The man widely named in the news media as "Stakeknife", allegedly the leading British army spy inside the IRA, has had his legal attempt to force the North's Security Minister to state that he was not a secret agent turned down.
Mr Freddie Scappaticci (59) of west Belfast had argued that Northern Ireland Office Minister Jane Kennedy's refusal to back up his denial of the media stories about him earlier this year was putting his life in danger.
After the ruling, Mr Scappaticci's solicitor, Mr Michael Flanigan, said he would consider whether an appeal might be possible. "Mr Scappaticci's life has been turned upside down. These allegations by the media are almost impossible to disprove," he said.
The Sinn Féin chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said the decision would enable "faceless and unaccountable" elements in the security services to continue to brief journalists about individuals like Mr Scappaticci.
His lawyers had invoked the European Convention on Human Rights and he was given leave for a judicial review to be heard in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court in Belfast.
However, yesterday, the Lord Chief Justice Sir Robert Carswell dismissed the application saying he had to balance the risk to Mr Scappaticci's life against the government's policy of making no comment on intelligence matters.
"Once the government confirms in the case of one person that he is not an agent, a refusal to comment in the case of another person would then give rise to an immediate suspicion that the latter was in fact an agent, so possibly placing his life in grave danger," he said in a 15-page judgment.
"Moreover, if agents became uneasy about the risk to themselves being increased through the effect of government statements, their willingness to give information and the supply of intelligence vital to the war against terrorism could be gravely reduced."
There were "powerful reasons", he said, for the government's policy of "neither confirming nor denying" agents' identities.
He concluded that Ms Kennedy's decision "did not constitute a breach of the positive obligation placed upon her as a public authority and upon the government to take appropriate steps to safeguard the applicant's life".
Mr McLaughlin said: "These allegations were made by the same people who killed Pat Finucane and ran Brian Nelson and used him and other agents to control and direct loyalist death squads against republicans, nationalists and Catholics.
He continued: "They continue to target and gather intelligence, not just on Sinn Féin, but also on their own government and at every turn of the peace process they maliciously leak and brief misinformation to create crises and to bolster anti- Agreement elements.
"This morning's judgment in the High Court will have the effect of providing further cover for the activities of these faceless and unaccountable agencies who made the allegations against Freddie Scappaticci.
"There should be full disclosure and an examination of the activities of British intelligence agencies," he said.