Why does herman cain need secret service

All Sections. About Us. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. A congressional panel signs off on all requests for Secret Service protection. Twitter Facebook. Please enter email address to continue. Please enter valid email address to continue. Popular Latest. The Atlantic Crossword. Sign In Subscribe. The caller did not explicitly threaten violence.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the police reports using Georgia 's open records law. Local police alerted the FBI and the U. Secret Service to the incident. Secret Service protection is given to each major party's presidential nominee but can be provided earlier if the Homeland Security Department approves a campaign's request. When then- Sen. Barack Obama was placed under Secret Service protection in May , it was the earliest ever for a presidential candidate.

One of his rivals, Hillary Rodham Clinton , already had a protective detail because she was a former first lady. In the campaign, Democratic candidates John Kerry and John Edwards received their protection in February of that year as they competed for the party's nomination. Federal law allows candidates to seek protection if they meet a series of standards, including public prominence as measured by polls and fundraising.

Napolitano consulted Thursday with a congressional advisory committee made up of the House speaker, the House and Senate majority and minority leaders and the House sergeant-at-arms, the chief law enforcement officer in the House. Associated Press writer Ray Henry in Atlanta contributed to this report.