Security threats are 'off the charts,' Secret Service says before WH press gala

On the eve of the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C., the Secret Service's top officials warned of a sharp rise in nationwide threat levels, saying they are "off the charts."

"I think the environment has become very volatile, and that's just across the board," U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said during a security briefing ahead of the rescheduled dinner, set for the evening of July 24. "It's no secret."

Curran cited unprecedented threat levels across the country, with agents opening about 10,000 protective intelligence cases since January.

The spike marks a near 40% increase from the same time last year, Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring said.

"The numbers are numbers that this agency and certainly I have never seen in my 24-year career," Curran said.

"We have our special teams in place," Curran told reporters. "Right now, we have an advance team there and they will set up a plan to set that site up for success."

Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said the agency was not looking at the event "as a redo of a dinner."

"We're looking at this as a presidential site with Cabinet members and other protectees there, just like every site we do everywhere we go," Quinn said.