State of Denial: Chapter 3...

Rumsfeld sent short notes all around the building (the Pentagon), called "snowflakes," asking questions, seeking detail and asking for reconstructions when it was unclear to him what had happened. He'd developed the snowflake system early in the Nixon administration... Though unsigned, everyone knew they represented orders or questions from the boss. But if a snowflake leaked, it provided deniability - no signature, no clear fingerprints. He was quite proud of his new management tool.
-p. 23

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.