---
aliases:
- Claiborne Pell
- Senator Claiborne Pell
born: 1918-11-22
category: Key Figures
died: 2009-01-01
location: New York City, USA
summary: Claiborne Pell (1918–2009) was a powerful Democratic Senator from Rhode Island
  and a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
tags:
- Person
- Stargate
- CIA
- Military
- RemoteViewer
---

Claiborne Pell (1918–2009) was a powerful Democratic Senator from Rhode Island and a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A former Foreign Service officer who had worked behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Hungary, Pell was a firm supporter and proponent of [extrasensory perception](/concepts/extrasensory-perception/) and the [Remote Viewing](/concepts/remote-viewing/) program[^1].

Pell actively lobbied for the program's survival, reaching out personally to [Dale Graff](/people/dale-graff/) to offer his support. His interest stemmed from a belief in the potential operational value of psychic abilities for military intelligence[^1].

In 1987, Pell asked [Uri Geller](/people/uri-geller/) to come to Washington for a classified meeting on Capitol Hill. The meeting, which took place in the Capitol building's Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, involved Geller demonstrating his abilities, including [telepathy](/concepts/telepathy/) and spoon bending, to senators and other officials[^1].

Pell also played a role in the 1987 Geneva disarmament talks. He was present at a reception where Geller was instructed to try and influence Yuli M. Vorontsov, Russia's first deputy foreign minister and lead Soviet arms negotiator, to sign the INF treaty. Seven days later, [Ronald Reagan](/people/ronald-reagan/) announced that the Soviet Union had offered to move ahead with an agreement to cut longer-range INF missiles[^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.