In 2001, the British Ministry of Defence decided to test psychics whether or not they could "remote view". Though these efforts were short-lived, they do pose some interesting questions, specifically as to the purpose behind this exercise. Some argue, it was to hunt down Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Boldly going where the CIA went more than three decades ago, it has been learned that the British Ministry of Defence conducted secret tests in late 2001 to find out whether psychic powers could be used to detect hidden objects. The tests involved blind-folding volunteers and asking them about the contents of sealed brown envelopes.
For the tests, defence experts attempted to recruit 12 "known" psychics who had advertised their abilities on the internet. However, when they refused to take part in the research (or did not reply), "novice" volunteers were drafted in, who were furthermore unaware that the tests were for the MoD. Hence, commercial researchers were contracted at a cost of £18,000. Some 28% of those tested managed a close guess at the contents of the envelopes, which included pictures of a knife, Mother Teresa and an "Asian individual". However, most subjects produced guesses that were not close to the correct answer and one subject even fell asleep while he tried to focus on the envelope's content.

Maj. Paul H. Smith, US Army (ret.) was a military remote viewer. He comments that the British Remote Viewing study followed the same "approach my son used a few years ago in his successful 5th-grade science fair project. The idea was to test whether remote viewing training worked. I gave him access to a set of my basic-course remote viewing students before they had undergone any significant training, and he tested them against picture-targets in doubleblind remote viewing sessions. A couple of weeks later I was holding an intermediate remote viewing course, and he was able to test those students in the same way, with obvious results. The catch is, of course, that you actually have to repeat your experiment with the experienced viewers or your results are inconclusive. There is no indication that MoD followed up with (certifiably) experienced viewers."

Paul Smith is the owner of the manual that the MoD used (though on page 107 of the MoD report, the researchers mistakenly attribute authorship to Palyne Gaenir). Smith argues that "this manual was never intended to be used to guide experiments. Much good research by Ingo Swann, Hal Puthoff, Russell Targ, and others in SRI-International's consciousness research program established the context from which I and my colleagues were able to produce the manual. But the manual itself was intended and written in a way meant to help train viewers in applying practical remote viewing skills, rather than for research, for which it would make a fairly confusing guide."

The MoD refused to discuss the possible applications of psychic techniques, but said that the study had concluded there was "little value" in using "remote viewing" in the defence of the nation. "The remote viewing study was conducted to assess claims made in some academic circles and to validate research carried out by other nations on psychic ability," said a spokeswoman. She added: "The study concluded that remote viewing theories had little value to the MoD and was taken no further."
Still, the actual study spoke of future phases, stating "a follow-on activity to be conducted by the present UK team is to reconfigure the session to rigidly adopt the methodology detailed in the protocol [...]."
The report also concluded that "the key issue in pursuit of scientific understanding of RV activity is getting talented subjects who will co-operate with scientific testing regimes." And this was, it seems, the biggest setback of the MoD - and the biggest asset of the CIA, when it carried out it Remote Viewing experiments at SRI in the early 1970s.

Some have now questioned the timing of the experiment, and its purpose. Its inception was early November 2001, just two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, and it is tempting to link the two. It is questionable, however, that an experiment of this kind could have been put in place in just eight weeks. The much-thwarted search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, rather than a psychic hunt for Osama bin Laden, is felt to have been more likely the prime instigator for the research. During the 1990s, weapons inspectors had found and destroyed a huge number of Iraqi missiles, warheads and chemical munitions, but it was "felt" that the Iraqis had hidden more.

That the project ultimately had specific targets is confirmed in the Scope section of the Introduction, which states: "Finally, the overall conclusion including recommendations for follow-up work including the search for XXXXXXX.?"
Whoever or whatever it is that has been blacked out is meant to be a secret. But "weapons of mass destruction" would fit neatly over the obliterated words, which are of no more than 30 characters in length. But would the psychologists have used that term?
Independent psychical researcher Mick O'Neill thinks not, suggesting "specific intelligence targets" or some other form of wording is more likely. He also points out that the code used alongside this particular deletion is S27, which indicates it relates to international relations. Had it been concerned with defence, S26 would have been used.
But Nick Pope, who worked for the MoD for 21 years, argues: "While Bin Laden and Iraqi WMD may not have featured in the original thinking behind the study, those involved are unlikely not to have thought about these as potential RV targets, as the work progressed.  In a sense, the DIS will have regarded RV as just another potential means of gathering intelligence." 

The main problem with this study, however, is political: we are constantly told that there is a "strong relationship" between the US and Great-Britain, but when it comes to Remote Viewing, it seems that this study did not even ask, let alone get access or insights into the American RV experiments. Rather than hire top experts in the field, such as Ingo Swann, they could not even secure self-proclaimed UK psychics and instead seem to have tested upon "Joe Bloggs". No wonder therefore that the results were of "little value". In fact, the project's coordinators should have been able predict that conclusion themselves - without any need for RV.

Smith is equally intrigued by this lack of co-ordination: "Some good sources on remote viewing research and experimental design were at the time essentially unavailable to them, and in fact didn't become readily accessible until 2004, when the CIA's Star Gate Archive was finally fully declassified and released to the public (it was available, though in a limited form, in 2003). (On the other hand, since their study was classified, and since the UK and the US often share classified information, it's reasonable to think that they may have obtained the files earlier, had they inquired.)"
"Further, the US military did years of research and practical trials in using remote viewing as an operational intelligence tool. People with extensive experience in this area could have been consulted in forming the experimental design for the MoD study - yet no effort appears to have been made to do that. If attempts were made to connect with, say, Joe McMoneagle, Ed May, or F. Holmes ('Skip') Atwater - or even Puthoff or Targ, there is no evidence of it. I have no recollection of having been contacted, and as far as I know no one else associated with IRVA (the International Remote Viewing Association) was approached." The MoD’s project, in short, seems to have been one of scope: trying to look beyond the realms of this dimension, it carried out this research in a rushed and ill-coordinated, if not ill-considered manner.