The Times uses periods for initialisms (where you say each letter individually) but not for acronyms (where you say the word the initials spell). That said, I

The Times uses periods for initialisms (where you say each letter individually) but not for acronyms (where you say the word the initials spell). That said, I think the Times style looks terrible in most typefaces, and that such extraneous punctuation should just be eliminated. Ms Jones, a CPA who worked at the FBI in the 90s, agrees with me.