TRANSFER OF STAR GATE PROGRAM FROM DIA TO CIA STATUS AND TERMS OF REFERENCE (DRAFT)

CIA-STARGATE

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Body:  Approved For Release 2001/04/02. CCU-RDP96-00791 R0001 00040014-9
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 Transfer of Star Gate Program from DIA to CIA
 Status and Terms of Reference
 1. Status of Program Transfer
 The Central Intelligence Agency officially has been
 tasked by Congress to transfer the Defense Intelligence
 Agency's Star Gate program to CIA by July 1,  1995.   Congress
 also has directed a retrospective review of Star Gate program
 activities.   CIA has taken a number of steps in accordance
 with this direction:
 ? We have opened dialog with the appropriate point of contact
 at the National Research Council and exchanged draft tasking
 statements to set up a Blue Ribbon Panel,  so that an
 unbiased,  technical retrospective review can occur.
 ? Cooperative meetings between DIA program personnel and CIA
 already have resulted in a data exchange for the purposes of
 conducting the review and transfer.   Some officially
 declassified documents have been obtained from DIA.
 ? Informal discussions with the CIA Center for Studies on
 Intelligence  (CSI)  regarding strategies for declassification
 have occurred and a memorandum is in preparation from CIA to
 DIA specifying the need for further declassification
 ? Request has been made through the CIA Office of military
 Affairs focal point channel to enlist the cooperation of the
 US Army Research Institute, which currently holds a study
 contract with the NRC for program review in the behavioral
 sciences.
 ? CIA has contacted the appropriate individuals at the US
 Army Research Institute and a resource transfer to Army for
 the cost of managing and supporting the National Research
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 Council in performance of the technical review is now in
 preparation.
 ? CIA has scheduled a meeting with the former SAIC principal
 investigator for the research performed in the Star Gate
 program.
 ? CIA has scheduled a review of the operations program at Ft.
 Meade.
 II. Terms of Reference
 A. Objectives
 CIA will undertake these primary activities in response
 to Congressional direction:
 1. Declassification
 We will define the issues associated with
 declassification of both the DIA's compartmented Star
 Gate program and the previous noncompartmented CIA
 program. Examine possible near-term actions,  and
 establish or utilize existing DCI Committee to address
 broader declassification issues.
 2. Blue Ribbon Panel Review
 CIA will establish an external, unbiased,  "Blue
 Ribbon Panel" of world-class experts in
 parapsychological phenomena and the experimental design
 used to investigate such phenomena. These experts will
 perform the twenty-year retrospective technical
 analysis.
 3. Management Strategy,  Transfer to CIA
 After completion of initial Star Gate
 declassification and Blue Ribbon Panel review, CIA will
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 develop a comprehensive management strategy.   This
 strategy will address the proper investment balance
 between operations, research, and foreign assessment.
 It will recommend the necessary resource levels as well
 as the mix of personnel skills required for execution of
 the program under the new strategy.
 B.  Declassification
 In response to Congressional direction,  CIA will
 declassify certain aspects of its program immediately.   These
 aspects include CIA sponsorship of past program activities
 relating to investigation of paranormal phenomena for
 intelligence applications, and the technical results of these
 investigations.
 Following these actions,  a Congressionally mandated DCI
 classification review committee will be convened.   This
 committee will conduct a detailed review of all CIA and DIA
 program documents and information.   These documents and
 information will include the actual targets against which
 operations were conducted, the nature of those collection
 operations, the customers for these operations, the resources
 allocated during the history of the program, and other
 aspects appropriate for review.   The committee will consider
 these aspects and further declassify where appropriate.
 To facilitate declassification and the Blue Ribbon Panel
 review, CIA will ask DIA to take certain actions.   CIA will
 request that DIA make unclassified DIA's sponsorship of Star
 Gate and that DIA continue to downgrade and declassify the
 technical reports associated with Star Gate.   It will request
 that DIA decompartment and remove all other classified Star
 Gate documentation from "Limited Distribution" and consider
 this documentation for further declassification.   CIA will
 request that all DIA documents associated with Star Gate be
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 transferred after declassification consideration to CIA for
 archival purposes and further declassification review by the
 DCI declassification committee.    Finally, CIA will ask that
 DIA program personnel assist CIA in executing the Blue Ribbon
 Panel Review (described below) by providing unclassified
 information relating to the program when requested by the
 panelists.
 C. Blue Ribbon Panel
 Congress also has directed a twenty-year retrospective
 review of this program including a technical analysis of all
 program results.   The CIA's Office of Research and
 Development (ORD) believes that the National Research Council
 (NRC)  is the single best organization to perform the mandated
 review.      This is because of its Congressional charter to
 address questions of Congressional interest, and its ready
 access to a variety of world-class experts having expertise
 in the area in question.   Therefore,  CIA will ask the NRC to
 perform the following tasks:
 ? Assemble an objective, unbiased,  "Blue Ribbon
 Panel" of world-class experts in parapsychological
 phenomena or the experiments designed to investigate
 such phenomena
 ? Review sponsor-selected contract research and
 development studies relating to the technical program in
 question (less than 50 journal-article length studies)
 for which unclassified reports are available (most are
 currently available)
 ? Interview and interact with the past principal
 investigators to the extent possible in order to develop
 a comprehensive understanding of the program's current
 approach including its successes and failures
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 ? Interview past principal expert evaluators of the
 technical data to the extent possible since external
 evaluation has been utilized in the past to facilitate
 experimental design and validate results
 ? Attend unclassified presentations in the Metro
 area by the existing government program manager and his
 staff pending the anticipated approval of these
 presentations
 ? Perform technical evaluation of all data and
 information presented,  including experimental designs,
 results obtained, proposed future research,  etc. This
 evaluation should include recommendations about those
 technical areas for which fruitful research potential
 exists,  identify areas not useful for further
 consideration,  and should consider the overall utility
 of the technical program, i.e., whether it achieves its
 stated or intended purpose.
 ? Draft final report incorporating Blue Ribbon
 Panel findings,  and participate as appropriate in
 briefing these findings to Congress
 The review and analysis of NRC's Blue Ribbon Panel will
 be unclassified, but will not be released until Congress and
 the sponsoring Agencies have been briefed on the results.
 During the review all work product shall be treated as "For
 Official Use Only" anticipating eventual release of all
 unclassified information reviewed or generated by this study.
 Since this study will be performed in response to
 Congressional direction, the anticipated period of
 performance of this study is schedule driven at three months.
 However, preliminary discussions with the NRC and the US Army
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 Research Institute  (the current manager of NRC's contract to
 consider similar issues)  indicate that a minimum of six
 months are required to effectively complete this review.
 CIA will seek to extend the Congressional deadline consistent
 with what we believe is a strong Congressional interest in a
 credible, thorough review.   CIA will provide the technical
 and administrative support necessary to carry out this
 review.
 D. Management Strategy, Transfer to CIA
 CIA will develop a comprehensive management strategy
 after program declassification and review.   The Star Gate
 program currently has 10 DIA billets and $500K in resources
 allocated to it.   Congressional language recommends an even
 balance in investment between operations,  research,  and
 foreign assessment.
 ? Communication of status of CIA program transfer activities
 to Congress (Mar 1, 1995)
 ? Preliminary declassification actions by CIA,    request to DIA
 for further action (Mar 95)
 ? Establish DCI declassification committee to review long-
 term issues (Apr 95)
 ? Form Blue Ribbon Panel to conduct retrospective review and
 technical data analysis (Apr 95)
 ? Conduct technical review,  interview intelligence community
 users, draft preliminary report and recommendations.  [Mar-Jun
 95]
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 ? Develop CIA program management strategy which addresses
 proper scope,  resources,  and management. Brief Congress on
 Blue Ribbon Panel results and recommendations. Report program
 design and status to Congress, complete actual transfer (Jul
 95).
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