Continuity: At the party where Kevin Costner meets Sean Young and Gene Hackman for the first time, and during the other early scenes, he's wearing the medal and ribbon for the Navy Cross - but he doesn't win the medal until later in the movie when he rescues the lookout during the storm, and this is what gets Gene Hackman to remember him (when he sees the story in the newspaper). He's too young and doesn't have the right other ribbons to have won the medal in Vietnam or any other action.

Factual error: At the inauguration party, the band sounds three "Ruffles and Flourishes" and then "Hail to the Chief" for the departure of the President. The President should receive four "Ruffles and Flourishes" prior to "Hail to the Chief", and both are sounded only at his entrance, not his departure.

Factual error: Kevin Costner gets on the Washington Metro in Georgetown. There is no metro stop in Georgetown. Also when the doors of the metro close, it's not the doors of the Washington Metro. I think they are the doors of the LA Metro.

Continuity: Kevin Costner jumps a subway turnstile as the two CIA agents chase him. The back of his pants are dirty but in the next shot as he runs down the escalator they're clean again.