Sean O'Driscoll was an American who served in the US Air Force during the Second World War. In 1945, he engineered the first defection from behind the Iron Curtain, through the escape of Theodore Schmidt. 

O'Driscoll served for a time as aide to Charles Lindbergh, who was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic. He also worked with John Wheeler, who was the first person to discover black holes. Later in life, he moved to Ireland and bought Castle Matrix in Co. Limerick.