A Review of
"Millions Spent on Tips From Trio of Psychics"
Washington Post article of Nov. 29, 1995
For those interested in reading the full text of the article, the reprint editor at the Washington Post (arringkm@washpost.com) assures that the article is placed on their page, "DATA INK". No internet address was provided by the Post for me to pass on to you, and no information was given on how long the article will stay posted there.
What follows is a brief review of that article, so you can judge whether you want to pursue the entire text. If you need quotes from this article, please go to the original, and do not quote from this review. If, for some reason, you do need to quote from this reveiw, please state clearly in your usage of the quote that it is NOT copyrighted material of the Washington Post, nor attributable to R. Jeffrey Smith, their staff writer, who authored the original article.
The article, written by R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post Staff Writer, states that the U.S. military has been giving some of its hardest questions to a "trio of citizens with suspected paranormal powers", located at Ft. Meade, MD. He further states that these "citizens"* (See Footnote 2 below) use "remote viewing" to gain the answers.
Mr. Smith sets the cost to the government as $11 million from the mid 80's to the early '90s, further adding that this amount was uncertain, and was a result of a recent survey by CIA officials, who have said that no more public money will be so spent.
Mr. Smith continues by giving the other side of the issue, quoting information from the Defense Intelligence Agency which cites key projects and missions in which the remote viewing had proven useful.
Though the distinction was not clear from the article, Mr. Smith distinguishes between the three who worked during the last 5 years for the CIA, and nebulously states that before that, as many as 6 remote viewers at a time worked on the project.
Mr. Smith quotes a statement made by the American Institutes for Research, which said that continued support was not justified, and then quotes an unnamed CIA spokesman who stated that the program will not be continued.
Mr. Smith hints that discontinuance may not be well received on Capitol Hill. He is also careful to point out that the CIA study did not dismiss the phenomenon, but considered the possibility that good results may have been the results of artifacts or study defects.
Mr. Smith then gives quotes from Ray Hyman* (See footnote 3, below) and Jessica Utts* (see footnote 4, below), who both disagree with the CIA about that assumption, which resulted from the probe which they originated. Hyman and Utts stated that the research, as carried out by the government, and the government's methodology of grading the accuracy of results was to be seriously questioned.
Further instances of the group's use, both by the CIA and DIA were cited.
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