Ingo Swann
In late October 1971, I and a colleague were in Washington.
This was still a time when no one wanted a psychic anywhere near
their official premises. So we met in bars and pizza parlors (the
Pizza Parlor Conferences on Psychic Warfare). On this occasion
there were six spooks. But one seemed very important because when
he opened his mouth to talk, everyone else shut up immediately.
Actually, he didn't say much, but when he did it was always with
a pointed question.
"Mr. Swann," he said, "If you were going to set
up a threat analysis program to match what the Soviets are up
to, what would you do?"
After gathering my wits, I responded: "Well., there would
be two major options, both of which should be pursued. If --they--
are really interested they would be trying to locate and recruit
psychics on a broad scale, to test and experiment with them."
(It was known at this time that the KGB was undertaking such a
recruitment, from as far away as Tibet and Mongolia where shamans
and monks with powers were located and dragged to Russia by force.)
"But if you follow this option, you will be dealing with
American citizens who can't be dragged and forced. You will have
to convince them to work on your behalf, and most psychics I know
don't like the intelligence community. But this should somehow
be followed up.
"The second option is to institute a broad inquiry into the
nature and processes involved, at least regarding psi perceptions
which would be amenable to psychic spying, psychic penetration.
To do this, you must assume one thing that's not been assumed
before. You must assume that psi potentials are broadly a human
species thing, and thus generally available everywhere.
"If this is so, then there must be psi constants involved,
constants that can be harnessed if they can be identified. If
these constants are revealed and understood, then you can assume
that the Soviets are probably looking for them, too. Both options
should be followed to see where they lead."
The 'conference' then removed to a quite nice bar in Laurel just
outside of Washington proper. There the chief spook took me aside
and asked if I ever received a security clearance. "Yes,
in the Army -- S and TS." "OK," he responded, "do
you mind if we got it reactivated?" This was my --second--
message, quite spontaneous.
(end)