MUTTONTOWN, N.Y. - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, will start receiving intelligence briefings next week, the campaign said tonight.

"For the last several weeks, the Romney campaign has been in touch with the intelligence community to arrange intelligence briefings for Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan, consistent with tradition," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. "They will begin next week and, beyond that, we will have no further comment."

The announcement comes after Romney officials said Wednesday that the candidate had not received intelligence briefings.

Romney has condemned the Obama administration's handling of the Libya crisis, but he too has been criticized for issuing a statement on the incident before the White House and before all the details were known.

Romney has maintained that it is never "too early" to condemn attacks like those in Libya that left four Americans dead this week.