CRV Manual

The Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) Manual, completed in May 1986, is a historic document originally produced for the U.S. military’s remote viewing unit at Fort Meade. The document was printed by the Defense Intelligence Agency and published on 1 May 1986.

In February 1985, Tom McNear authored an earlier version of the Controlled Remote Viewing Manual as part of the military’s effort to formalize remote viewing techniques. This initial draft, titled Coordinate Remote Viewing Stages I–VI and Beyond outlined basic methods and foundational concepts. The manual was subsequently expanded in 1986 to include more detailed protocols, refined instructional content, and enhanced theoretical background. This revision aimed to systematically address challenges encountered during training, integrating feedback from both instructors and trainees, and ensuring the methodology was robust enough for reliable application in intelligence work. The 1986 version thus represents a comprehensive update that built upon McNear’s groundwork to create a thorough and effective documentation of Ingo Swann’s CRV training.

The “Coordinate Remote Viewing” manual was drafted by Paul H. Smith, with assistance from Tom McNear, Charlene Shufelt, William G. Ray, and F. Holmes Atwater for use in the U.S. military’s Center Lane (and later Sun Streak) remote viewing psychic espionage program at Ft. George G. Meade through 1985–1990. It was eventually released to the public in 1998 (see below).

On his website, Paul H. Smith published the following “Background and Overview” text as an introduction.

From 1982 to 1984, five personnel from the military remote viewing unit at Ft. Meade, plus one individual from a sister unit participated in training contracted by the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command with SRI-International. This training was revolutionary. It’s purpose was to create, in essence, new “psychic spies” for the military. They were being taught to use the recently-developed coordinate remote viewing (now called “Controlled Remote Viewing“)—or CRV—methodology, which was jointly developed by Ingo Swann, the creator of the original remote viewing protocol, and physicist Dr. Harold “Hal” E. Puthoff at SRI-International.

One of the first trainees, Capt. Rob Cowart, was diagnosed with cancer and was medically retired from active duty, terminating his training after only a few months. The second, Capt. Tom McNear, completed all training through Stage VI as the proof-of-principle “guinea pig.” His results were not just impressive. Some could even be considered spectacular.

Beginning in January of 1984, the remaining four of us began training with Ingo, Hal, and others at SRI facilities in California and New York. This contract lasted for a full year. Capt. William “Bill” Ray, Charlene (Cavenaugh) Shufelt, Capt. Ed Dames (temporarily assigned for training from another unit), and myself (Capt. Paul H. Smith) continued through until December 1984 (though Dames took a brief leave of absence due to the birth of a son). With Ingo we completed through Stage III training, at the end of which Shufelt, Ray, and myself remained with the remote viewing program at Ft. Meade, and Dames returned to his assigned unit. Toward the end of 1984 our patron and commander, Major General Burt Stubblebine, was forced to retire, and the RV program was threatened with termination. Consequently, no further contracts were let for training.

During the course of 1985, our future was uncertain. However, the branch chief, Lieut. Col. Buzby, together with Capt. Fred “Skip” Atwater (the training and operations officer), were hopeful that the unit would find a sponsor (which indeed happened) and decided to continue training for the three of us through Stage VI, with the help of McNear’s experience and considerable documentation and theoretical understanding that Atwater and others had managed to accrue.

As our training progressed, and with a number of successful operational and training projects under our belts to show that CRV really did work, the further decision was made to try to capture the Ingo methodology in as pure a form as possible. Our superiors reasoned that we might never get any more contractor-sourced training approved, yet we needed to be able to perpetuate the methodology even after those with institutional memory eventually left the unit. I had developed the reputation of being the “word man” in the unit, plus Skip and the branch chief seemed to think I had a firm understanding and grasp of the theory and methodology, so I was asked to compile a manual capturing as much of the CRV methodology as possible, with the assistance of the others who had been trained.

We CRV students pooled our notes, and I drafted each section, then ran it by the others for their suggestions and comments. Of key help was a previous document authored by Tom McNear, Coordinate Remote Viewing Stages I–VI and Beyond (dated February 1985) which contributed substantially to the manual. Corrections and suggestions were evaluated and added if it could be established that they matched true “Ingo theory.” Skip and Tom both reviewed the manuscript and provided their input as well. When the thing was finally done, a copy was forwarded to Ingo. In a personal letter addressed to all of us involved in that project, Ingo described the manual as a “comprehensive and accurate document” (→ see scan below). The finished version was printed at the DIA press in May 1986. It was a specialty run, and was never given an official DIA document number. I don’t believe any more than thirty or so copies were printed.

Though the existence of the remote viewing program was declassified in late 1995, the manual was not made public until 1998, when it was posted on the Internet by early remote viewing enthusiast Palyne Gaenir, who had received a copy in the mail from undisclosed sources. I was reluctant for the manual to be made public (for reasons mentioned here), but seeing that wide distribution was inevitable, I eventually agreed to Palyne’s request to write an introductory essay for the Web version.

Things to keep in mind about the CRV manual: It wasn’t intended as a training manual per se, and certainly not as a stand-alone training manual. It’s primary purpose was to capture and preserve for posterity Ingo’s methodology. The very first page declares that it was “prepared to serve as a comprehensive explanation of the theory and mechanics” of CRV, and as a “guide for future training programs.” Though it can be helpful in training, we certainly didn’t develop it as a “how to.” Since we always assumed any further training to be done would either involve Ingo Swann or someone who had already been trained, the manual did not incorporate lessons learned, nor the practical implementation of CRV in an operational setting, nor even instructions as to how one taught people to do CRV, nor why CRV included certain points of theory and process in its methodological base. There are of course lots of things to be said about all these points, and we had ambitions at one time of writing a practical hands-on RV training manual. Unfortunately, events conspired against us and it never happened.

In the hands of someone who understands CRV and already knows what is going on, the manual can be valuable in teaching others to remote view. We used it in the theory and lecture part of the CRV training of everyone who became a CRVer at the Ft. Meade unit (the one exception was Lyn Buchanan, whom we taught CRV before the manual became reality). I have used it exclusively in my commercial training activities (augmented, of course, by my own subsequent education in relevant academic topics and experience in training and operations), and I think most, if not all of my students would confirm the efficacy of this approach. It represents Controlled Remote Viewing in its purest form available, and any departures from the principles it contains should be looked at long and hard before being accepted. There are already a number of alleged “product improvements” based upon the CRV manual that not only are decidedly not improvements, but if they aren’t just changing (as the saying goes) “happy-to-glad” or adding superfluous embellishments, may even detract outright from CRV’s principles and effective methodologies. In considering these “new versions” of CRV methodology, it is definitely a case of buyer beware.

In the years since the existence of the manual became fully public, two claims have been made. One is by remote viewer Joe McMoneagle. He has said that Ingo Swann was not the author of the work. As you can see from the above account, this is true. But Joe has also said that sometime after he retired from the military, we who were still there made it up and that it didn’t match what Swann had taught. This is false. As you can see from this letter that Ingo sent us not long after Skip Atwater forwarded him a copy of the printed manual, Ingo endorsed the accuracy of the document.

The other controversy comes from Lyn Buchanan, who has often objected that he contributed a set of pages he had drafted that he hoped we would include in the manual. When Atwater and Buzby declined to have the material included, Lyn felt that his efforts had been unfairly rejected. It is true that Lyn created and offered these documents; they were his own further suggestions for the future development of Controlled Remote Viewing. But since they were not original to the instructions and theory we had learned from Ingo Swann, the unit’s leadership determined that it would not be appropriate to include Lyn’s material in an Ingo-pure manual. We were thus directed to exclude them from the CRV manual, but consider them when and if we started to develop an operations-­oriented version of the manual in the future. Unfortunately, such a manual was never produced.

Coordinate Remote Viewing
DIA manual, 1 May 1986
Paul H. Smith

Ingo Swann’s Endorsement

Ingo Swann Letter; Confirming Accuracy of the Coordinate Remote Viewing Manual

The following is an exact copy of the letter Ingo Swann sent expressing his endorsement of the Coordinate Remote Viewing Manual published by the Defense Intelligence Agency on 1 May 1986, with Paul H. Smith as primary author and editor.

The manual was unclassified, but not in public circulation until the mid 1990s. There is a fair amount of misunderstanding about this manual in the general public and within the remote viewing community. That is laid to rest, as you can discover here. Smith, with significant assistance from the other military CRV students of Ingo Swann and Hal Puthoff (among them Bill Ray, Tom McNear and Charlene Shufelt), drafted the manual. Upon its completion, Capt. F. (“Fred”) Holmes Atwater, the training and operations officer for the remote viewing unit, forwarded a copy of the manual to Ingo Swann at his residence in New York City for his examination. Mr. Swann replied with the following signed letter. After he received the letter, Capt. Atwater framed the original and presented it to then-Capt. Smith, who still has it in his possession.

(One clarification: Even though Ingo Swann was under the impression—as noted in the letter’s text—that Ed Dames had contributed to this manual, Dames had, sometime before the manual was begun, returned to his home unit on Ft. Meade and was not assigned to the remote viewing program until the manual had been substantially completed.)

The first public release of the Controlled Remote Viewing Manual was made by Palyne “PJ” Gaenir on July 5, 1998, through her website firedocs.com. By publishing the manual online, Gaenir provided direct access to an influential historical document that had previously been restricted to a closed community of military personnel and select researchers.

The following text was written by Paul H. Smith in 1998, in response to this publication of the manual, and includes an important explanation of why the document is not a standalone textbook that can be used to self-study CRV without any further guidance.

Introduction to the Controlled Remote Viewing Manual

by Paul H. Smith, 1998

For a number of what I consider to be very good reasons, I strenuously resisted making the DIA CRV manual public. Since some of my former colleagues had fewer reservations about its dissemination, it now appears inevitable that the manual will become widely available, beginning with its posting here on this webpage. The best I can do now, it would seem, is to at least provide its context so people will better know how to take it.

In 1982–1984, six personnel from the military remote viewing unit at Ft. Meade participated in training contracted from SRI-International. This was the recently-­developed coordinate remote viewing training, and the primary developer and trainer was the legendary Ingo Swann. One of the first trainees, Rob Cowart, was diagnosed with cancer, and was medically retired from active duty, terminating his training after only a few months. (Sadly Rob, who had been in remission for many years, died a year or so ago from an apparent heart attack.) The second, Tom “Nance” (his pseudo­nym in Jim Schnabel’s book, Remote Viewers) completed all training through Stage VI as the proof-of-principle “guinea pig.” His results were not just im­pres­sive. Some could even be considered spectacular.

Beginning in January of 1984, the remaining four of us began training with Ingo in California and New York. This contract lasted for a full year. Ed Dames, Bill Ray, Charlene Shufelt, and myself continued through until December (though Ed dropped out just before completion due to the birth of a son). We completed through Stage III training with Ingo. Towards the end of 1984, our patron and commander, Major Gene­ral Burt Stubblebine, was forced to retire, and the RV program was threatened with termination. Consequently, no further contracts were let for training.

During the course of 1985, our future was very uncertain. However, the branch chief, together with Fred “Skip” Atwater (the training and operations officer), were hopeful that the unit would find a sponsor (which indeed happened) and decided to continue our training through Stage VI, with the help of Nance’s experience and considerable documentation and theoretical understanding that Atwater and others had managed to accrue.

At the conclusion of our training, and with a number of successful operational and training projects under out belts to show that CRV really did work, the further decision was made to try and capture in as pure a form as possible the Ingo methodology. The reasoning was that we might never get any more out-of-house training approved, yet we needed to be able to perpetuate the methodology even after the folks with the “institutional memory” eventually left the unit. I had developed the reputation of being the “word man” in the unit, plus Skip and the branch chief seemed to think I had a firm understanding and grasp of the theory and methodology, so I was asked to write a manual capturing as much of the CRV methodology as possible, with the assistance of the others who had been trained.

We pooled our notes, and I wrote each section, then ran it by the others for their suggestions and comments. Corrections and suggestions were evaluated and added if it could be established that they matched true “Ingo theory.” Skip and Tom both reviewed the manuscript and provided their input as well. When the thing was finally done, a copy was forwarded to Ingo, who deemed it a “comprehensive and accurate document.” Finally, Skip provided a three-page introductory section which it now turns out was apparently originally drafted by Joe McMoneagle.

The finished version was printed at the DIA press in May 1986. It was a specialty run, and was never given an official DIA document number. I don’t believe any more than thirty or so were printed.

Things to keep in mind about the CRV manual: It wasn’t intended as a training manual per se, and certainly not as a stand-alone training manual. It’s primary purpose was to capture and preserve for posterity Ingo’s methodology. The very first page declares that it was “prepared to serve as a comprehensive explanation of the theory and mechanics” of CRV, and as a “guide for future training programs.” We certainly didn’t develop it as a “how to.” Since we always assumed any further training to be done would either involve Ingo or someone who had already been trained, the manual did not incorporate lessons learned, nor the practical implementation of CRV in an operational setting, nor even to explain how one taught people to do CRV, nor why CRV included certain points of theory and process in its methodological base. There are of course lots of things to be said about all these points, and we had ambitions at one time of writing a practical hands-on RV training manual. Unfortunately, events conspired against us and it never happened.

In the hands of someone who understands CRV and already knows what is going on, the manual can be extremely useful in teaching others to remote view. We used it in the theory and lecture part of the CRV training of everyone who became a CRVer at the Ft. Meade unit (the one exception was Lyn Buchanan, whom we taught CRV before the manual became reality). I have used it exclusively in my commercial training activities (augmented, of course, by my own experience in training and operations), and I think most, if not all of my students would confirm the efficacy of this approach. It represents CRV in its purest form, and any departures from the principles it contains should be examined long and hard before they are accepted.

There are already a number of alleged “product improvements” based upon the CRV manual that not only are not improvements, but if they aren’t just changing “happy” to “glad” or adding superfluous embellishments, may even be outright eviscerations of CRV’s principles and effective methodologies. In considering these “new versions” of CRV methodology, it is definitely a case of caveat emptor.

I see as a positive benefit of posting the manual that some of the chicanery and foolishness may finally be unveiled that has been able to persist around derivatives of CRV because the “bottom line” hasn’t until now been available. There are of course those who will offer as their excuse that this manual represents obsolete technology. My response is that none of its derivatives have thus far demonstrated anything better—or in most cases even as good—under similar constraints.

Paul H. Smith,
Austin, TX, 3 July 1998

Note: A full reprint of both manuals (1985 and 1986) is included and commented in the book The Foundations of Controlled Remote Viewing (McNear, Smith, Rogge).