In this paper we present a new simple controller for a chaotic system, that is, the Newton-Leipnik equation with two strange attractors: the upper attractor (UA) and the lower attractor (LA). The controller design is based on the passive technique. The final structure of this controller for original stabilization has a simple nonlinear feedback form.Using a passive method, we prove the stability of a closed-loop system. Based on the controller derived from the passive principle, we investigate three different kinds of chaotic control of the system, separately: the original control forcing the chaotic motion to settle down to the origin from an arbitrary position of the phase space; the chaotic intra-attractor control for stabilizing the equilibrium points only belonging to the upper chaotic attractor or the lower chaotic one,and the inter-attractor control for compelling the chaotic oscillation from one basin to another one. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results verify the validity of the suggested method.