WASHINGTON (AP) – Newly released emails show a 2009 request to issue a secure government smartphone to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was denied by the National Security Agency.

The messages made public Wednesday were obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal advocacy group that has filed numerous lawsuits seeking the release of federal documents related to Clinton’s tenure as the nation’s top diplomat.

The Democratic presidential front-runner has come under scrutiny for her decision to use an email server located in the basement of her New York home to route messages, including some containing sensitive information.

Clinton’s desire for a secure “Blackberry-like” device, like that provided to the president, is recounted in an exchange between a technology manager at State and an NSA official. The specific reasons she was rebuffed remain secret.