Government Research Program Termination Record

PROBLEM: Programs end messily. In 1994 Congress directed that the Stargate program pass from DIA to the CIA; in June 1995 the CIA commissioned the AIR evaluation; on September 29, 1995 AIR concluded continued use was "not warranted"; the CIA then cancelled and declassified the program. The termination decision, the evaluation that drove it, the transfer of files back to the CIA, and the fate of the researchers were recorded across separate documents in separate archives — and the public record still confuses the 1995 termination with the 2017 online release. There is no standing record that closes a government research program cleanly: decision, evidence, file transfer, and personnel disposition in one place.

SOLUTION: A government research program termination record: every closed program logged with its termination decision, the evaluation behind it, the custody transfer of its files, and the disposition of its staff and contracts — so a program's ending is as documented as its beginning.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — 1994 congressional direction (DIA to CIA transfer); AIR commissioned June 1995; AIR report Sept 29, 1995 ("continued use ... is not warranted"); program cancelled and declassified 1995; files returned to CIA; CREST online release Jan 2017. Sources: AIR report (1995); Wikipedia "Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)"; CIA FOIA Reading Room.