Delta IV Rocket Launched from California with Top Secret Payload (Video)

If Hugo Chavez suddenly suffers from instant flash evaporation you'll know what the payload was.

I seriously doubt that's what the payload is.

As long as we're making informed guesses:

"For an imaging spacecraft to provide truly persistent surveillance capability, the satellite should be in a higher orbit, requiring large-aperture deployable mirrors, in the range of 10-20 meters in diameter."

[i.e., need to hover longer over one site -> {higher orbit, larger mirror} -> need bigger rocket]

From page 10 of:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/57862449/NPS-Space-Systems-Progr...

Another spy satellite, I guess.

Yes that would normally be the expectation, but at 23 tonnes you have to wonder.