Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is a retired United States Marine Corps (United States Marine Corps) officer. Currently, he is a political commentator, host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel, a military historian, and a New York Times best-selling (The New York Times Best Seller list) author.

North was at the center of national attention during the Iran-Contra affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s. North was a National Security Council (United States National Security Council) member involved in the clandestine (clandestine operation) sale of weapons to Iran, which served to encourage the release of U.S. hostages from Lebanon. North formulated the second part of the plan: diverting proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel group (Contra (guerrillas)) in Nicaragua. North was charged with several felonies and convicted of three, but the convictions were later vacated (vacated judgement), and the underlying charges dismissed due to the limited immunity agreement granted for his pre-trial public Congressional testimony about the affair.