Le projet "scan by coordinate" est créé en 1970 par la CIA.
Les recherches sur la vision à distance commencent en 1972 au SRI, sous la direction de Russell Targ et Hal Puthoff (alors encore scientologue). L'effort se concentre d'abord sur quelques supposés "individus doués" comme Ingo Swann. Many of the SRI "empaths" were from the Church of Scientology. Individuals who appeared to show potential were trained and taught to use talents for "psychic warfare." The minimum accuracy needed by the clients was said to be 65%, and proponents claim that in the later stages of the training effort, this accuracy level was "often consistently exceeded."