Editing Jessica Utts (section)

== Investigation of remote viewing ==

In 1995, the [[American Institutes for Research]] (AIR) appointed a panel consisting primarily of Utts and [[Ray Hyman]] to evaluate a project investigating [[remote viewing]] for [[espionage]] applications, the [[Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)|Stargate Project]],<ref name="CIA_Utts">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00791r000100030045-6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925001022/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00791r000100030045-6|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 25, 2016|title=CURRICULUM VITAE – JESSICA UTTS|date=24 May 1995|publisher=CIA Library|accessdate=18 January 2017}}</ref> which was funded by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and [[Defense Intelligence Agency]], and carried out initially by [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]] and subsequently by [[Science Applications International Corporation|SAIC]].<ref name="Marks 2000">[[David Marks (psychologist)|David Marks]]; Richard Kammann. (2000). ''[[The Psychology of the Psychic]]''. Prometheus Books. pp. 71–74. {{ISBN|1-57392-798-8}}</ref>

A report by Utts<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Utts |first1=Jessica |title=An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning |journal=Journal of Parapsychology |date=2018 |volume=82 |issue=Suppl |pages=118–146 |doi=10.30891/jopar.2018S.01.10 |s2cid=3664988 |url=https://www.parapsychologypress.org/jp-82-s-118-146 |access-date=19 April 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref> claimed the results were evidence of psychic functioning, however Hyman in his report argued Utts' conclusion that ESP had been proven to exist, especially precognition, was premature and the findings had not been independently replicated.<ref>[http://www.mceagle.com/remote-viewing/refs/science/air/hyman.html Evaluation of a Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616174455/http://mceagle.com/remote-viewing/refs/science/air/hyman.html |date=2017-06-16 }} by [[Ray Hyman]].</ref> According to Hyman "the overwhelming amount of data generated by the viewers is vague, general, and way off target. The few apparent hits are just what we would expect if nothing other than reasonable guessing and subjective validation are operating."<ref>{{cite web |author=Ray Hyman |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/evidence_for_psychic_functioning_claims_vs._reality |year=2008 |title=The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality |publisher=Csicop.org |accessdate=2014-07-12 |author-link=Ray Hyman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709201315/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/evidence_for_psychic_functioning_claims_vs._reality |archive-date=2010-07-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Funding for the project was stopped after these reports were issued. Jessica Utts also co-authored papers with the parapsychologist Edwin May, who took over Stargate in 1985.<ref name="Carroll2003"/> The psychologist [[David Marks (psychologist)|David Marks]] noted that because Utts had published papers with May "she was not independent of the research team. Her appointment to the review panel is puzzling; an evaluation is likely to be less than partial when an evaluator is not independent of the program under investigation."<ref name="Marks 2000"/>

The Stargate Project was terminated in 1995 with the conclusion that it was never useful in any intelligence operation. The information was vague and included a lot of irrelevant and erroneous data. There was also reason to suspect that the research managers had adjusted their project reports to fit the known background cues.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170113100257/http://www.lfr.org/lfr/csl/library/AirReport.pdf An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications] by Mumford, Rose and Goslin</ref>

Utts is on the executive board of the International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA).<ref>[http://irva.org/About.html "About IRVA"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916011107/http://www.irva.org/About.html |date=2007-09-16 }}. International Remote Viewing Association.</ref>