Oliver North's Blank Check

The messages were often written in a kind of furious shorthand, using abbreviations, initials and acronyms at every opportunity, as though the writer were too rushed to tap out the entire word or name. AMCITS stood for "American citizens," NLT for "no later than." Vowels disappeared from staccato sentences: "We will not be trying to adjust yr sched for next June for this mtg." Oliver North's memos, often typed on his computer late at night and sent directly to his National Security Council superiors, read like the dispatches of a man with no time to waste, a man obsessed, a man...