Why does the Secret Service want to monitor phone traffic to the San Francisco Chronicle? That’s the question Chronicle editors asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday when she appeared before the paper’s editorial board.

Carla Marinucci, at the end of a story about the Napolitano interview, writes the following:

Napolitano was also asked about the Secret Service’s request to The Chronicle for permission to monitor phone traffic to the newspaper’s headquarters. 

The request was denied, said David Byers, the newspaper’s director of facilities and real estate.

Napolitano was asked if the request was part of a new protocol in her agency. “I don’t know the answer,” she said, adding that she would look into the matter and get back to the paper.