Dr. Kenneth A. Kress and Remote Viewing

Dr. Kenneth A. Kress, a physicist with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), played a pivotal role in the agency's exploration of parapsychology, particularly in the realm of remote viewing, during the 1970s. His involvement was instrumental in bridging the gap between scientific inquiry and intelligence operations.

In 1972, the CIA initiated a research contract with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to investigate the potential of remote viewing—a phenomenon where individuals purportedly perceive distant or unseen targets using extrasensory perception. Due to his background in physics, Dr. Kress was appointed as the CIA's project officer for this contract. He collaborated closely with physicists Russell Targ and Harold E. Puthoff at SRI, integrating their research findings and reporting them back to the CIA. 

One notable experiment involved the renowned remote viewer Pat Price, who was tasked with describing a Soviet research and development facility known to the CIA as URDF-3. Price provided detailed descriptions of the site, including specific structures like a crane, though he missed other elements such as oil derricks. Dr. Kress personally engaged with Price during this period, discussing the discrepancies in his observations. 

Dr. Kress documented his experiences and assessments in a comprehensive report titled "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusions," published in the Winter 1977 issue of "Studies in Intelligence," the CIA's internal journal. In this report, he reflected on the challenges and potential of integrating parapsychological phenomena into intelligence work, expressing a "skeptical agnostic" stance. He acknowledged the fascinating yet frustrating nature of the research and emphasized the importance of understanding how certain individuals could convincingly demonstrate inexplicable abilities. 

Decades later, Dr. Kress publicly discussed his involvement in these early remote viewing experiments in the documentary "Third Eye Spies." In this film, he recounted briefing then-CIA director George H. W. Bush on the agency's paranormal research, providing insights into the government's secretive investigations during the Cold War era. 

Dr. Kenneth A. Kress's contributions were crucial in the CIA's examination of remote viewing, offering a unique perspective that balanced scientific skepticism with an openness to exploring unconventional methodologies in intelligence gathering.