>https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2026-07/26_0729_privacy-usss-pia034-helix.pdf
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The U.S. Secret Service is authorized by Title 18 United States Code sections 3056 and 3056A
to protect the President, the Vice President, their immediate families, former Presidents, visiting
foreign heads of state and government, major Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates,
designated National Special Security Events, and specified facilities and grounds, including the
White House Complex and other locations. 2 These statutes also authorize the U.S. Secret
Service to perform certain law enforcement functions related to its protective mission. HELIX
directly supports these statutory responsibilities by enabling persistent surveillance, rapid
detection of suspicious or dangerous activity, and timely investigative review of incidents
affecting protectees, protected facilities, and the public in areas under U.S. Secret Service
protection. In doing so, HELIX supports both the U.S. Secret Service mission and the broader
Department of Homeland Security mission to safeguard the nation’s leaders, critical facilities,
and public safety.
HELIX operates in layers that help explain both its function and its privacy impact. At the
collection and storage layer, HELIX ingests and centrally manages data from several sources:
• Security cameras and video management infrastructure at protected locations, which
capture live video of spaces in, around, and adjoining facilities and grounds under U.S.
Secret Service protection.
• Existing U.S. Secret Service image repositories, such as photo arrays and records on
persons of protective interest, which contain photographs and still video images
associated with potential threats, subjects, or victims.
• License plate reader systems that capture images of vehicles and extract license plate
numbers and associated data using optical character recognition.