Real “Psychic Spy” Reveals Truth Behind, “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
Major (retired) Paul H. Smith, PhD. Discusses his seven year involvement in the U.S. Army’s remote viewing program and how actual events differ from those depicted in the movie.
Del Mar, CA, November 22, 2009 --(PR.com)-- While the new movie, “The Men Who Stare at Goats” continues a strong showing at the box office, viewers are left to sort out real story behind the U.S. Army’s use of psychics to gather intelligence.
One person who knows where Hollywood fantasy has replaced reality is retired Major Paul H. Smith, PhD. Smith spent seven years as a U.S. Army remote viewer tasked with using his psychic abilities to spy on the Soviets and other Army intelligence targets: “[The Men Who Stare at Goats] conflates all kinds of different things, puts them all together, meshes them together, and comes up with what apparently seems to be a fairly seamless account of all of these things being related to everything else. That’s not an accurate portrayal.” says Smith.
While Smith takes his work and the results he produced very seriously, he’s finds the book behind the movie lacking: “...the book is really more tabloid journalism than straight-ahead journalism. It’s not investigated journalism in a classic sense. It’s getting some interesting facts, pulling out the juiciest parts, sewing them together in a completely different garment than they originally were, presenting them in a way that isn’t true to the way the whole thing was done.”
Regarding whether or not he was consulted by the book’s author or the filmmakers, Dr. Smith says: “[Jon Ronson] said that he hadn’t seen any evidence that convinced him. Well the fact is, he never looked into the evidence. He interviewed me at length at the Remote Viewing Conference and I tried to present some real bottom-line, fundamental -- this is how it really was, these are the kind of things that we did – that kind of stuff. None of that shows up in the book. None of that shows up anywhere. So to me, I think he had a bias against anything that was supportive and he was looking more for the exciting vignettes and the exciting stories that shows the quirkiness of the people – to use that term -- which just to me, that’s irresponsible.”
A free (audio and transcript) of the complete interview with Major Smith is available at: http://www.skeptiko.com/87-remote-viewing-fact-and-fiction-paul-h-smith/
Major (retired) Paul H. Smith, PhD. served for seven years in the government’s remote viewing psychic espionage program at Ft. Meade, MD. He is one of only a handful of government personnel to be personally trained in remote viewing by Ingo Swann at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). He has a MS from the Defense Intelligence College, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Texas. Dr. Smith is the author of, “Reading the Enemy’s Mind.”
About Skeptiko
Skeptiko.com is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, psychic detectives, medium communication, reincarnation, and after-life encounters. Each episode features open, honest debate on new scientific discoveries. The show includes interviews with top research scientists and their critics.
About OpenSourceScience
OpenSourceScience is the first scientifically oriented website to bring the power of open source methods to the skeptical examination of controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death experiences, reincarnation, and after-life encounters.
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One person who knows where Hollywood fantasy has replaced reality is retired Major Paul H. Smith, PhD. Smith spent seven years as a U.S. Army remote viewer tasked with using his psychic abilities to spy on the Soviets and other Army intelligence targets: “[The Men Who Stare at Goats] conflates all kinds of different things, puts them all together, meshes them together, and comes up with what apparently seems to be a fairly seamless account of all of these things being related to everything else. That’s not an accurate portrayal.” says Smith.
While Smith takes his work and the results he produced very seriously, he’s finds the book behind the movie lacking: “...the book is really more tabloid journalism than straight-ahead journalism. It’s not investigated journalism in a classic sense. It’s getting some interesting facts, pulling out the juiciest parts, sewing them together in a completely different garment than they originally were, presenting them in a way that isn’t true to the way the whole thing was done.”
Regarding whether or not he was consulted by the book’s author or the filmmakers, Dr. Smith says: “[Jon Ronson] said that he hadn’t seen any evidence that convinced him. Well the fact is, he never looked into the evidence. He interviewed me at length at the Remote Viewing Conference and I tried to present some real bottom-line, fundamental -- this is how it really was, these are the kind of things that we did – that kind of stuff. None of that shows up in the book. None of that shows up anywhere. So to me, I think he had a bias against anything that was supportive and he was looking more for the exciting vignettes and the exciting stories that shows the quirkiness of the people – to use that term -- which just to me, that’s irresponsible.”
A free (audio and transcript) of the complete interview with Major Smith is available at: http://www.skeptiko.com/87-remote-viewing-fact-and-fiction-paul-h-smith/
Major (retired) Paul H. Smith, PhD. served for seven years in the government’s remote viewing psychic espionage program at Ft. Meade, MD. He is one of only a handful of government personnel to be personally trained in remote viewing by Ingo Swann at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). He has a MS from the Defense Intelligence College, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Texas. Dr. Smith is the author of, “Reading the Enemy’s Mind.”
About Skeptiko
Skeptiko.com is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, psychic detectives, medium communication, reincarnation, and after-life encounters. Each episode features open, honest debate on new scientific discoveries. The show includes interviews with top research scientists and their critics.
About OpenSourceScience
OpenSourceScience is the first scientifically oriented website to bring the power of open source methods to the skeptical examination of controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death experiences, reincarnation, and after-life encounters.
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