Russell Targ

Russell Targ (1934–present) is a physicist and a pioneer of laser technology who, with Harold Puthoff, co-founded the remote viewing research program at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in the 1970s.

This program, funded by the CIA and Defense Department, evolved into the long-running classified effort later known as Stargate, which investigated whether trained subjects could psychically perceive distant or hidden targets.

Targ has written numerous books (Limitless Mind, The Reality of ESP) arguing that nonlocal consciousness is real and scientifically demonstrated. The remote-viewing story is historically genuine — the government programs really existed and Targ really ran experiments — but the scientific verdict is negative.

When the CIA commissioned an independent evaluation in 1995 (the AIR report, with statistician Jessica Utts and skeptic Ray Hyman), the program was judged to have produced no operationally useful intelligence and no convincing evidence of a real psi effect; the apparent “hits” were attributed to vague targets, sensory leakage, statistical artifacts, and generous judging.

Targ remains a sincere proponent who frames remote viewing as proof of nonlocal mind, and the manifestation/quantum-consciousness world cites the “CIA studied psychic powers” history as validation. The accurate framing is that decades of well-funded study failed to establish the.