U.S. authorities are not required to release any internal National Security Agency communications it had with Internet giant Google Inc. after a 2010 cyber attack in China , a federal appeals court ruled Friday . At issue was a Freedom of Information Act request from a private group over the suspected collaborative relationship between the public and private entities . The NSA said disclosure of any communications -- even with outside companies -- would threaten government information systems . The agency had given the Electronic Privacy Information Center a so-called `` Glomar '' response , in which the government refuses to confirm or deny the existence of any requested records . EPIC , a privacy and civil liberties group , made the FOIA submission weeks after the January 2010 cyberattack on Gmail accounts , primarily targeting Chinese human rights activists . Google quickly changed its server encryption protocols following the digital attacks , and a top company official publicly stated its engineers were `` also working with the relevant U.S . authorities . '' A federal judge eventually sided with the NSA and Google , and the three-judge federal panel has now affirmed . `` The existence of a relationship or communications between the NSA and any private company certainly constitutes an 'activity ' of the agency subject to protection '' from public disclosure , said Judge Janice Rogers Brown . `` Moreover , if private entities knew that any of their attempts to reach out to NSA could be made public through a FOIA request , they might hesitate or decline to contact the agency , thereby hindering its Information Assurance mission . '' Brown was backed by Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Douglas Ginsburg , all named to the bench by Republican presidents . The court noted past precedent giving the government leeway in deciding which information it wishes to share with the public . `` In reviewing an agency 's Glomar response , this court exercises caution when the information requested implicates national security , a uniquely executive purview , '' said Brown . `` NSA need not make a specific showing of potential harm to national security in order to justify withholding information . '' The Glomar precedent refers to a 1970s incident , where the CIA refused to discuss a ship under its control , allegedly used to secretly salvage a Soviet submarine which had sunk . EPIC now has the option of asking the Supreme Court to hear its free-speech appeal . The group says despite Friday 's legal setback , it has several other similar , pending lawsuits against the agency . Lawyers from EPIC had argued the collaboration between Google and the federal agency -- which conducts global electronic surveillance -- was widely reported in the national media . The private group said the agency thus had a responsibility to locate records that could be disclosed . '' The military 's top officer warned last year of the `` substantial '' and complex threat to the U.S. from foreign cyberattack . `` We 've got to come to a place where those threats are diminished , if not eliminated , '' then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said in January 2011 . `` I would never go in , certainly in any area of warfare , into details on threats except to say they are substantial . We are focused on them . '' Mullen , who retired last fall , said that cyberspace is a lawless terrain . `` The threat from China is significant , '' Mullen said . `` There are other threats out there that we see routinely . ... It is an enormously complex and critical area that all of us need to understand a lot better and do a lot more about . '' The case is EPIC v. NSA ( 11-5233 ) .
Federal appeals court affirms protection of communications between Google and NSA . Score: 6 Cyberattack is serious threat says former chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff .