This is a straightforward history of government interest in remote viewing, a paranormal experiment that the CIA began at the Standard Research Institute in 1972. Military intelligence started their own team at Fort Meade in 1977. Each program involved only a handful of people. When the CIA lost interest, a couple of generals (Edmund R. Thompson and Albert N. Stubblebine), congressmen (Claiborne Pell and Charlie Rose), and a powerful Senate staffer (Richard D'Amato) kept it alive under the Pentagon budget. It ran out of steam due to its own eccentricities, its enemies within the budgetary process, and the Republican victory in 1994.
Remote viewing is neither fraudulent nor silly, but on rare occasions it can lean toward either. More often it is just plain wrong, or distorted by subjective interference. The brass kept worrying about the "giggle factor" should the secret programs be discovered by the press. Stubblebine earned the nickname "General Spoonbender," and his power at the Pentagon soon declined. The remote viewers themselves had unconventional ideas: several were Scientologists, others were into UFO lore, and most took themselves too seriously. The burnout rate was high. It's just as well. When all is said and done, everyone benefits if our ethically-challenged spooks have really given up on this creepy, unpredictable phenomenon.
What branch were you in? SWIM finds it very demanding, and agrees that it is absolutely a high-expectation assignment. SWIM also takes every precaution to keep his own view points on these issues to a minimum while on the job. He appreciates the benefits of the military life, but is really only in for the adventure. How he got the job is anyone's guess, apparently they had a slot open and he got lucky by having a great recruiter.
