---
aliases:
- Lew Allen
- General Lew Allen
born: 1925-09-30
category: Psychics & Remote Viewers
died: 2010-01-04
location: Miami, Florida
summary: U.S. Air Force chief of staff and Joint Chiefs member who influenced Pentagon
  psychic research programs and strategic defense initiatives.
tags:
- Person
- RemoteViewer
- Military
- Soviet
---

Lew Allen was a powerful [U.S. Air Force](/organizations/us-air-force/) chief of staff and a member of the [Joint Chiefs of Staff](/organizations/joint-chiefs-of-staff/). He played a significant role in the [Pentagon](/organizations/pentagon/)'s strategic defense initiatives, including the MX Missile Basing System, and had direct influence over the direction of psychic research programs within the military[^1].

In the late 1970s, Allen was a strong supporter of the MX missile basing system, which aimed to protect America's land-based, nuclear-tipped ICBMs from a [Soviet](/places/soviet-union/) preemptive nuclear attack. He pushed the idea through U.S. Congress, with estimated start-up costs in the tens of billions of dollars[^1].

Allen became furious when a study contracted by [Dale Graff](/people/dale-graff/) indicated that [Remote Viewing](/concepts/remote-viewing/) could significantly increase the odds in determining the location of the real ICBMs within the MX system. He sent Graff a letter ordering him to immediately stop work on any programs that involved [extrasensory perception](/concepts/extrasensory-perception/), paraphysics, or [parapsychology](/concepts/parapsychology/)[^1].

Despite Graff winning the prestigious CIA's Exceptional Intelligence Analyst award and a yearlong sabbatical, Allen intervened and declined the award on Graff's behalf. This demonstrated Allen's significant power and his stance against the military's involvement in psychic research[^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.