Albert Stubblebine

Background

Albert Newton Stubblebine III was born February 6, 1930, in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1952 and earned a master's degree in chemical engineering from Columbia University in 1961. His early service began in armor units before he transferred into military intelligence assignments. These steps established the foundation for later responsibilities in technical collection and analysis. Official Army records trace his progression through successive command and staff positions that emphasized both operational experience and specialized training. No additional personal details beyond these documented milestones appear in available service summaries.

Stubblebine served in Vietnam from 1968 onward, first on the staff of Military Assistance Command Vietnam and later as G-2 intelligence officer for the 25th Infantry Division. He received the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star for that tour. The assignments placed him in roles that required coordination of intelligence support for ground operations. Contemporary personnel files record these decorations without further elaboration on specific actions. Later accounts of his career routinely cite the Vietnam period as the interval during which he gained direct exposure to field intelligence requirements.

From 1979 he led the U.S. Army Electronics Research and Development Command. In May 1981 he assumed command of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Meade, Maryland, serving until June 1984. During this tenure he received an initial briefing on the GRILL FLAME remote viewing project on June 30, 1981. Army organizational histories list these successive commands as part of broader efforts to integrate emerging technical capabilities into intelligence structures. The dates and unit titles derive directly from declassified personnel summaries.

Stubblebine supported expansion of the remote viewing program and briefed the Secretary of the Army in 1983. He advocated research influenced by the First Earth Battalion concept and sought personnel with enhanced abilities. Congressional funding ended the original GRILL FLAME effort in 1982, yet related work continued under CENTER LANE. Project documentation shows these briefings occurred within established military channels and that program continuity depended on successive budget decisions rather than individual initiative alone.

Controversy over civilian psychics in secure facilities and a public spoon-bending demonstration preceded his retirement in 1984. His successor terminated Army involvement in the broader Stargate Project by 1995. Stubblebine was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 1990. Official records note the retirement timing without specifying the precise administrative rationale beyond standard personnel actions. Subsequent historical reviews treat the episode as one factor among several that shaped the eventual closure of the remote viewing effort.

After retirement he worked as vice president for intelligence systems at BDM Corporation until 1990 and consulted for ERIM and Space Applications Corporation. He co-founded PSI TECH, a remote viewing company, and married psychiatrist Rima E. Laibow. The couple promoted alternative medicine and health freedom causes. Employment records from the period list these corporate and entrepreneurial activities as the primary post-service occupations. No military affiliation continued after the 1984 retirement date.

Stubblebine's public statements on unidentified aerial phenomena remained general. He noted interest in UFOs and government secrecy but provided no documented firsthand accounts of recovered craft or specific cover-up programs. His more detailed public claims centered on 9/11 events and alleged missile strikes rather than extraterrestrial technology. Interviews and writings after retirement contain these expressions of interest; they appear in venues outside official channels and carry no attached classified material or sworn testimony.

Albert Stubblebine died on February 6, 2017, his 87th birthday, in Costa Rica. His military career is documented in declassified Stargate records and official Army histories focused on intelligence reorganization and remote viewing sponsorship. Posthumously he is remembered in accounts of 1980s psychic research programs and appears in discussions of military interest in anomalous phenomena, though specific UFO disclosures attributed to him lack primary sourcing beyond general statements of belief. Critics and official records portray him as a proponent of parapsychology whose comments on unidentified aerial phenomena occurred within broader conspiracy discussions. No declassified documents or sworn testimony confirm stored claims of vehicles of non-human origin or active retrieval programs under his knowledge.

Legacy

Albert Stubblebine died on February 6, 2017, his 87th birthday, in Costa Rica. His military career is documented in declassified Stargate records and official Army histories focused on intelligence reorganization and remote viewing sponsorship.

Posthumously he is remembered in accounts of 1980s psychic research programs and appears in discussions of military interest in anomalous phenomena, though specific UFO disclosures attributed to him lack primary sourcing beyond general statements of belief.

Last updated 7 November 2026

Sources

• Albert Stubblebine - Wikipedia

  Career dates, INSCOM command 1981-1984, remote viewing sponsorship, death February 6 2017, interest in UFOs and parapsychology, 9/11 claims

• Major General Albert Stubblebine III, US Intelligence chief involved in psychokinetics – obituary - The Telegraph

  West Point graduation, Columbia degree, Vietnam service, retirement circumstances, post-retirement work at BDM, marriage to Rima Laibow, 9/11 and health claims

• Albert N. Stubblebine III: what the STARGATE documents say - Project Interloper

  GRILL FLAME briefing June 30 1981, 1983 Secretary of the Army briefing, CENTER LANE continuation, post-retirement BDM employment