Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who authorized the protection, says plainclothes Secret Service agents, drawn from a pool of 3,300, backed by some of the 6,500 uniformed Secret Service officers, are providing candidates “the protection they need” during the protracted presidential campaign.
Candidates are not entitled to U.S. Secret Service protection by law until 120 days before the general election. That would be July 8 this year. But Chertoff authorized protection for Obama on May 3, 2007 — 15 months before the law required it — in response to a recommendation by the five-member congressional advisory committee that oversees protection for presidential candidates. More
Sphere: Related Content