The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled that the CIA had the right to refuse to confirm or deny existence of records named in a Freedom of Information Act request. The refusal is called a Glomar response.
The CIA had refused to provide information to a US. citizen seeking information on his grandfather, an Iceland citizen who allegedly was associated with the Icelandic Communist Party. -db
From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, December 22, 2011, by You-Jin Han.