Project Stargate Statistics

Over 20 years (1978–1995), Stargate research averaged $1 million annually (with cumulative funding totaling $20 million), peaking at $2.1 million in 1985 (sliding to $700,000 after 1993’s 30% budget cut), financed mostly by DIA (60%), CIA ($5 million total, 25%), and Army INSCOM ($2 million total, 10%), with 70% going to contractor fees—including $11 million for SRI in the 1980s and $4.5 million for SAIC from 1988–1995—plus $50,000 per viewer’s training, $75,000 yearly for top viewers’ salaries, $300,000 in annual travel, $1.2 million for the Fort Meade remote viewing lab, $750,000 for the 1979 "Grill Flame" startup, $250,000 for 1990 equipment upgrades, $500,000 for 1995 AIR evaluations, $2,500 per remote viewing session, and 15% in annual overhead, not to mention extra funds like $400,000 in 1982 for expansions and $1.8 million in 1984. (Note: Minor rephrasing of "including" and "not to mention" adds natural flow, while "sliding" and "financed mostly by" keep it conversational; all metrics are included.)

Stargate's statistical story is a mix of bright spots and stubborn flaws: it offers glimmers like a top viewer nailing 54% of blind tests, a 1993 review confirming anomalous cognition, and a 1:20 cost-benefit ratio, yet also struggles with 5% operational utility, a declining effect size from 0.4 to 0.1, just 1% actionable intel that spurred termination, most analyses hovering around or below chance with 28% blind and a kappa of 0.35, and reliability gaps where 78% of critiques cite sensory cues—ultimately, a tale of mixed potential but little that stuck.

Between 1979 and 1995, the Stargate project was a fascinating, far-reaching effort that ran 1,247 laboratory remote viewing trials—967 of which were operational tasks with an average success rate 34% above chance—targeting 156 Soviet sites, supporting the 1984 Iran hostage rescue with 12 sessions, aiding the Gulf War SCUD hunts with 89, using Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) in 78% of trials, applying double-blind protocols to 412 experiments (63% accuracy in site location), conducting 92 Puthoff-Targ beacon tests, 210 Extended Remote Viewing sessions, 34 Soviet submarine trackings, and 5 Libya bombing target IDs (15% hit rate for 1991 biological targets), training viewers on an average of 450 sessions each, using multi-viewer consensus in 23% of operational tasks (187 cases), deploying overseas 56 times to 12 countries, providing feedback in 89% of training sessions, testing Associate Remote Viewing on the stock market with 28 trials, averaging 45-minute CRV sessions, focusing 72% of operations on fixed facilities, and completing 15,400 analyses matching viewer transcripts to judges effectively.

Over 17 years, starting with DIA's 1978 official kickoff (after 1972 Geller experiments and 1977 in-house training) and wrapping up with 1995's termination following budget cuts and an AIR review, Project Stargate trained dozens of remote viewers—logging over 500 missions, peaking in 1986 with 15 staff (and 245 controlled trials in 1985), even accurately locating 12 hidden sites in 1991, while seeing session frequency jump 40% that year before dipping to 10 active viewers by 1992 and 180 sessions in 1993 alone.

The Stargate project, a mix of grit and the extraordinary, brought together 22 principal remote viewers—28% women, 85% military veterans, averaging 8.2 years on the job—including Ingo Swann (154 sessions), Joseph McMoneagle (72% success in 120 tasks), Angela Dellafiora (65% accuracy in 89 trials), and 14 who supported Gulf War operations, with 3 "exceptional" candidates, 3 logging over 100 sessions each; backed by 8 trainers and 45 total staff (including support), it tallied 29,000 documented sessions, with a 65% first-year retention rate, weaving a tale of human skill and dedication in a pursuit that defied easy explanation.