It is not immediately clear why Bolton or his home merits Secret Service protection. Although that agency is best known for protecting the president, it is also authorized to protect other individuals if an executive order calls for it, as well as in the case of “national special security events.” The agency’s uniformed division guards facilities and venues on behalf of people under Secret Service protection.

A Secret Service spokesperson declined to explain the officers’ presence, stating, “In order to maintain operational security, the Secret Service does not discuss protective operations or protectees.” The former ambassador did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for his PAC declined to speak on the record. The White House also didn’t reply to an inquiry, but a search of its website for executive orders to protect John Bolton yielded no results.

The elevated security presence has drawn the attention of Bolton’s neighbors posting on Next Door, an app that allows people living in the same neighborhood to communicate. One person who lives in the area told Forbes that she first noticed increased security in front of Bolton’s house a few weeks ago. “The level of coverage seems to have escalated,” the person said, explaining that she first noticed an unmarked black SUV, then a sedan with a U.S. government license plate, then the two Secret Service Police vehicles, all of which were manned.