Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control is a 2019 book that was written by The New York Times journalist and historian[1] Stephen Kinzer. The book contains untold stories of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chemist called Sidney Gottlieb, who tried to "find a way to control the human brain".[2] [3][4] In 1953, CIA director Allen Dulles appointed Gottlieb to "run the covert program".[4]