Peace Shield At the Pentagon, a new SDI

"I direct my thoughts to the world of my inner being I see world leaders, friends and adversaries joining together in fellowship to resolve issues, forgiving each other "

Words overheard at a New Age spirit ceremony? No, the silent prayer is the product of the Pentagon Meditation Club, a group that meets at lunchtime every Friday to foment inner peace and goodwill on earth. So far 75 Defense Department employees have taken part, from copier technicians to a Navy captain. "Be all that you can be" was surely never meant like this.

A military man at peace with himself may make a better soldier, and a prayer for peace may soften the Pentagon's image. But the aims of the meditation group are much more ambitious. Club President Edward Winchester, 50, a Pentagon financial analyst, advocates a "spiritual defense initiative." Two decades after hippie protesters tried to levitate the Pentagon, Winchester believes soldiers should be the ones giving off good vibrations. The Meditation Club's goal, he explains, is to link enough individual "peace shields" to protect humanity by their unified force.

Earlier this year, Winchester tested his theories on the Soviets. Armed with the slogan "Love is the ultimate first-strike capability," Winchester joined a Soviet-American task force on "changing perspectives in global security" to demonstrate his technique to four visiting Soviet dignitaries. "Millions of people the world over may be unconsciously generating coherent force fields when they enter deep prayer and meditation," he told them. The Soviets, who have been calling for "soldier to soldier" contact modeled on the famous meeting at the Elbe River during World War II, were said to be extremely pleased.

Winchester's activities have not always received official support. He has been suspended twice without pay after members of the Pentagon's community of Christian Fundamentalists complained that his group was not sufficiently "Christ centered." Winchester, a devout Roman Catholic, sat down with his adversaries. He convinced them that the group would bring people closer to God and agreed to remain under the chaplain's chain of command. Since then, he has begun offering monthly stress-reduction workshops and has conducted a special meditation program for employees of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Next on the Winchester agenda is getting "meditation kits" to top admirals and generals. He is also applying meditation techniques to one of the Pentagon's knottiest problems: defense acquisitions. After all, he reasons, the Pentagon can become truly cost-conscious only when it succeeds in raising its underlying consciousness.