The Obama administration has taken the unprecedented step of invoking the state-secrets privilege to quash a private lawsuit. On Friday, the Justice Department intervened in a defamation case against United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group that campaigns for sanctions against the Iranian government. In its filing, the government said the case should be dropped because forcing the group to disclose its files would threaten national security. The government has previously invoked the state-secrets privilege to dismiss cases against CIA torture and National Security Agency warrantless spying. Its use in a private case raises questions about the government’s ties to United Against Nuclear Iran. According to The New York Times, the government’s intervention suggests the group may have potentially obtained classified information. Another possibility is that the United States is acting to protect the Israeli government, which is said to have close ties to the group.