diff --git a/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials.java b/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials.java
index 668db152bd..c258db1bc3 100644
--- a/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials.java
+++ b/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials.java
@@ -163,9 +163,6 @@ final class GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials implements CallCredentials {
    */
   private static URI serviceUri(String authority, MethodDescriptor<?, ?> method)
       throws StatusException {
-    if (authority == null) {
-      throw Status.UNAUTHENTICATED.withDescription("Channel has no authority").asException();
-    }
     // Always use HTTPS, by definition.
     final String scheme = "https";
     final int defaultPort = 443;
diff --git a/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentialsTest.java b/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentialsTest.java
index 5104ceaa28..1b60567316 100644
--- a/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentialsTest.java
+++ b/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentialsTest.java
@@ -311,6 +311,26 @@ public class GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentialsTest {
     assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAUTHENTICATED, status.getCode());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void googleCredential_nullSecurityDenied() {
+    final AccessToken token = new AccessToken("allyourbase", new Date(Long.MAX_VALUE));
+    final Credentials credentials = GoogleCredentials.create(token);
+    // Null should not (for the moment) crash in horrible ways. In the future this could be changed,
+    // since it technically isn't allowed per the API.
+    Attributes integrity = attrs.toBuilder()
+        .set(CallCredentials.ATTR_SECURITY_LEVEL, null)
+        .build();
+
+    GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials callCredentials =
+        new GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials(credentials);
+    callCredentials.applyRequestMetadata(method, integrity, executor, applier);
+    runPendingRunnables();
+
+    verify(applier).fail(statusCaptor.capture());
+    Status status = statusCaptor.getValue();
+    assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAUTHENTICATED, status.getCode());
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void serviceUri() throws Exception {
     GoogleAuthLibraryCallCredentials callCredentials =