During the early period of the Cold War, the CIA imagined communists discovered "some kind of a drug or a potion or a technique that would allow them to control human minds". At that time, many movies and books referred to control minds so the CIA decided to obtain the technique of controlling the mind. The CIA started and ran the MKUltra project for 10 years.[1][7] According to The Guardian, Gottlieb was known as "the CIA's chief poison-maker".[8]