The White House has rejected a request by the Saudi government to declassify sections of a September 11, 2001, report dealing with Saudi Arabia, saying it could compromise intelligence sources and methods.
White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan made the announcement ahead of an afternoon meeting between President George W. Bush and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, in which the Saudi official was to formally request the portions of the report be declassified.
The Saudis are upset that the 9/11 congressional report issued last week alleges possible links between individuals in the Saudi government and some of the September 11th hijackers.
They would like the report declassified so they can respond.
"We cannot agree to that request at this time because of ongoing investigations and our national security interests," said Mr McClellan.
He said the 28 crucial pages were kept classified based on the recommendation of senior intelligence and law enforcement officials because the section contains information about ongoing investigations, counter-terrorism operations and sensitive sources and methods.
"And publishing that material at this time would compromise our national security and possibly interfere with investigations of the events of September 11th," Mr McClellan said.
Mr McClellan said the United States has received great co-operation from Saudi Arabia in the investigation of the hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington and has been fighting hard to contain al Qaeda, the network of Osama bin Laden, blamed for the attacks by the United States.
But he said there was an active, sensitive investigation under way involving individuals from many countries, and "we cannot and will not compromise our ability to bring those involved to justice."