This again from Brian Webb at Launch Alert:

^The Defense Department may not know what Monday evening's event was because if a launch took place, it may not have been a military launch.^

^As I mentioned before, San Nicloas Island, which is very close to Los Angeles, is a known missile and rocket launch site. My understanding is that NASA scientific rockets have been launched on non-orbital flights from there in the past.^

^The NASA scientific rocket program (sounding rocket program) is run from NASA's Wallops Island, Virginia facility. The launches are conducted from Wallops Island, VA; White Sands, NM; Poker Flats, AK; and apparently San Nicolas Island, CA.^

^If NASA performed a launch from San Nicolas Island, it's entirely possible that only a handful of Navy personnel on the island knew about the event and it wasn't common knowledge throughout the Navy or Defense Department (or NASA for that matter).^

^The key is to do a thorough search for Notice To Airmen for the area in question for Monday. The military NOTAMs apparently are on one web site and the non-military NOTAMs are on other sites. If you do not search correctly, you may not find what you are looking for.^

^If you find a NOTAM, the organization conducting the operation and requesting the airspace closure is in the header.^

^At this point we have to many people speculating or opining based on incomplete information.^

It's the blithering from the authorities right now that's unnerving everyone.