The Remote Viewing and Stargate Program refers to a succession of U.S. government projects that investigated whether people could describe distant or hidden targets without ordinary sensory access. “Stargate” is often used for the entire lineage, though individual efforts operated under names including SCANATE, Grill Flame, Center Lane, and Sun Streak. Work began in the 1970s, involved Stanford Research Institute and military organizations, and later moved among Army, DIA, and CIA responsibility.

The programs combined laboratory experiments, training, and operational tasking. Participants such as Ingo Swann and later military viewers produced written impressions and sketches for targets selected under varying levels of blinding. Declassified files document attempts to address intelligence problems, internal enthusiasm, skeptical reviews, and the practical difficulty of judging vague descriptions. They establish that agencies spent money and personnel on Remote Viewing, not that paranormal perception became a dependable intelligence system.

A congressionally directed review in 1995 became the decisive public assessment. Jessica Utts interpreted experimental statistics as evidence of an anomaly, while Ray Hyman disputed whether methodological controls and replication justified that conclusion. The operational evaluation found that reports lacked the specificity and reliability necessary for actionable intelligence and required substantial interpretation by users. CIA accepted the recommendation not to continue the effort.

The archive remains valuable because it permits direct examination of protocols, sessions, targets, and agency decisions rather than relying on later legend. Former personnel, including Lyn Buchanan, subsequently taught civilian methods and described operational successes. Those recollections can be compared with contemporaneous records, but memorable matches should be weighed against the full session set, misses, judging procedure, and information available before the target was revealed.