Systems, methods, devices, and network architectures are disclosed for creating and implementing secure wireless, wired, and / or optical stealth-enabled networks using specially modified packets, cells, frames, and / or other “stealth” information structures. This enables stealth packets to have a low probability of detection, a low probability of interception, and a low probability of interpretation. Stealth packets are only detected, intercepted, and correctly interpreted by stealth-enabled network equipment. In its simplest form, stealth packet switching modifies the packet structure, protocols, timing, synchronization, and other elements through various rule-violations. This creates stealth packets, which normal equipment cannot receive correctly, and hence normal equipment discards the stealth packets. Stealth packets may be further enhanced with encryption techniques which focus on encrypting the packet structure itself, as opposed to merely encrypting the data. Using encryption to modify the packet structure itself adds an entirely new level of encryption complexity, thus making the stealth communications orders of magnitude more difficult to decrypt than standard decryption techniques. Combining stealth packets with time-based reservation packet switching enables total encryption of the packet (including header and preamble encryption) capable of routing through multiple hops without decryption of headers and preamble at each hop. Time-based reservation packet switching can also guarantee real-time stealth packet delivery through a network that is totally congested from data storms, virus caused congestion, and / or denial of service attacks.