Air space over oil spill area restricted

Now why would you close air space over the spill, if not simply to restrict photo ops? What safety issue is involved here? Director Blue: GulfCoastBamaFan observes that the GIS (Geographical Information System) data related to the spill is now unavailable. Why the secrecy? Why close down the tragic photos and information coming from this devastated area? Why does this situation feel more and more like some horrible Saturday afternoon sci-fi movie that just can't be true?

All aircraft operations are prohibited except those flights authorized by ATC, routine flights supporting offshore oil operations; federal, state, local and military flight operations supporting oil spill recovery and reconstitution efforts; and air medical and law enforcement operations.

When even the NY Times notices that something's going on regarding carefully staged photo ops and the restriction of citizens and journalists from seeing the truth of what's going on in this devastated area, you know there's a problem. Even Democrat politicians can't get their way on this, since it's a Homeland Security issue now: