By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent 
 
 The Obama administration is discussing the final details with the Mitt Romney campaign of how and when the first intelligence and national security briefings will be offered to the presidential candidate and his designated campaign officials. 
 
 Traditionally, candidates are offered such briefings by a sitting administration as soon as a nominating convention is over. 
 
 "We are finalizing preparations for the candidate briefings, but will not actually deliver a brief until after the GOP convention concludes. With regard to who will receive briefs, that's up to the Romney campaign," said Shawn Turner, spokesman for the director of national intelligence. 
 
 The intelligence community is awaiting word from the White House on when to begin the briefings. Before a briefing takes place, campaign officials are likely to need approval for a temporary security clearance, although it's not clear if Romney will have to go through the process. 
 
 Turner declined to say how many campaign officials could be included in the briefings, noting those types of details, as well as specific subjects, are left up to the White House and opposing campaign to sort out. 
 
 Presidential candidates have received these types of intelligence and national security briefings over the years in order to inform candidates and also alert them to sensitive matters that could be potentially harmful to national security if the candidate were to inadvertently or unknowingly make statements. 
 
 Administration officials tell CNN all the procedures for briefing the Romney campaign are similar to what has happened in past election cycles with both Republican and Democratic administrations. 
 
 In the previous two election cycles, the candidates were on key congressional committees that gave them access to a lot of critical classified information. In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama was on the Foreign Relations Committee, while his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, was on the Armed Services Committee. In 2004, Sen. John Kerry served on the Foreign Affairs Committee. But Romney is not in government and would not have access to sensitive information. 

 (CBS News) A gun belonging to a member of Mitt Romney's U.S. Secret Service detail was found unattended in the bathroom of the candidate's charter plane Wednesday afternoon. The Republican nominee was traveling from Tampa, Fla., site of his party's convention, to Indianapolis, Ind., for a speech. 
 
 The weapon, presumably left behind in the bathroom by accident, was discovered by a CBS News/National Journal reporter, who alerted a flight attendant about the gun. A member of the Secret Service on board the plane was informed and retrieved the gun. 
 
 Romney has traveled with Secret Service protection since early February and has an armed detail assigned to him at all times. His wife, Ann, was just assigned her own detail - albeit a smaller one - last Friday. 
 
 Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told CBS News/National Journal in a statement: "We are aware of the incident. We take the care and custody of our equipment, especially firearms, very seriously. We will deal with this matter internally and in an appropriate manner."
– There was something of a scare aboard Romney's charter jet yesterday, when a gun was found in the bathroom. The firearm turned out to be Secret Service gun presumably accidentally left there by a member of his security detail, CBS News reports. A member of the Service quickly retrieved the gun, and a spokesman says the agency is looking into the incident. "We take the care and custody of our equipment, especially firearms, very seriously." Pretty soon Romney will have more than his own security to worry about. Romney is about to start receiving national intelligence briefings, CNN reports. The Obama administration is hammering out the final details of how and when they'll begin, but tradition dictates that they begin soon after a candidate's nominating convention. "With regard to who will receive briefs, that's up to the Romney campaign," a spokesman for the national intelligence director says.