 The real-life SEAL seems to have joined up with the CIA much earlier. The late investigative journalist Alexander Cockburn contended that SEAL first came into contact with the CIA in the 60s as a Special Forces helicopter pilot in Vietnam and maintained links with them throughout his TWA years. Other accounts suggest his links might have gone back as far as the Bay of Pigs. Moreover, although the film suggests SEAL was just an excitement-loving pilot who got swept up in espionage at the time, eight years earlier he had been attempting to fly 1350 pounds of plastic explosives to some anti-casual Cubans based in Mexico when he was arrested by the US Custom Service. And far from resigning from TWA in 1978 to pursue this new, more exciting career in spying, he was fired in 1974 for falsely claiming medical leave when he actually was absent due to weapons trafficking. He escaped prosecution only because the CIA intervened, stating a trial would threaten national security.