyance, Techniques for the Enhancement of Human
or so-called "remote viewing:' Performance;' which will operate under the
Throughout the years, skeptical scientists academy's Commission on Behavioral and So-
'~ have tried to spread doubts about the claims. cial Sciences.
They repeatedly challenged the 1972 "remote David A. Goslin, executive director of the
viewing" report on the ground that the results commission, said as a spoof on the parapsy-
could not be verified by independent inves- cologists that the Pentagon has already devel-
tigators. oped "a wholly different approach to remote
The skeptics also have challenged even the viewing -it's called `satellite.' "
idea that the government is committed in a "However," he said, "I'm certainly not going
major way. But they have not been able to to try to prejudge what our committee is go-
squelch the "psychwar" fad: ing to conclude. The committee has an open
A year ago former CIA Director Stansfield mind. This is not a witch hunt. It is not a. -
'Iltrner disclosed that the dgency had, in fact, debunking exercise:'
sponsored "remote viewing" research when In reviewing claims made for research into
Vice President George Bush was the CIA di- ...._.._____ _, _
"Sometimes it worked, sometimes it "''C1L1"s cnosen to conduct the review will,
didn't " he said, addin that durin his term as be asking this question: "Is there any reason-
' g g able scientific underpinning?"
director, the CIA watched developments in The committee's review of parapsychology
this country and "tried to monitor the Soviet research will be only one part of a review of
Union's research:' all available techniques for the "enhancement
The CIA will not say what it is doing now, of human performance," he said.
have to keep track f hat the Soveets hostile Psychologists are studying the learning
powers, are doing in that area." Process by playing records to a sleeping per-
Robert Morris, former president of The son, inducing deep concentration and other
Parapsychological Association, said he wel- methods, including biofeedback -the effort
comes an attem t to add ob'ective informa- to gain conscious control of blood pressure,
y p ~ brain activity and other body functions.
view toocommentlon an of the invesri ation The committee consists of "distinguished
y g scientists" whose disciplines include
reports.
"I've had a olic psysiological psychology, learning-behavior
p yin general of not really studies, statististics evaluation research, so-
commenting," he said. "I'm reluctant to be- ciology and social psychology, Mr. Goslin said.
come identified .with a fixed concrete post- ~ Daniel Druckman, who took overas project
tion. I think that's really the most appropri- director last September, said the scientists
ate:' - .. . - - .
Mr. Morris, formerly senior researcH
have dtvided themselves into "study groups"
and are visiting research sites and reviewing
academic literature of their assigned sub-
jecfs.
The study groups are to report their find-
ings by June 1987, Mr. Druckman said.
"We are in the process of looking closely at
various research going on in parapsychology
in key laboratories around the country," Mr.
Druckman said. "I don't want this thing to get
sensationalized. It's not that sort of a study."
Asked if the government is financing any
of the research, Mr. Druckman said, "None
that I know of :'
The review is being financed by atwo-year,
$453,000 contract with the Army Research
Institute, which is seeking "validated, prom-
ising avenues for application to personnel
training, assignment and operation:'
One of the national academy scientists is
Ray Hyman, a University of Oregon psychol-
ogyprofessor, who said he is concerned about
the outlandish claims that are being made in
published reports about pseudoscience re-
search.
"The stuff that seems to get emphasized is
stuff that even parapsychologists are alarmed
at in the sense that it is very far out;' he said
in an interview
"I'm a little hesitant to tell them [military
agencies] not to look at it at all;' Mr. Hyman
said. "If you put yourself in the shoes of the
military people, they've got to hedge their
bets, I suppose:'
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605540005-0