DHS/USSS/PIA-034 HELIX

The U.S. Secret Service HELIX (not an acronym) is a Department of Homeland Security project that provides an integrated environment for using video, image, and related data in support of the Service's protective and law enforcement missions. HELIX ingests and centrally manages data collected from security cameras at protected locations, existing U.S. Secret Service image repositories (such as photo arrays and persons-of-interest files), and license plate reader systems, and then applies analytic capabilities including facial recognition, video content analytics, and federated search so authorized personnel can monitor protected areas in real time, identify potential threats, and quickly review and correlate past incidents. This Privacy Impact Assessment is required because HELIX uses information in identifiable form (including video of individuals, facial images and biometric templates, license plate numbers, and associated time and location metadata) from multiple source systems and applies advanced analytics to link and analyze that data in a single environment, increasing the privacy impact beyond the original collections and necessitating a detailed assessment of risks and mitigations. July 2026

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