Hazard by Gerald A Browne Page B

Russia’s scientists were stationed. Most impressive was the fact that the experiments were supervised by men of Vasilev’s caliber. That indicated a priority interest by the state and meant, of course, that the military was also in on it. Evidently the Soviets, not deterred by any religious or other prejudices, had accepted the fact that ESP was possible and had gone full speed ahead to develop an understanding of it. In 1969 a center for the preliminary training of telepathic subjects was established at the University of Leningrad. Just a year later another for advanced training was put into operation at the State University in Moscow. Of course there was no way of knowing really how far the Soviets had progressed, but the advantages in using telepathy for security and espionage purposes were obvious.
    Mumford acted as though this was last year’s news. He told Kersh, “If, as you imply, they’ve got it, why aren’t they using it?”
    â€œPerhaps they are.”
    Finally a reaction from Mumford. A thoughtful grin. It occurred to Kersh that possibly Mumford was enjoying a mental picture of someone putting one over on the CIA , even the Russians.
    â€œHow much money are we talking about?” asked Mumford.
    Kersh presented a written estimate of costs. To his way of thinking, it was plenty.
    Mumford studied the estimate for several minutes and then told Kersh that he thought the bottom-line figure was inadequate. Too low. His tone had the ring of objective criticism more than interest. He also mentioned that nowhere on the estimate did he see a provision for Kersh’s personal salary.
    That wasn’t an oversight on Kersh’s part. It just wasn’t of first importance, so he’d left it out of this first presentation.
    Mumford insisted that Kersh quote a salary figure.
    Kersh thought first of a relatively modest amount but then remembered to triple it, hopefully catering to Mumford’s need to spend.
    Mumford ended with the vague promise that Kersh might be hearing from him or someone else in a month or two. Along with good-bye he shook Kersh’s hand as though he didn’t consider it an act of touching another person.
    Kersh returned from Washington feeling that he’d failed. Ten days later there was a call from Mumford informing Kersh that the DIA had approved his proposal. It had accepted Kersh’s original estimate and voluntarily added on thirty percent for contingencies. That extra thirty, Mumford explained, would avoid having to reapply for additional funds later on. It was good to have a little slush, he said. There were some DIA stipulations of a minor nature that Kersh would have to agree to, but the important thing, the project itself, had been given the go-ahead and would also be provided for in the DIA ’ S budget for the next year.
    Kersh got right to it. He acquired the big house in Fair-field and began installing the equipment he’d need. Within six months he was conducting experiments with various DIA agents as subjects. That was one of the DIA ’ S so-called minor stipulations. Kersh had to use DIA personnel exclusively for his experiments. Perhaps the intention was to keep the CIA from knowing about the project, but more likely it was just that the DIA self-consciously didn’t want anyone to know it was involved with ESP .
    Anyway, those initial experiments were not encouraging. At that time Kersh was just getting his own thoughts organized into workable theory. However, he believed the subjects the DIA assigned to him didn’t help matters. They lacked, for example, the necessary positive attitude.
    Kersh complained to Mumford several times, and was finally so adamant that the DIA decided to compromise. Kersh could experiment with subjects of his own choosing, but, first, each had to be cleared and enlisted into the DIA . Kersh agreed. At least it was an improvement over what he’d had to put up with.
    Shortly thereafter,