SAN FRANCISCO — Google is asking the Obama administration to allow the Internet company to disclose more details about the U.S. government's closely guarded demands for emails and other information that people transmit online.

The request was made Tuesday in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Google is trying to debunk media reports that the company has created a way for the National Security Agency to gain access to large amounts of its users' online communications.

The reports surfaced last week after a government contractor leaked confidential documents revealing the NSA has been tapping into computers of Google Inc. and many other Internet services to retrieve information about foreigners living outside the U.S.

Google insists it has only been cooperating in a very limited way.