What remains open to interpretation: Why?

Why test-fire a missile within sight of the nation's second-largest city, terrifying some and leading thousands more to flood Twitter and Facebook with wild speculation about the glowing craft?

[Mysterious light blazes across California sky, sparking confusion, excitement and fears of alien invasion]

Did the Navy think the test would go largely unnoticed by the public? Did officials underestimate social media's ability to turn a routine event into front-page fodder?

Or was that the plan all along, using the inevitable influence of social media to flex America's military might for observers in Beijing and Moscow?

The answer: It's complicated.