Skip Atwater

Military Intelligence Career

Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater served as a captain/major in the U.S. Army and became the operational backbone of America's most controversial classified program: the remote viewing intelligence unit. Starting in 1977 with the initial code name "Gondola Wish," Atwater worked alongside Gen. Albert Stubblebine to recruit and train the first cadre of professional intelligence officers in controlled remote viewing—a purported ability to gather information by projecting consciousness across space and time.

Over ten years, Atwater served as operations and training officer as the program cycled through code names: Grill Flame, Center Lane, Sun Streak, and finally Stargate. He designed protocols, vetted remote viewers, and managed operational tasking for the U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. The program was officially declassified in 1995, making Atwater one of the few government insiders with documented authority over classified UAP-related intelligence work.

UFO Bases and Project 8200

Atwater's most significant contribution to UFO research came through his direction of Project 8200, a challenge-target training initiative using remote viewing transcripts from the late Pat Price. In the 1970s, Price claimed to have identified four underground UFO bases across the globe—locations marked by hollow mountains and advanced extraterrestrial technology. Rather than dismiss these findings, Atwater orchestrated a systematic verification effort: he tasked independent remote viewers, blind to Price's original transcripts, to explore the same coordinates.

According to Atwater's published accounts and interviews, multiple viewers corroborated Price's descriptions of underground facilities, humanoid entities, and technological installations. These sessions, once classified, later appeared in Atwater's 2024 book, Project 8200: UFO/UAP Bases and Activities: The Original Remote Viewing Transcripts. The work sits at the intersection of declassified government practice and contested claims—the operational protocols are genuine, but the interpretation of remote viewing accuracy remains disputed within both scientific and intelligence circles.

Personal Claims and Alleged Encounters

Beyond his institutional role, Atwater has shared personal experiential accounts. In a 2025 appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, he described an out-of-body encounter with extraterrestrial beings on a grassy knoll, during which he reported being lifted by an alien device. He also recounted witnessing what he interpreted as alien interaction during his time at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These anecdotal narratives fit Atwater's broader worldview: that consciousness operates non-locally across quantum space, enabling both remote viewing and contact with non-human intelligence.

Atwater has also stated that Stargate remote viewers conducted sessions targeting Mars, allegedly discovering evidence of past or present habitation—claims that remain unverified and largely unpublished in declassified form.

Post-Military Work and Influence

Upon retiring from the Army in 1988, Atwater transitioned to the Monroe Institute, a consciousness research organization, serving as Research Director and later President. He authored Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul (2001) and has become a public advocate for expanded consciousness studies and remote viewing legitimacy. His recent media appearances (2024–2025) position him as a bridge figure: a declassified government official defending the scientific basis of remote viewing while simultaneously promoting esoteric claims about UFO bases and metaphysical technology.

Atwater remains active in the remote viewing community, consulting and speaking at conferences, and continues to publish declassified or previously restricted Stargate transcripts. His credibility rests on verifiable government service and documented institutional authority, yet his UFO claims—while grounded in operational remote viewing sessions—remain contested within skeptical and mainstream scientific circles.