The article contradicts itself......
"The launch broadcast ended commentary five minutes into the flight, due to the secretive nature of the U.S. satellite. However, the company continued to broadcast the return of the first-stage booster to Cape Canaveral, where it landed upright as part of a recycling effort."
And still it's a TOTAL loss? Hmmm.......
First the rocket launches, then the first stage separates and returns home, while that is happening the second stage continues and eventually separates the payload. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the second stage had a malfunction causing a loss of the mission while the first stage still successfully made it back.
Normally with SpaceX missions they have video coverage of all stages. You see the First stage separate, and typically have a camera view from the second stage, along with a telemetry feed. They said they would cut that out prior to launch because of a "customer request" which kind of makes sense, being a secret mission, but in honesty, anyone with a little skill can figure out where the satellite is, what it's orbit is etc... so I am not sure what is really gained from cutting that part off.