The book is written based largely upon a review of the official, non-classified military record of the crash, which was mysteriously leaked to several family members in October 2011, one month after the official military investigation was closed. Brown believes that the SEAL team may have been sacrificed, either through extreme gross negligence in the mission-planning or for other reasons, and has stated in interviews that the military is covering up key facts germane to the case, including the identities of seen Afghans who slipped on the helicopter without authority, and the true status of the helicopter‘s black box, which has been the subject of conflicting reports by the military.