Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, and other intelligence officials, have stated for the record that foreign intelligence collection efforts, notably from Russia and China, are approaching cold war levels. Although many older Americans will recall the spy versus spy antics of the Soviet dominated era, many will not be familiar with the strangeness that penetrated American intelligence institutions in response to tales of weird science coming from the other side.

The tale of American Intelligence Community involvement with all things strange and wonderfully spooky goes back at least to the end of World War II, and beyond, and now, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, it is possible to relive the glory days of psychic spies battling across the oceans using only their minds. Should anyone question the veracity of the historical record, they are free to obtain about 89,000 pages of supporting documentation from the CIA, at a cost under $150. Private companies have reproduced the document set, known as the STAR GATE collection, for less. You can also view many pages from the STAR GATE files at the STARpod.org website.

In 1995 STAR GATE was a program run under the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) -- just one of the many previous paranormal projects run by the CIA, the Navy, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and other intelligence-oriented agencies. Much of what we know about foreign efforts comes from the STAR GATE files. The DIA FOIA web page offers several down-loadable reports with titles like "Controlled Offensive Behavior" about Soviet offensive capabilities to use paranormal phenomena for military purposes.

Congress ordered the transfer of STAR GATE from DIA to CIA that same year, where the various paranormal programs were reviewed, then summarily killed, presumably by opponents from the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. And that was the end of America's foray into psychic espionage, or so we were led to believe.

Recently we learned from Gus Russo that the super-secretive National Security Agency (NSA) may still be in the psychic spying business. Russo is best known for his investigation of the JFK assassination for PBS, ABC, and his books "Live by the Sword," and "Supermob," and not for telling fanciful tales of weird science. Earlier this year Russo published an article about "The Real X-Files," concluding that intelligence agencies had a genuine interest in persons involved with the paranormal, not because they are in contact with otherworldly beings, but for mundane reasons of national security. Apparently real spies (Russo mentions KGB) have infiltrated UFO groups and the like in the past, finding them useful covers for conducting collection activities against U.S. persons.

Russo is not the first person to tell of NSA involvement in psychic intelligence. We heard a similar story from several persons, including our associate investigator Caryn Anscomb, who heard the tale from someone known to have been involved in previous efforts.

We also know that government agencies routinely keep copies of articles on file similar to one you are reading right now. STAR GATE files document a history of interest in Jim Schnabel, who had been poking around the classified psychic spy program and questioning personnel. Schnabel later wrote an exposé of the psychic programs and a history of American efforts to psych-out the enemy in his book "Remote Viewers."

When Schnabel began to research his story about the psychic spies, STAR GATE was still a classified project. He published a story called "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Psi" for the August 27, 1995, Independent of London, subject of a CIA memo released to the public on August 8, 2000. During the roughly five years in between, plans for taking STAR GATE to the next level were seemingly crushed by CIA closure of all aspects of the program. An interesting aspect of the five year plan for STAR GATE was a focus on detecting the signal carrying mechanism for psychic phenomena.

SIGINT (Signals Intelligence)is NSA's primary responsibility. According to the NSA website, "NSA/CSS’s Signal Intelligence mission is to intercept and analyze foreign adversaries' communications signals, many of which are protected by codes and other complex countermeasures. We collect, process, and disseminate intelligence reports on foreign intelligence targets in response to intelligence requirements set at the highest levels of government. Executive Order 12333 authorizes agencies of the intelligence community to produce foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence consistent with applicable U.S. law and with full consideration of the rights of United States persons."

According to Gus Russo, he was told by his source that "the program encountered problems when when foreign targets were being blocked by an extraterrestrial source that has never been identified."

The CIA STAR GATE files prove military psychics -- known as "remote viewers" -- had allegedly encountered extraterrestrial entities in the 1980's. Reports of interference in psychic viewing of "foreign targets" adds a new dimension to the strange saga of psychic intelligence.

When asked about the veracity of his source, Russo stated ""His speculations are sometimes further than I would go ... But his accuracy re: facts has never been in question."

NSA has been in the public spotlight because of a controversial secret order signed by President Bush allowing NSA to spy on U.S. citizens. Russo tell us his source reported that the NSA psychic spy program "is one of the most highly classified at NSA."

A Washington Post story from December 16, 2005, reported "For more than four years, the NSA tasked other military intelligence agencies to assist its broad-based surveillance effort directed at people inside the country suspected of having terrorist connections, even before Bush signed the 2002 order that authorized the NSA program, according to an informed U.S. official."

If the existence of a new NSA psychic spy unit proves true, will we someday learn that psychic spies have been monitoring individuals within our own nation?

Additional documentation is available at www.starpod.org