The Myth, The Fad and The Frauds - Exposing the truth about "Remote Viewing"
by Joni Dourif
This article is long overdue and I have secretly hoped that it would never need to be
written. However, I am witnessing the pollution and possible destruction of a very
valuable technology. I am speaking about the breakthrough discovery of a
scientifically repeatable set of protocols discovered by a prominent psychic while
working with a world-renowned physicist between the years of 1982 and 1983. The
project was initiated and funded by the DIA and the CIA as a competitive response to
the alleged Soviet six-man psychic team during the cold war. The psychic and the
physicist made a remarkable breakthrough in the world of psychic phenomenon. They
discovered a set of protocols which facilitated a controlled access to psychically
derived information. Even more astounding was the fact that they had proven that this
new technique could be taught. Like language, anyone could learn it. This turned
psychically derived data, from a happenstance gift, into a skill. And like any skill,
one's performance improved with practice.
The discoverers named this new technology Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) and kept it a tightly held secret throughout the rest of the eighties. There were only five people professionally trained and only two out of the five served in the Defense Intelligence Agencies (DIA) Remote Viewing unit. The other three left and did not continue to practice their new learned skill. However, two officers who were trained CRVers trained others and for a short time they enjoyed a working environment where CRV could strut its stuff - but it didn't last long. The coming of Desert Storm and the rotating fabric of the institutional umbrella of the DIA caused this very curious top secret unit to became a revolving door where people were passed off for lack of assignments or to wait out their retirements. By 1993 the unit had passed through the hands of a number of administrators who, either for ego or just sheer ignorance, turned it into a psychic circus. They brought in tarot card readers and channelers to work with only one partially trained remote viewer who was left. Secretaries were being solicited to channel and witches were performing readings. It's no wonder that this group lost its congressional funding and was picked back up as a research program by the CIA in 1994. This was the sketchy group that civilian researchers were sent to evaluate and finally served in putting a kibosh to. It's surprising that their "1995 CIA/AIR Report" was as positive as it was considering there were no remote viewers left. But they claimed that they were evaluating "remote viewing" and that "the program" had spanned throughout a twenty four year period of time. Everything was bunched together in a chaotic abyss which became known as "remote viewing." And Thus began the myth, the fad and the frauds.
PSI TECH was founded by one of the five people who was originally trained by the discoverer. This individual was transferred out of the RV unit in 1988. In 1989 while still on active duty in another department, he, along with a two star general, formed a private corporation utilizing Coordinate Remote Viewing (a still classified top secret) technology as its main product. However, now only the trained Remote Viewers were hired and worked for this in-house company. One of the first projects that PSI TECH worked was to locate hidden biological weapons during Desert Storm. PSI TECH operated as a single entity separated entirely from the hazards of institutional irony.
In 1991, the founder retired from the military and PSI TECH was on its own. His goal was the same as the visionary general who had previously helped him - who felt that "it was mankind's birthright to have access to this technology" and thus, the mission of PSI TECH was, "To put this technology into as many hands as possible." Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) was renamed Technical Remote Viewing (TRV).
Into the corporate civilian sector PSI TECH barged with a new product that only a few individuals had heard of and even fewer could perform. The founder, having been entrenched in the military structure most of his life, knew very little of the corporate war that would wage ahead of him. He was immediately seduced by amateur writers, agents, and their cohorts with big ideas about movies, books, and TV series - all promising fame and fortune and the rewards that he knew this technology deserved. He was faced with the new reality of civilian commerce which resembled a war with unmarked enemies and no structure or rules. Operating a corporation that could provide an unknown product and compete successfully was not a war that he was prepared to battle. That was when I came aboard to take on the task of "civilianizing the technology." As Vice President of the company, I steered it into the hub of the media world, Beverly Hills, California. We opened a nine-day training course and began training people from all walks of life. We selectively continued to work TRV contracts for various Intel collection projects. The days were filled with TRV training, running the business, and the evenings and weekends, we were working TRV sessions. We had created a new industry. Word trickled out around tinsel town and we generated curiosity and interest which gave us the opportunity to pick and choose our media interviews. I was selective and carefully controlled our presentations in order to spare the technology from the psychic-new-age genre which I suspected the uneducated would hastily conclude.
However, as we held on tightly to the controls, others were fanning the flames and claims of remote viewers began spreading like wildfire. People involved in the research program before the breakthrough discovery suddenly became "Remote Viewers." The periodic participants from the unit's revolving door era became "psychic warriors". Even the administrators who knew next to nothing about the technology were making remote viewing claims and writing books. The frenzy became furious and the fad began to flourish. The truth about this incredible breakthrough discovery was being buried beneath further and further as the myth grew and confusion reigned.
Now, there were Remote Viewing conferences held which bore no semblance to the reality of the technology. They presented an array of psychics, channelers, spoon benders, dowsers, spiritual healers, astronauts, psychic researchers, UFOers, hypnotists, and former military administrators - all claiming to be "remote viewers" or "remote viewing experts." New phantom methods of RV arose from unheard of schools and sources; people creeping out from every corner making opportunistic claims to cash in on the frenzied RV fad. What a mess, and who could see through the smoke? It became even more dubious when radio talk show hosts conspicuously knew more about "Remote Viewing" then their purported "RV expert guests." There was nothing new and nothing learned and the hype began to deflate from the chaos and empty claims.
Despite my disgust with all the frauds and charlatans out there claiming to be professional remote viewers or RV training organizations, I am still hopeful that with enough consumer education and a more thorough understanding of what remote viewing is and how it works, that individuals who really want to learn this skill, will be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Call me an optimist. After more then ten years operating successfully in the corporate sector, PSI TECH remains true to the revolutionary breakthrough that we vowed to keep pure. Our goal "to put this technology into as many hands as possible" just has become an increasing challenge. We are now faced with the dilemma to clear away the smoke screen in order to heighten public awareness.
On that note, I bid all Happy Holidays.
