George Clooney stars in the much-rumoured movie production of Jon Ronson's novel, The Men Who Stare at Goats. Unless it's a wonderfully well acted movie with a surprise plot, nobody expects much from it. Never mind that it's based on truth--it's a subject few can understand or respect and I do predict it will be treated as military and political silliness rather than a project of importance. The truth will stay behind the scenes where it always has lived. The easiest secrets to keep are the ones no one takes seriously.

Already I'm seeing signs of manipulation of information, with Google videos that focused upon this same subject being withdrawn from the public sector. Well, it may be that lack of interest, rather than sinister interest, was the cause--if you're willing to wait for an excruciatingly long download they are still available through the information sharing peer network of Torrent Video.

First a little history:  in Vietnam a small group of men chosen for psychic potential was recruited for a short lived attempt at remote viewing, just before the official remote viewing programs began. At that time it was research, and nothing more than test results of the team's awkward efforts to locate POW's by psychic methods were ever expected. In a few months the experiment ended, and the men involved went back to official duties or to civilian life.

In another sense, the experiment never ended. Modifications to individuals were still in place which the intelligence sphere found useful years later, when concerns about the success of psychic intelligence programs in both Russia and China overtook the general caution and skepticism of their American counterparts. The rumours, taken seriously for reasons never fully explained but easily imagined, were that top agents of the opposition were able not only to psychically visit secure locations in the United States, but were also able to remove physical objects like documents, ethereally. Whether the triggering of this decision was an actual event or simply the threat of such an event is not known, but the juggernaut of military intelligence turned its vast inertial gaze towards the far horizons of what is possible, spawning projects like Stargate and Meteor Fire that later were subjected to full disclosure and removal of Congressional funding.

"According to Mr. Swann [Ingo Swann, one of the founding researchers at Stanford] he was tasked by the CIA to train ‘others' in the art and science of Remote Viewing, men who he claimed were bizarre in their manner, mechanistic and cold in their approach to learning Remote Viewing. In a sense, they were there for the training, and then they were gone, never to be seen or heard of again. I use this as one evidence that other Remote Viewing elements existed in the government intelligence agencies. I cannot accept in any way the notion that only one Remote Viewing program existed; this would go against all philosophies and practices within the military and government intelligence agencies to ‘never put all of your eggs in one basket.' Who would spend tens of millions of dollars on a program that existed in one place and had only one life to live−I assure you, nobody in the intelligence community."--Robert Morehouse, former Army Remote Viewer, Project Stargate.

Ever since, there have been rumours that psychic military projects continue. To interested onlookers it makes no sense that a potentially powerful approach should be completely abandoned. The competition kept working on these things, so our military certainly wouldn't stop. The military is pretty open minded about new toys, and if there's a chance it will work, they keep trying.

Whether the movie will deal with these topics intelligently, or approach them as slapstick venues in which bespectacled and wild haired soldiers stare at goats and act like buffoons, is still unknown. If you want to approach this film with an educated open mind, rather than the ignorant closed mind which is expected, take a look at some of the links in this article and prepare yourself. This is a portion of American history which has been stomped on, suppressed, and ground into the pavement like an old cigarette butt. Take off your blinders before viewing.

In the years since the remote viewing programs were "officially" discontinued, many former remote viewers have gone into business for themselves, sometimes as consultants (with marginal success) and more often as teachers of remote viewing. Joseph McMoneagle, Ed Dames, and Lyn Buchanan are always at the forefront of the tiny group that promotes themselves as "the best teachers of remote viewing in the world." Even something so basic as whether or not a teacher is required is still in doubt, since remote viewing is a talent instinctive to our species but largely ignored by modern culture. I'm personally skeptical of most of these people, who may have been released from the program officially on the condition that they would not be entirely honest in their relations with the general public. One of those I do respect, because of the persecution he underwent after deciding to do the right thing, is Robert Morehouse, former Army Colonel and remote viewer, to whose page I've linked elsewhere in this story.

A second source of "education," the Monroe Institute, is still very active (and expensive). For civilians, it's possibly the only source of credible mind-influencing technology, and the training to support it. Most of the known psychic military programs eventually made contact, either through official missions or private experiments, with something extraterrestrial. The Monroe Institute turns this into a business enterprise, at one time offering Galactic Ambassador training venues and contact with known, friendly unearthly beings.

"I am more than my physical body. Because I am more than physical matter, I can perceive that which is greater than the physical world. Therefore, I deeply desire to Expand, to Experience; to Know, to Understand; to Control, to Use such greater energies and energy systems as may be beneficial and constructive to me and to those who follow me. Also, I deeply desire the help and cooperation, the assistance, the understanding of those individuals whose wisdom, development and experience are equal or greater than my own. I ask their guidance and protection from any influence or any source that might provide me with less than my stated desires." -- Gateway Statement, The Monroe Institute