--- title: "The US military once successfully used a psychic to locate a lost plane" description: "Would it really surprise anyone that the CIA was once concerned that a psychic gap existed between the U.S. and Soviet Union? It happened." date: "2021-04-27" modified: "2021-04-27" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/us-military-hired-a-psychic/" categories: - "Cold War" - "History" - "War History" --- # The US military once successfully used a psychic to locate a lost plane ![]() During the Cold War, pretty much anything that would give the U.S. the upper hand vs. Communist Russia was considered worthy of research. Everything from [catching satellites with airplanes]() to [full airbases carved into Arctic ice](). With this in mind, would it really surprise anyone that the CIA was concerned that a psychic gap existed between the U.S. and Soviet Union? --- In 1972, the Agency started funding paranormal research in a program that would last more than 23 years. Called "remote viewing," it was an ability some people supposedly posses enabling them to psychically "see" events, sites, or information from a great distance. The psychics were gathered to perform parapsychic intelligence and research operations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmzGa-X2144 A young airman named Rosemary Smith was given a map of Africa. She was told that sometime in the past a Soviet Tu-22 bomber outfitted as a spy plane crashed somewhere in Africa. U.S. intelligence services wanted to recover the top secret Russian codes and equipment the Tu-22 carried. The plane went down in the Central African Republic. Despite orienting multiple satellites to locate the plane, the DoD kept coming up short. Using her remote viewing, the psychic pinpointed the wreckage, even though it was completely covered by the jungle canopy. [President Jimmy Carter admitted]() to U.S. media that that the CIA, without his knowledge, had consulted a psychic to find the missing plane. He told them the plane had been Russian, not American. "The woman went into a trance and gave some latitude and longitude figures." The former President said. "We focused our satellite cameras on that point and the plane was there." When asked how he processed the news that a psychic located the plane, Carter replied: "With skepticism." The "Remote viewing" venture was part of the Stargate Project, a secret Army unit at Fort Meade, Maryland set up in 1978 in an effort to bridge the purported "psy gap." Overall, the project never gave the CIA any other real, meaningful information but was still funded until 1995 when the American public found out about the project from an episode of ABC's news magazine show "Nightline." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B6-TMuudqE The finding of the Tu-22 is the only instance of a successful remote viewing. The project was the subject of the 2004 book and 2009 movie *The Men Who Stare At Goats.* ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()