WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have each described the other as unfit to be trusted with classified information.

But as is customary for the official nominees of both parties, the two candidates will get their first intelligence briefing as early as next week.

U.S. intelligence officials will soon contact the two campaigns to schedule a wide-ranging briefing for each on global flashpoints, the status of American military campaigns overseas and the latest maneuverings by foreign governments, both friend and foe.

This quadrennial rite of passage for presidential candidates usually takes place while few people pay attention. Not now. Recent statements on the campaign trail, and barbed accusations by both candidates about their opponent’s ability to handle classified information, have focused attention on the intelligence briefings and raised questions about how much — or how little — the spies will share with the candidates.

The subject came up again Wednesday after Trump’s comments at a news conference, where he said he hoped the Russians had hacked Clinton’s computer server and then encouraged them to publish whatever they had stolen. This drew outrage from current and former government officials, both Republicans and Democrats, who said a presidential candidate had for the first time invited a foreign power to carry out espionage on American soil. Some former senior intelligence officials said Trump’s comments bordered on treason.

For his part, Trump said that Clinton’s decision to set up a private email server during the time she was secretary of state means she cannot be trusted to receive classified briefings.

“Now why are they giving her briefings? Why are these people with great knowledge of the inner workings of our country and our security, why are they giving Hillary Clinton briefings?” Trump asked. “Because it’s going to get revealed.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinates the briefings that the candidates will receive, and they will be conducted by intelligence briefers who will meet each candidate somewhere on the campaign trail, either at a nearby FBI field office or other secure government facility.

The information given to the candidates hardly amounts to the crown jewels of U.S. intelligence. Current and former government officials said the briefings were broad overviews of how U.S. spy agencies see the state of the world, similar to the briefing that James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, gives to Congress each year. The briefings will contain top secret information, but the candidates are given no information about ongoing covert action programs or the identities of intelligence sources.

During an appearance on Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum, Clapper said that the three most significant topics for the candidate briefings would be the threat of cyberattacks, the Islamic State and Russia.

Earlier this year, Clapper said that career intelligence officers would conduct the briefings, and that neither he nor any other political appointee would attend the meetings.

“As a legal matter, the president can tell the nominees as much or as little as he believes is necessary or prudent,” said Susan Hennessey of the Brookings Institution, adding that President Barack Obama has indicated that he will allow intelligence officials to make the determination about what information Trump and Clinton will receive.

“With all forms of sharing classified information, there is a strong tendency to err on the side of caution,” she said.

Shortly after the November election, the president-elect will receive a more detailed set of intelligence briefings intended to prepare him or her before taking office in January.

The practice of giving intelligence briefings to presidential candidates dates back to the Truman administration, but not the politics surrounding them.

On Wednesday night at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Democrats weighed in.

“Donald Trump, who wants to be president of the United States, is asking one of our adversaries to engage in hacking or intelligence efforts against the United States of American to affect an election,” Leon E. Panetta, who served as a CIA director and secretary of defense under Obama, told the delegates.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, had a proposal for U.S. spy agencies planning to meet with Trump.

“I would suggest to the intelligence agencies: If you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous,” Reid, D-Nev., said in an interview Wednesday with The Huffington Post. “Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.”

Trump’s position is that he is already schooled in national security issues, like how to defeat the Islamic State. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,” Trump said in Iowa in November.