The CIA's Stargate program is the best-known but by no means the only state-funded psi research of the 20th century. While the US studied remote viewing from 1972 to 1995 with around USD 20 million, parallel programs ran in the Soviet Union and later in Russia, in China, in the United Kingdom, in Czechoslovakia and in France – some older, some larger, some more secretive. The documentary record varies sharply from country to country; taken together it produces a clear picture: several major powers, independently of each other, have for decades invested resources in a phenomenon that official science considered impossible.
1. Soviet Union and Russia: From Bekhterev to the Russian Academy
Academic roots
Russian interest in psi phenomena does not start with the Cold War. Vladimir Bekhterev (1857–1927), founder of Russian reflexology and rival to Pavlov, established a research centre at the University of St. Petersburg where, among other things, telepathy was studied systematically. His best-known experiment was conducted with the circus trainer V. L. Durov and his trained dogs – with positive results that are still discussed in the literature today.
Bekhterev's most important student was Leonid Vasiliev (1891–1966), who carried the field through the Stalin years. His book "Experiments in Mental Suggestion" (1962) remains a key source.
"Psychotronics": Materialism instead of Mysticism
Soviet ideology did not allow terms that smelled of mysticism. The research was therefore conducted under the technical term "psychotronics" – with the promise of finding biophysical, materialistically explainable mechanisms. The premise was: if a phenomenon is real, it must have a measurable physical basis. Under that scientific banner, open research was possible.
Edward Naumov and the KGB Entanglement
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Moscow biologist Edward Naumov became the international spokesperson for Soviet psi research. In 1968 he organised a much-noticed international conference in Moscow and maintained contacts with Western researchers – which Soviet authorities did not appreciate. In 1974 Naumov was arrested and sentenced to two years of hard labour. After his release he stated that the KGB had spent over 500 million roubles on psychotronic research.
The 1975 DIA Report: a Western Primary Source
For the curious: in 1975 the US Defense Intelligence Agency commissioned a detailed report. "Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research" (Maire & LaMothe, DST-1810S-387-75) evaluated Soviet and Czechoslovak publications, patents, and Western intelligence on the topic. The report is now freely available in the CIA Reading Room – a US primary analysis of Eastern Bloc psi activities.
After 1991: less visible, but not gone
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the open research field disappeared – much was continued under the FSB and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian publications on psychotronic topics still appeared occasionally into the 21st century. Today the Russian record is significantly less transparent than the US one after the 2017 release.
2. China: EHF and "Somatic Sciences"
The 1979 start
While the US Stargate program had already run for seven years, China started its own programme in 1979 – with a culturally distinct framing: EHF (Exceptional Human Functions), embedded in the official discipline of "Renti Kexue" (人体科学, "science of the human body"). This very broad category includes Qigong, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and parapsychological phenomena alike. The tactical advantage: psi research was not flagged as "Western esotericism" but framed as an extension of a Chinese tradition.
Key figures
Chinese research had a distinctive focus: children with alleged psychokinesis and extra-ocular vision. Studies were conducted with 10–14-year-olds reading characters they could not see. Researchers from Tsinghua University and Peking University were involved.
The Qigong master Yan Xin (b. 1950) became famous through Tsinghua University experiments in which he allegedly altered the molecular structure of substances in the laboratory at great distance. Premier Zhao Ziyang was one of EHF's most prominent supporters – until his fall in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen events. Open support for the field became politically delicate after that.
Today: more discreet but not over
The Chinese Society of Somatic Science still exists. Studies continue to be published, primarily in Chinese-language journals barely read in the West. How much of this is used militarily is – unsurprisingly – not public.
3. United Kingdom: the MoD Study 2001/2002
As Stargate was winding down, the UK turned to remote viewing officially. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) commissioned a study in 2001, whose 168-page report was completed in June 2002 – classified as UK Secret. The key facts:
- 18 untrained subjects (no known mediums)
- 18 remote viewing sessions
- Evaluation by the Defence Intelligence Staff
In 2007, UFO researcher Timothy Good obtained the existence and most of the report under the Freedom of Information Act. Significant passages are still redacted – the MoD points to national security and "relations with other states". The mere fact that the UK considered the topic worth a secret in-house study – and that parts of the results remain classified – is itself a meaningful signal.
4. Czechoslovakia: Robert Pavlita's "Psychotron"
The ČSSR of the 1960s and 1970s had its own psychotronics stars. The best known was Robert Pavlita (1909–1991), a former textile engineer who built so-called psychotronic generators – small geometric metal objects which he claimed could store and direct bioenergy. Pavlita's work was part of the 1975 DIA report and was closely coordinated with Moscow within the framework of Eastern Bloc scientific cooperation.
5. France: DGSE in the 1980s
Little is publicly known about the French programme. Reports by former Stargate personnel (notably Edwin May) and French insiders suggest that the DGSE ran its own remote viewing tests in the 1980s, in part with US support. There has never been a US-style declassification – French secrecy practice is significantly stricter.
6. Israel: Mossad Interest, but Hardly any Records
Israel enters psi research history mainly through one person: Uri Geller, an Israeli citizen tested at SRI in the 1970s. Reports of Mossad interest in his abilities exist – Geller himself confirmed this in several interviews – but no official records are available. Israeli secrecy practice on intelligence matters is essentially impenetrable for this kind of research.
At a Glance
| Country | Period | Documentary record | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 1972–1995 | Largely public since 2017 (12 M pages) | Remote Viewing |
| USSR / Russia | since 1920s | Partly via the DIA report 1975 | Psychotronics, telepathy |
| China | since 1979 | Partly via Chinese journals | EHF, Qigong, child PK |
| UK | 2001–2002 | 168 pages, partly redacted (FOI 2007) | Remote Viewing |
| Czechoslovakia | 1960s–1980s | Via DIA report 1975 | Psychotronic generators |
| France | 1980s | Practically none | Remote Viewing (suspected) |
| Israel | 1970s onwards | Practically none | Application (Geller era) |
What this Means
Four major powers – the US, the Soviet Union, China and the United Kingdom – plus several smaller players have invested resources in psi research over decades. The programmes started independently of each other, in different ideological frames (capitalist, Marxist-materialist, Confucian-state-socialist), under different theoretical models ("remote viewing", "psychotronics", "EHF") – and they did not stop in sync when the Cold War ended.
Anyone claiming today that the phenomenon has been settled scientifically must explain why, independently of one another, four intelligence services of major states assumed the opposite for decades.
That is not proof that remote viewing or telepathy work. But it is a strong indication that the standard answer – "science has checked and found nothing" – does not match the historical record. Apparently enough was found to keep these programmes alive for decades. What follows from that is an open question; but it is open, not closed.
Sources:
• L. F. Maire III & J. D. LaMothe, Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research (DST-1810S-387-75), Defense Intelligence Agency, 1975. Freely available in the CIA Reading Room.
• Leonid L. Vasiliev, Experiments in Mental Suggestion, 1962.
• Psi Encyclopedia (SPR): Psi Research in Russia.
• Psi Encyclopedia (SPR): Psi Research in China.
• UK Ministry of Defence, Remote Viewing Study, 2002 (released under FOI in 2007, 168 pp.).
• New Dawn: The Changing Face of Russian Psi Research.
Related articles: Stargate – The CIA's Secret Remote Viewing Program, Mediumship and Power – Helen Duncan and Academic Marginalisation, Birgit Fischer and the Find Me Group, Martin Zoller – Remote Viewing in Bolivia.