I Was a Psychic

In 1978, Joseph McMoneagle became an official Army psychic and participated in research and intelligence missions as part of the still-classified Project Stargate. Later this year, under orders from Congress, the CIA will release documents about the project that have been classified for almost two decades.

McMoneagle was a signals intelligence officer in the Army in 1978 when Army officials interviewed him to see if he might have psychic powers. McMoneagle was open to the idea because of a near-death experience years before.

The Cold War was under way, and the Army had begun Project Stargate in reaction to news that the Russians, and possibly the Chinese, had advanced programs focused on harnessing the powers of the mind. Russian psychics, it was said, had stopped the hearts of frogs just by using their thoughts.

McMoneagle and five other Army psychics initially assigned to Project Stargate were trained in the art of technical remote viewing, a form of extrasensory perception, or ESP. The six were studied by scientists from the Stanford Research Institute and Science Applications International Corp.

Over its 18 years, the project was transferred from the Army to the Defense Intelligence Agency and finally to the CIA. It employed only 18 psychics who came and went-but McMoneagle was a constant.

And even though much of the team's work has been publicly refuted by scientists, McMoneagle says the team had success with remote viewing. "During the Iran hostage crisis our results were good," he says. "The problem was that remote viewing turned out to work reasonably well on otherwise impossible targets, and we were deluged with work." McMoneagle said his team used remote viewing to help discover the location and condition of the hostages.

McMoneagle says agencies that deal with secrets, such as the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the National Security Council, all accepted the capabilities of the Army psychics.

McMoneagle and a few others have come forth with information about Project Stargate, but there has been little official confirmation. The CIA admits that it sponsored Stargate research in the 1970s along with the Defense Intelligence Agency. "It was considered speculative and controversial and ultimately found to be unpromising," a CIA spokeswoman says.

But soon, the public will be able to make its own determination. As part of a special search requested by Congress, workers at the CIA's Declassification Factory have sifted through 20 years of data relating to Project Stargate.

Other special searches under way include the search for information about Nazi assets and files pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Although Stargate ended in the mid-1990s, it still captures the minds of conspiracy buffs and those who believe in the paranormal. As for McMoneagle, he's a self-employed psychic for hire. He says he has worked for lawyers, helping them screen prospective jurors at the start of trials, and has helped mining companies evaluate mining sites.