The Secret Life of Uri Geller (2 page)

To understand why Uri was the focus of such hatred, we must realize that conjurors specialize in performing feats for entertainment purposes that
look
like ‘paranormal’ or magical effects, but are actually produced by physical and mental trickery. They spend years honing and perfecting these tricks and were infuriated beyond imagining when Uri Geller cropped up in the 1960s saying the abilities he possessed were natural, that he had had them since early childhood and had no idea how he did what he did; it just ‘kind of worked’.

The appearance of Uri Geller on the scene at the height of the hippy era, when rationalists were getting increasingly irritated by the boom in mysticism, was to prompt the growth of what might be termed ‘professional scepticism’. All over the world, societies were founded and magazines published that cast an ever-cynical eye on all things mystic. What will be referred to in this story occasionally as ‘the sceptics’ tend to be dominated by an odd coalition of disgruntled stage magicians and scientists, atheists and devout ultra-rationalists, all with their own agendas. And ‘the sceptics’ have, in the minds of many educated people in different parts of the world, come to dominate the discussion that rages around Uri Geller and the paranormal. It is not the intention of this book to go too deeply into the 40-year argument between those who take Uri Geller and ‘Gellerism’ seriously and those who believe him to be a charlatan, but to let the evidence speak for itself and allow the reader to make a judgment call.

To make such a judgment, however, it is necessary to know – as one can be sure William Casey did – that the intellectual honesty of some of ‘the sceptics’ is far from a given. Most educated younger people tend to believe it is the sceptics who are the cowboys in white hats, when in reality a noisy minority are more like traditional Wild-West-movie, black-hat wearers.

To be fair, there are many honest, rigorous-minded people among the sceptics, who do not just sneer as an ill-considered kneejerk reaction. But more than a few journalists, lawyers and others – even former professional sceptics – have been surprised to discover a significant scattering of rogues amongst them. And the ranks of the organized, militant sceptics are, to this day, thick with rather over-emotional, excitable characters. Those on the fringes of this group are often, weirdly, superstitious. They are careless with accusations of fraud, engaging in multiple, documented cases in vicious personal attacks based on invented evidence. And they are notoriously reluctant even to read the research that challenges their prejudices. They are quick with fanciful conspiracy theories on how Uri and others do what they do – and, as with so many fundamentalists in various fields, fatally prone to falling out with one another.

One of the most prominent and public among the militantly anti-Uri Geller crusaders in the USA had been lobbying against Geller since the 1970s. Beyond question, his and other names will have been highlighted in Geller’s case notes, now lying in front of William Casey: among them was a somewhat maverick character who had been exposed in a Baltimore court case as unreliable.

Decades later, indeed, when one reviews the strange, intense period most of this book covers, it is hard not to wonder, not only if Uri’s loud, showy persona was a front, to make it impossible for anyone to believe he was engaged in serious espionage work, but also that the sceptics’ ranks were riddled with CIA men, planted there to spread propaganda against Geller in an effort to convince the Soviets that the Americans’ ‘psychic secret weapon’ was a fake, while in fact, significant elements among US intelligence were convinced that their mouthy Israeli superstar was absolutely the real thing. Andrija Puharich, indeed, believed the Defense Department decided that short of killing Uri, the best thing was to ridicule him, at least for public consumption, and that they effectively set up the sceptics’ campaign. It’s a theory, at least …

The language of some the CIA’s recently declassified (although heavily redacted) internal communications of the time – which again, not to labour the point, would have been available to Casey when he called Geller – strongly suggests, however, that the CIA considered Geller an extremely interesting potential asset.

One memo argues for taking Geller out of the hands of the semi-private SRI and getting him firmly under CIA control. Thus it proposes: ‘
Telling SRI (sincerely by the way) that we have no intention of easing them out and that they will have full access to the data and first option re publication, we persuade them to use their good offices with Geller in the following manner. They tell him that, in order to get the kind of money necessary for prolonged research, they showed the data and film on a highly selective basis to officials in the USG. [US government] While all expressed interest (and many incredulity) only one group had both the vision and the courage and the means to pursue the matter and they urge Geller to at least listen to the proposition they wish to make
.

‘
If he asks who they represent
,’ the document continues, ‘
SRI finesses the matter by telling him that the representatives themselves would rather explain their status. (NOTE: alternatively, with appropriate backstopping, we could pass ourselves off as NIH
[National Institutes of Health]
officials). SRI then provides the introduction to Geller and we try to convince him to accept a contract as a consultant for a two- or three-month period renewable if both parties concur. If we don’t pose as NIH officials and if he insists on knowing who we are, we tell him but only after enough low-key and sympathetic exposure to permit him at least to judge us subjectively.

‘If we pose as NIH, the rationale for our interest is simple – straight basic research. If we drop cover, the rationale is simply that in addition to our scientific interest in understanding the phenomena we are concerned about the potentialities for its use in the wrong hands and against the interests of humanity as a whole. We have a defensive responsibility in that regard and solicit his help in meeting it. In other words, we virtually level with him.

‘As matters now stand we have little to lose and, handled adeptly, we might get a reasonably cooperative response. If so, we arrange for him to be ensconced in an NIH clinic (under alias if he prefers) and ensure that the conditions (privacy, security, yet freedom of movement for G, who will live and sleep there, but be free to leave outside “office” hours are optimum from his and our point of view.

‘We then conduct the experiments designed for him and have him examined by an array of NIH specialists. In this context, while we probably have to keep the regimen as un-threatening and un-painful as possible, it would be great value if we could obtain blood/ metabolic/ other indices both when he is “high” (performing well) and when he is in a normal state. If consistent traces lead to biochemical suggestions, the whole matter of both identification and enhancement in others (drug-wise for example) might be short-circuited. All of us experience in less dramatic ways “on” and “off” states with minor cycles being measured in hours or days and major ones measured sometimes in years. When we are “on” we “click”, feel fit and on top of things and we are perceived by others as being effective, dynamic magnetic etc. It seems reasonable to assume that similar or analogous cycles are operative in the “psi” arena and that (as with us) the underlying causes are physical/chemical as well as environmental/ psychological.’

Another document sets out some of the reasons the CIA wanted to get its hands directly on the Israeli prodigy. ‘
It strikes me that what is of interest to CIA is not whether Geller’s perceptions are sensory or extrasensory but rather whether his capabilities are exploitable by CIA (not necessarily utilizing Geller personally: possibly others could be trained to do what he does)
,’ it says. ‘
And indeed someone who could reproduce blueprints locked in safes without looking at the blueprints, or someone who could distinguish from a distance decoys from real missiles, would be an undoubted asset … SRI’s experiments with Geller to date have dealt exclusively with behavioural tasks and not at all with examination of Geller himself (other than a cursory EEG examination which apparently revealed nothing abnormal) and future activities with him could deal with an examination of his perceptual abilities to learn whether e.g., his vision or hearing extends beyond normal human limits.
’

What we learn from the first of these typewritten documents (CIA-RDP96-00787B000400070025-6 for anyone keen to check it and others on the subject out personally) is nothing short of incredible. The spooks taking Uri Geller seriously in the early 1970s were not just the mavericks portrayed in the entertaining 2009 film starring George Clooney,
The Men Who Stare At Goats
, which was based very loosely on the events around (but not including) Uri Geller. They were real, memo-writing, career CIA spymasters. And so anxious were they to enlist Uri’s powers that they plotted, if necessary, to pose as members of the US government’s medical bureaucracy and appeal to his better nature, citing ‘
the potentialities for its use in the wrong hands and against the interests of humanity as a whole.
’ The impression can hardly be avoided that, after his testing at SRI, Geller’s powers were a given; to those in the know, they were not even up for discussion.

So what was the nature and substance of William Casey’s call that morning in 1981? Well, it was nothing particularly heavy. In fact, it was curiously low key and informal – and brief. We have only Uri’s story to rely on, but, as will emerge in due course, we have numerous accounts from other highly plausible sources – plus documents such as the ones above – to suggest that what Uri has said is most likely true and accurate. (He has also told the same story consistently to the author for the past 20 years. Its implications only became clearer in 2013, when the Oscar-winning BBC TV director Vikram Jayanti made his acclaimed 90-minute documentary
The Secret Life of Uri Geller
. It majored on detailed new revelations about Uri’s espionage past, unearthed in interviews with witnesses who were only able to come forward with the passing of the years and the release of previously secret documents and programmes.)

But back to that call. The ringing phone was picked up by Uri’s brother-in-law, Shipi. ‘Hello,’ Casey said. ‘Am I speaking to Mr Uri Geller?’ Casey, with Russians clearly on his mind, made the common mistake of pronouncing the Hebrew name ‘Uri’ as the quite different Russian name, ‘Yuri’. Shipi, in his lugubrious way, asked to whom he was speaking; callers to the Geller property were self-selecting to some extent as the number wasn’t listed. ‘This is William Casey, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, calling from Langley, Virginia.’

‘Uri,’ called Shipi. ‘It’s the Director of the CIA.’ He spoke in English rather than the Hebrew he would normally use with his brother-in-law. It was probable that Casey could tell that Shipi was smiling as he said this. Team Geller had been around spooks long enough to know that the Director of the CIA wouldn’t normally make his own calls. It had also been at least a couple of years since Uri had been involved in any intelligence work. What could this be about? Uri took the call anyway. ‘Hello, this is Uri Geller,’ he said, his voice disarmingly lighter than Shipi’s, making him sound a little younger. Casey again politely introduced himself, explained that he was new in post and was acquainting himself with a few ongoing matters of interest.

‘Sir, I don’t like to sound rude or sceptical,’ Uri said, ‘but could you please tell me some more about what you know about me. I am sure you are who you say you are, but you will excuse me if I say you could be anybody, You will understand that I have to be a little bit careful.’ Casey was remarkably patient for an older man who was used to people jumping at his command, especially since he had been in his elevated new role. But he gave a few details about the programme at SRI almost a decade earlier, naming the key scientists involved, Dr Hal Puthoff, a laser physicist, and Russell Targ, a specialist in plasma physics, as well as several lesser-known researchers. Uri was soon convinced. ‘OK, so how may I help you, Mr Casey?’

It turned out that the Director was merely curious to do a little ESP test personally. ‘Mr Geller,’ he said. ‘I’m sitting at my desk at CIA. Can you tell me what I’m holding in my hand right now?’ Uri thought about this for a minute or so, as he recalls, although he concedes that it may not have been that long – a minute is a very long silence in a phone call, especially one with a complete stranger who happens to be one of the most important people in the USA. Eventually, he said, ‘I can’t be sure, but my feeling is that it’s a dagger with a white, possibly ivory, handle.’ It was Casey’s turn to be silent now. ‘Well, I’ll be darned,’ he finally said, thanked Uri for his time and was not heard from – directly – again.

* * *

The reasons for William Casey’s 1981 call to Uri Geller can never be known. He died six years later and so far as we know, never confided in anyone. Maybe it was just a bit of curiosity on his part during an idle moment at work; maybe he did it because he could; maybe simply because he had the power in his new job to call up Uri Geller on a whim. Nonetheless, it seems no small thing for the head of the world’s leading intelligence agency to have taken time out to satisfy such a whim if such it was, right in the middle of an escalating Cold War. One can only speculate beyond the bald facts. There was no obvious, immediate consequence so far as anyone in a position to say so knows.

The high point of the extraordinary spy story around Uri had, after all been concentrated on that key early 1970s’ period. So let us now spool back to that time, through the eyes of several of the key people involved, especially the ones who first came to light in Vikram Jayanti’s documentary. In later chapters, we will add many layers of detail to the story, and look at the equally fascinating build-up to Uri Geller’s American adventures, as well as the many sequels.

The most important new voice to emerge publicly – the biggest piece by far in the jigsaw one has to assemble to get a true picture of Uri Geller’s hidden, below-the-line life as a spy – is that of one Kit Green. Green was the CIA contract monitor who oversaw the research into Uri and other psychics who were examined – albeit at arm’s length, via Puthoff and Targ at SRI – in the spy establishment’s quest to explore unorthodox methods of countering the perceived threat of the Soviet Union.