Project Grill Flame

Project GRILL FLAME (1978–1982) was a classified joint program between the DIA Defense Intelligence Agency and the US Army, operated through INSCOM, to investigate the military potential of Remote Viewing and psychokinesis. It is widely regarded as a direct predecessor to — or early phase of — the broader Stargate Project, though the exact institutional continuity between the two remains a matter of historical debate.

Origin & Mandate

In October 1978, Colonel A. W. Hamel of INSCOM was directed by the Deputy Commander of Operations to assign a project officer to a new parapsychology program being established at the direction of the Army's Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. Major Murray B. Watt was selected as INSCOM Project Manager and notified on 27 October 1978. The program's dual mandate was to evaluate the threat that foreign psychoenergetics achievements might pose to US national security, and to explore remote viewing for US intelligence collection.

Lieutenant Frederick H. Atwater — known as "Skip" — was attached to the GRILL FLAME project from the Special Security Detachment of the 902d Military Intelligence Group, based on prior parapsychology research he had conducted on a separate assignment.

Program Structure & Evolution

The program evolved through three distinct phases:

• 1979: INSCOM stood up an in-house applications program to conduct operational remote-viewing assessments
• 1980: A Joint Services Integrated Program was established under single-agency DIA management to handle external contracts and research
• January 1981: Effective 14 January 1981, with approval of the Under Secretary of the Army, INSCOM became the sole active operational GRILL FLAME element within the Army; program management transferred to the Commander of INSCOM on 11 February 1981

GRILL FLAME was structured as a three-year planned program, with FY81 as its first operational fiscal year. The DIA maintained interface with the CIA regarding program progress; CIA had no parallel remote viewing program at the time, per DIA's own characterization.

Remote Viewing Research

The program's core research focused on evaluating Remote Viewing — defined as the ability of certain individuals to access and describe, by means of mental processes, information blocked from ordinary perception by distance or shielding. Targets ranged from small objects in nearby light-tight containers to remote technical facilities at intercontinental distances and computer-generated random numbers.

Curtailment

The Army portion of Project GRILL FLAME was curtailed in 1982 as a result of Congressional authorization action. The DIA maintained oversight of the broader remote viewing research effort, which continued under successor program designations.

Relationship to the Stargate Project

The connection between GRILL FLAME and Stargate Project is suggested by overlapping personnel, timelines, and institutional continuity — but this relationship is not conclusively established in the declassified record. GRILL FLAME predates Stargate and is plausibly its direct institutional predecessor, but sources confirming a formal handoff or renaming have not surfaced as of 2026.