The Life And Times Of CIA’s Notorious ‘Poisoner-in-Chief’

Scientist Sidney Gottlieb (left), supervisor of CIA experiments during Cold War that included use of LSD and other mind-altering drugs, during a Select Committee on US Intelligence to explain some of his research in 1977.

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Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer

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Pusher, assassin, and pimp. That’s how one obituary described CIA scientist and so-called "official US poisoner," Sidney Gottlieb.

In his new book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control, bestselling author Stephen Kinzer delves into these labels, revealing details on Gottlieb’s deep cover experiments, including mind control tests with LSD and electro-shock torture. The book chronicles the dual life of Gottlieb, from his humble beginnings at Caltech, raising goats at a remote cabin, to his extensive, often insidious, career in the federal government.
Kinzer joins host Larry Mantle to talk about Gottlieb's macabre career and the continuing influence of the chemist's work.

Guest:

Stephen Kinzer, journalist and Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University; author of many books, including his latest, "Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control" (Henry Holt; 2019)