What exactly is Remote Viewing? Remote viewing can best be defined as the controlled use of Extrasensory Perception (ESP) through a specific method. Using a set of protocols, the remote viewer can perceive a target - a person, object or event - that is located distantly in time and space. A remote viewer, it is said, can perceive a target in the past or future that is located in the next room, across the country, around the world or, theoretically, across the universe. In remote viewing, time and space are meaningless. Remote viewing is different from ESP because it uses specific techniques, which can be learned by nearly anyone.

My personal interest in remote viewing began when I read the book "Psychic Warrior" by David Morehouse. "Psychic Warrior" is the true story of how the U.S. military intelligence community delved into the dark world of psychic espionage, recruiting a team of psychic spies to serve as remote viewers. These remote viewers used their paranormal gifts to transcend time and space and uncover the highly guarded secrets of other nations. David Morehouse now has his own web-site devoted to remote viewing, which can be found at http://www.davidmorehouse.com/.

The term "remote viewing" came about in 1971 through experimentation conducted by Ingo Swann (who correctly remote viewed in 1973 that the planet Jupiter has rings, a fact later confirmed by space probes), Janet Mitchell, Karlis Osis and Gertrude Schmeidler.

During the Cold War through the 1970s and 1980s, remote viewing was further developed by the U.S. military and the CIA through such programs codenamed Sun Streak, Grill Flame and Star Gate. According to those who participated, these government-sponsored remote viewing programs were very successful. Some of the now-declassified examples include the highly accurate and detailed descriptions of buildings and facilities hundred of miles from the remote viewer, including a crane assembly in the Soviet Union.

Although the above listed organizations claim that after 20 years of experimentation their remote viewing programs have been abandoned, some insiders believe that they are being continued secretly. Some well-known remote viewers say they were contacted by the U.S. government after the 09-11-01 terrorist attacks to help locate other possible terrorist activity.

No one is certain how remote viewing works, only that it does. One theory is that trained remote viewers are able to tap into the "Universal Mind", a kind of comprehensive storehouse of information about everything, where time and space are irrelevant. Remote viewing is usually considered a controlled shifting of awareness that is performed in the normal waking state of consciousness, and it does not typically involve an out-of-body experience, hypnosis, an altered state of consciousness, or channeling.

Highly skilled remote viewers may achieve a success rate of nearly 100 percent and may be able to access a specific target nearly all of the time. However, all of the data obtained may not be completely accurate. Several different factors are involved regarding successful remote viewing and some targets may be more complicated to reach and to describe than other targets. As with most other skills or talents, the level of remote viewing ability varies from person to person.