---
aliases:
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
- WRAIR
category: U.S. Government
created: 2026-05-15
location: Silver Spring, Maryland
start: 1893-01-01
summary: The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is the U.S. Army's principal
  biomedical research laboratory, involved during the Cold War in classified Project
  Pandora investigations into the biological effects of the Moscow Signal microwave
  emissions on primates at its Forest Glen Section.
tags:
- Organization
- Military
- Research
- PSI
- MoscowSignal
- ColdWar
- 1950s
- 1960s
title: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
updated: 2026-05-17
---

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is a biomedical research laboratory of the [U.S. Army](/organizations/us-army/). It was involved in classified research related to the [Moscow Signal](/events/moscow-signal/) and [Project Pandora](/programs/project-pandora/) during the [Cold War](/concepts/cold-war/)[^1].

An elaborate facility was constructed inside WRAIR, specifically at its Forest Glen Section, where scientists from [Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory](/organizations/johns-hopkins-university-applied-physics-laboratory/) irradiated primates with microwave beams. This research aimed to duplicate the effects of the Moscow Signal, an electromagnetic weapon believed to be aimed at the [U.S. Embassy in Moscow](/places/us-embassy-in-moscow/) by the [Soviet Union](/places/soviet-union/)[^1].

[Richard S. Cesaro](/people/richard-s-cesaro/) of [DARPA](/organizations/darpa/), who was in charge of Project Pandora, became convinced that these microwave beams adversely affected the internal organs of primates, including the brain, and could lead to conditions like Alzheimer's Disease[^1].

Later, in the 1990s, [David Morehouse](/people/david-morehouse/) was transferred to the psychiatric ward at Womack Army Hospital at Fort Bragg, after a period at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for psychiatric evaluation. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center Sanity Board concluded that Morehouse did not have a severe mental disease or defect, but rather major depression and alcohol abuse[^1].

[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.