The facade is only going to last another week if the payload is in orbit and stable (at which point anyone with a telescope will be able to see it).

Otherwise, there was a failure on the Northrop Grumman side of the house (they were responsible for mating the payload to the second stage adaptor at their facility due to the classified nature) or this was an ICBM reentry vehicle demonstrator.

If you listen during the launch stream, you can hear where video telemetry control is relinquished and passed off to secure ops. That telemetry should make it obvious if fault needs to be assigned.

It is not yet certain this is not a misinformation campaign (which would not be without precedent [1]).

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_(satellite)

Yeah, those foreign spies will never catch on to this ruse — not like us intrepid HN commenters.

Okay....I meant 'the public isn't aware'.

It should go without saying that the satellite didn't design and assemble itself at this point in time.