---
category: Psi Research Program
created: 2024-08-21
description: The Great Skill Program (GSP) identifies and develops Army recruits into
  soldier spies for HUMINT, CI, and Technical Intelligence. Participants are removed
  from standard tracking systems, allowing flexible, secretive assignments to high-security
  Special Access Programs, often operating without traditional military identifiers.
location: U.S. Army
start: 1947
summary: Great Skill Program (GS or GSP) is a secretive internal U.S. Army program
  to identify promising recruits and help to develop them into soldier spies.
tags:
- U.S. Army
- Human Intelligence
- Special Access Programs
title: Great Skill Program
updated: 2024-08-21
---

Great Skill Program (GS or GSP) is a secretive internal [U.S. Army](/organizations/us-army/) program to identify promising recruits and help to develop them into soldier spies. The focus is on Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Counterintelligence (CI), and Technical Intelligence[^2].

Great Skills is not a formal unit, but rather a specialized program for managing individuals with unique skills for sensitive and clandestine operations. Recruits are removed from the Human Resource Command (HRC) database (which tracks career assignments and locations of all Army personnel) and instead places them on the Department of the Army's Special Roster (DASR) effectively making these individuals invisible to the broader Army. This allows members to be assigned with more flexibility and secrecy.

The primary motivation is to allow these soldiers to be assigned to [Special Access Programs](/concepts/special-access-programs/) (SAPs) with high security classification and no concern of rotation or reassignment.

While not always true, members operating in these roles are almost “in the army without being in the army” and can work without uniforms, ranks, etc to protect secrecy.

The program was born out of the National Security Act of 1947 and has changed names throughout time (for example, in 1977 it was referred to as The Military Intelligence Enlisted Case Officer Program[^4] and is now renamed Army Strategic Intelligence Recruiting[^3]). There are ways for members of other services to operate within this program, but it’s primarily intended for Army enlisted members.

[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent.* 2024, p. 32 - note: Elizondo incorrectly names this program "Great Skills" and "Grey Fox" in the text.
[^2]: [Army Enlistment overview](https://armyreenlistment.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Special-Assignments-February-2019.pdf)
[^3]: [Army Talent Management](https://talent.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TBCA-Program-Guide_Phase-8.pdf)
[^4]: [Army military publication](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Military_Publications/LiQzp6onTXkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=great%20skill%20)