TRIP REPORT TO STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 17-18 JUNE 1974

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00999A000300100018-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 11, 2003
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: July 1, 1974
• Content Type: MFR

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1 July 1974
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Trip Report to Stanford Research Institute,
17-18 June 1974
1. background and Summary. visited SRI SG1A
on 17 and 18 June 1974, principal y for the purposes of: examining the
criteria used in the selection of paranormal subjects and controls;
determining precisely what arrangements had been -nade for examining the
subjects in the "basic research" co,-Lext; establishing procedures for the
reporting of all relevant data to us; and discussing such other "basic"
and "applied" research issues as seemed appropriate. We met for about
eight hours with Mssrs. Jones, Puthoff, and Targ on 17 June and for one
hour with the latter two on 18 June. Despite what appeared to be conceptual
problems on the part of Puthoff and Targ, relating largely to the kinds of
rigorous research disciplines which we were espousing as essential for the
project, the discussions were business-like and well-focused and seemed
to be useful for all concerned.
2. Selection and Cate orization of Subjects. After five months of
effort SRI has selected only five of the nine subjects: the three super-
stars, one of the three mid-stars, and one of the three controls. We
stressed that significant and useful research could commence only after
they'd made definitive selections on the basis of specific and consistent
criteria.- One of the problems here seems to be the fact that Puthoff and
Targ have been more interested in the testing and enhancing of psychic
powers than in the establishment of rigorous research procedures--with the
consequence that, as they've perceived ostensible improvements in the psychic
powers of their "controls", they've tended to slide them up into the psychic
abilities, this could be a never-ending process. We stressed that we'd
like to see all nine subjects designated by the end of July and they under-
took to do so. We then spent several hours defining the three categories
and specifying the pre-selection tests and criteria used in screening the
subjects.
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a. Screening Tests and Criteria. All subjects will have been
tested on five paranormal" tasks. Those tasks, together with the
related protocols and criteria, were defined as follows:
(1) The Random Numbers Machine (testing "clairvoyance"
The basic screening test will consist of 1000 trials 25 trials per
run, 8 runs per day for 5 days) and, though many subjects have gone
well beyond 1000 trials already, SRI will report to us data and "p"
values on our nine subjects just on the first 1000 trials. In the
context of their NASA project over 150 people have been tested on
this machine; the data (copies of which will be sent to us) are now
being analyzed and the criteria for selection as "psychic" performance
level will soon be established on the basis of this analysis. The
present guess is that criteria will be on the order of 10- .
(2) OOB or Remote Viewing_(testing for telepathy and/or
clairvoianc The basic screening test will consist of six trials
lasting about one-half hour each), one per day; criteria for psychic
performance level will soon be established but, in any case, it was
ayi-eed that results would have to be at least at the .01 level. I t
was also agreed that a pool"of 20 new sites would be used for each
subject; we also discussed the desirability of replacing used sites
in subsequent trials for each given subject and, while no definite
agreement was reached, it may be that SRI will do so. We spent
considerable time discussing the jud ing procedures, the salient
points being: the same five judges (all chosen by Mr. Cox and
representing a "hostile" to "friendly" spread Frith respect to para-
normal research) will be used on a permanent basis; each judge works
independently, is given a list of the sites which were randomly
selected for the subject and copies of his transcripts; he visits
each site and selects the best matching transcript; at the present
time a plurality vote (i.e., 2 or more) of the judges, accurately
matching 4 (or 5) of the 6 sites, is considered. significant--but,
as noted, precise criteria will be specified by SRI in the near
future.
(3,) EEG-Remote Stimulus (Strobe Licgh testing _for telepathy_
viaaJychci)hsiooic indicators The basic screening test will
consist of 8 runs, 20 trials per run. A "sending" subject is exposed-
to randomly selected stimulus (a 16 herz light for 10 seconds) or
non-stimulus, with one minute inter-trial intervals; the "test"
subject is in a shielded room and, upon hearing, a "blip" signal on
the intercom, has to call stimulus or non-stiulus; both subjects are
being EEG-monitored and (aside from his calls) they are watchinc for
alpha reduction in the test subject during the stimulus periods.
Heretofore SRI had been averaging only the "S`?" and "NS" alpha
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production for comparison purposes but they will now also average
the inter-trial alpha for use as the subject's base-line. Criteria
for psychic level performance is now set at the .01 level and will
be confirmed by SRI.
(4) Cards in Envelopes (testing for clairvoyance One run
of 10 trials, with the stimulus cards (simple line drawings of ordinary
objects) selected randomly and double-blind from a pool of 50; the
subject draws his responses and may, if he wishes, supplement the
drawing by written commentary; his responses are -scored independently
by two judges. The criteria for psychic level performance will be set
by SRI but is now tentatively at the .01 level.
(5) Laser-Moni to red Torsion Pendul um (testing for PK) : The basic
screening test will consist of a one-hour run, with alternating five-
minute "work" and "rest" cycles; during the six "work" periods the
subject is instructed, on a randomly-selected basis, to increase or
decrease the amplitude (not the frequency) of the pendulum's state.
Considerable time was spent discussing the protocol in terms of how
one could most accurately measure states and effects--with the con-
sensus being that it would be best to compare the last 6 cycles of
the "work" period with the last 6 cycles of the preceding "rest"
period. The tentative criteria for psychic level performance, to be
confirmed by SRI, is two standard deviations on 4 out of the 6
"work" periods. SRI was quite impressed by the gradiometer's
sensitivity and found it a sufficiently useful adjunct to the pendulum
experiment to investigate the possibility of acquiring one of their
own; barring that, they might try to use SRI's aragnetometer. They
had several anecdotes about two of their subjects' prowess with this
device (one of them allegedly having sent the scale soaring off the
paper by telephone) but, not wanting to be exposed to the subjects,
we declined invitations to observe experiments.
(Note: With respect to all of the above testing;, SRI was informed
that--as far as our nine ultimate subjects were concerned--we wanted
to see all the raw test scores and not merely probability statements
on the results.)
b. Definition of Subject Categories. All mine subjects will be
submitted to a`Il five of the above tests. Their placement as super-
stars, mid-stars, or controls will be determined! on the following basis:
(1) Super-Stars: Those who "consciously" perform at high "p"
values (e.g., 10-6 on at least one of the five tasks.
(2) Mid-Stars: Those who are only at chance on the "conscious"
level but are at high "p" value on the ."unconscious" physiological
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dimension--i.e., on the-EEG (and/or GSR, plethysmograph) test
described in a(3), above.
(3) Controls: Those who did not exceed chance within the
prescribed number of trials on any of the tasks.
(Note: We stressed, and SRI agreed, that once a subject is placed
in a given category he is to remain in that category for the duration
of the project--no matter what apparent increase or decline of powers
they might observe.)
3. Status of Arraements for Examining Subjects.. We discussed the
critical 'need to finalize all the arrangements and begin processing at
least their "controls" through the entire battery of tests within the next
month. SRI appeared to concur fully and, as a utter of fact, most of the
arrangements do now seem to be well in hand; it is now a question of how
assiduously they follow-up by completing the identification of their sub-
jects and by setting up and observing sound procedures for their processing.
It would appear that the will is there (they are, perhaps, even too optirnistic
about the significance of the evidence that night accrue from the physical
and psychological examinations) but the organization and discipline might
still be lacking. In any case, the status is as follows:
a. P_ sychological and Behavioral Examinations. Under the white
tab (attached[ 1s a charSIRI had prepared on the psychological testing
to be performed--showing for each subject the status with respect to all
tests. Color-coded to reflect the entity responsible for administering
each test, the lower circle in each box (when filled in) signifies that
the arrangements have been made--while the upper circle (when filled
in) signifies that the test has already been administered to the.t
subject. On 17 June Dr. Puthoff visited the Palo Alto Medical Clinic
and came back with the report that, in the psych-behavioral field, they
will also be able to administer the following: Luscher Color Test,
Rorschach, MMPI, Omnibus (we confirmed that wanted both MMPI and the
Omnibus), Witkins Field Dependency, In-Depth Fnterviews---and that all
the psych testing done at PAMC will be administered by one individual_
and scored blind by another. Further, SRI will administer: Sungesti-
bility Tests, Flicker-Fusion and, possibly, a Signal Detection Test.
We asked them to prepare a new Psych-Behavioral matrix sheet--
showing all of the tests definitively agreed upon--and to use that
format in reporting progress with each monthly report. We al o confirmed
SG1A for them (which they seemed not to have realized) that could
not be doing the WAIS in the future--but that we would e con ent ai th
the WAIS administered by PAMC. All in all, although there are a few
items on our original list which have not been satisfied, this battery
of tests and interviews should be adequate for our purposes--
particularly since, after studying all of the evidence on all subject,
there's no reason why we couldn't call for a limited number of specific
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and more discriminating tests on all of them. Also (see the blue tab)
SRI has adopted Mood Adjective & Semantic Differential Checklists for
use on each testing day.'
b. Medical -Physical -Sensory Examinations. The PAMC will handle
virtually all of these examinations, including: in-depth medical
history interviews; a thorough medical examination (of the periodic
check-up type); a complete EEG and CNS work-up; full blood and urine
analysis; chromosome count and analysis; protein break-down analysis;
eye. and ear examinations, testing to each subject's extreme capability;
plotting of entire visual response field, with different colors; and
they will farm-out the CNV response testing to Sta,rford (SRI undertook
to determine for us the details on Stanford's procedures and conditions).
Further, PAMC is able to perform an E.M.I. brain-scan, a low X-ray
dosage examination of 6 planes of the brain, at an additional cost of
$200 per subject; we urged and they agreed that the EMI be done ojy
if PAMC's EEG clearly indicated that it would be warranted. The
estimated cost for all of PAMC's work on each subject (medical,
sensory, psychological) is around $700 to $900. We stressed that,
in the context of our project, we were responsible only for the
examinations, themselves, and that any medical conditions which might
be uncovered could be pursued by the subject only at his own expense.
Perhaps the best news was what Dr. Puthoff reported of the PAMC
interest in this work. They appear to be eager to do a thorough job,
are rather excited about the prospects of working in this field, have
a feel for the kinds of evidence which might be important to us and
are determined to handle it all on a clean, scientific basis--i.e.,
insofar as practicable the interpretations will be done blind and
each department (under the chairmanship and coordination of Dr.
Armbruster) will not only provide the raw data but will also prepare
a definitive report on each subject--calling special attention to any
sifnificant variations from the normal population, as well as watching
for any variations or correlations within our group of subjects. The
only thing of apparent consequence that PAMC can't handle is visual
testing in IR and UV and, frankly, I do not recall whether we made any
other provision for that. SRI was asked to prepare a medical matrix
similar to the attached psychological one and use it in reporting
future progress to us.
c. Mid-Paranormal-Experiment Testing. After obtaining baseline
data on each subject, SR1 wi 111 perform mid-paranormal-experimenting,
testing on each of them during the course of the post-selection
protocals (see para 4, below, for discussion of those tasks); this
testing will consist of: EEG readings (both right and left hemisphere,
focusing on Alpha, Beta, and Theta waves); GSR; and Plethysmogra.,h.
As indicated above, there is also a possibility that SRI will obtain
its own gradi onreter or magnetometer--in which case, presumably, i t v;i 11
also be used to monitor the subjects during performance of their psychic
-tasks. Again, we asked SRI to prepare a matrix for use in repor,i,, the
status of such testing with each subject.
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4. Post-Selection Paranormal Testing. Without wanting to encroach
upon OTS' 'applied" research domain, there was nevertheless some discussion
of the kinds of tasks which the nine subjects will be expected to do after
selection (and during which they would be examined as stated in para 3.c.,
above). Recognizing that OTS might redefine these tasks or specify entirely
different ones, it was generally agreed that they would likely fall into
four broad areas.
?a. Remote Viewing of Scenes/Events. Similar to the OOC experiments
being run for screening purposes, to the extent that security consider-
ations permit the later tests would hopefully be more operationally
oriented--i.e., focus on specific hard-target sites. For subjects who
are not cleared, the tasks might take the form, for instance, of
"locating" subjects who are trying to evade detection--and we discussed
several possible scenarios which might inject the proper mood/motivation/
urgency for such purposes.
b. PK. Here the focus should be on perturbation of some dynamic
system having at least peripheral operational application--e.g., location
of
some hidden device with an "on-off" relay and changing the state.
SRI also mentioned that it was planning to construct tasks involving
biological (single-cell nitella) and bacteriological systems/cultures
whose state-changes as a consequence of PK perturbation could be
precisely measured.
c. Clairvoyance-ESP. Here the focus might be on safes/locks/
attache cases--with, for instance, the subject required to perceive
the contents or determine the unlocking combination.
d. Remote Assessments. In which the subject would be required
to ascertain the emotional and/or physical state, feeling or attitudes,
of a subject remotely--either with or without stimulus objects
(photographs, etc.).
5. Reporting. It was pointed out that, though we are approaching
the end of the fifth month of effort, we've seen only two monthly reports.
SRI stated that the third was in preparation. We told them that we'd
like to see in the next report (i.e., the fourth one, by the end of duly)
at least the following data:
a. Status on the screening of (hopefully) all nine subjects
and the pre-selection test data on each;
b. definitive statements on the pre-selection protocols and
the psychic level criteria employed;
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c. definitive statements on the criteria employed for placing
subjects in the super-star, mid-star, and control categories;
d. matrices on the status of (1) psychological-behavioral,
(2) medical-sensory, and (3) mid-experiment testing; and
e. somewhat more precise statements on the nature of the psychic
tasks to be used in the post-selection testing phase.
6. Other Matters. Puthoff and Targ will be going to New York for a
conference about mid-August and it was agreed that they would stop for
meetings with us on the way. Their "internal" Blue Ribbon panel has not
really been used on our project; as they explained it, the panel is invoked
only in the event of major policy decisions or when there is some significant
problem or crisis. They are, however, in the process of identifying and
recruiting an "external" panel of cross-discipline experts and they would
be used to pass on research design and procedures used in our project. It
was agreed, once and for all, that URI would not be included in our
project--although, if they do test him on their own (e.g., with OTS'
S/W cards), they'll provide us with the d-i tely. We looked at
PP's transcripts on his experiment with it looked pretty SG1A
SG1A useless has since confirmed this impression).
SG1A
LSR/0H/DD/S&r
SG1A
Distribution:
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1 - LSR file
1 - LSR Chrono
1 - ORD Reg.
LSR/ORD/DD/S&T~
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ADDENDUM TO MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD,
ORD-2776-74, Trip Report to SRI
1. It appears as if Targ and Puthoff may at long last understand
that we are interested in good documentation of the methodology backed
by data rather than anecdotes. Nonetheless it must also be noted that
the criteria we finally got from them emerged only after persistent
pressuring and even then were couched in anecdotes and were tentative.
2. Mr. Earl Jones was told privately that I felt the effort thus
far represented ad hoc experimentational "scientific piddling around"
rather than science and that unless there was a clear cut change for
the better I would have to seriously consider recornnending to my
management that the project be terminated.
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28 June 1974
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Trip Report
2. 'Stanford Re'searcliI'ns't'itiite -- Puthoff & Targ
General
Dr. Luke and I transported the Deveico Gradiometer from
LLL to SRI on Monday evening as prearranged. Although neither
Puthoff.nor Targ were available, their Office Director, Bart
Cox, was able to assist us in securing the equipment. On
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Tuesday, we spent several hours reviewing progress on the basic
science aspects of the project. The progress was disappointing.
After six months the battery of sensory, psychological and
physical examinations had not been completely established and
arrangements had not been made for conducting many of the
tests. I urged them to expedite completion-of these arrange-
ments, prepare a matrix of subjects vs. tests and start running
subjects through the battery. The second major shortcoming
was an apparent complete absence of any overall experimental
design and protocol. It appears that a potpourri of small
experiments were to have been conducted on an ad hoc basis
on whatever subjects were around. I actually had to remind
them that they were supposed to include a control group; that
they were not to be subjects in the experiments; that Uri
c- Fier was' not to be one of the subjects; that we dig' not
wish to socTal-ize with any of their superstar subjects and
that any measurement of recordings from experiments should
be made in the blind. Many examples of experimental flaws
(e.g., lack of clequatc control runs, failure to provide for
blind evaluation of results, and photographing features of
sites described in OOB studies "a'fter reviewing their descrip-
tions) were apparent. I tried t io ndicate some of these to
the investigators, pointing out that their results would only
be meaningful and acceptable scientifically if done carefully,
under well-controlled experimental conditions. Throughout
the discussions, the implication was made that much of the
work to date had been addressed to. the OTS applied research
task and that the laser -pendulum experiment in progress was
part of that work. indicates that this is not
the case.)
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4. Stanford Research Institute -- Puthoff & Targ
instrumentation
We reviewed the instrumentation to be used in monitoring
subjects during paranormal activity. One EEG lead will be
monitored from each hemisphere and the outputs will be run
through narrow band filters, digitized and printed for each
?(5 seconds?) epoch. Skin galvanic response will also be
monitored on two separate channels -- one AC-coupled with
high gain (to record small short-term changes in conductance)
and one 1)C-coupled with low gain (to preserve information
related to the absolute level of skin conductance). A photo-
electric finger plethysmograph will also be employed.
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I - LSR Chrono
1 - ORD Chrono
SG1A' LSR/ORI)/DD/S&T:
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