What question did this study set out to answer?

The research aims to address how health and security sectors can effectively share information while maintaining confidentiality.

April 12, 2026Open Access

Managerial imperatives for health–security information sharing: Balancing confidentiality and utility amid a deepening interface

Key Points

The research aims to address how health and security sectors can effectively share information while maintaining confidentiality.
Analyzed structural limitations in global rule-making for health and security information sharing.
Examined three managerial levers for effective information sharing: organizational interventions, tiered classification, and joint investigations.
Utilized previous assessments and case studies to support recommendations.
Identified the 'confidentiality-utility dilemma' as a core challenge in information sharing.
Proposed organizational interventions like two-tier arrangements to enhance collaboration.
Highlighted the effectiveness of joint investigations and co-analysis for preserving neutrality during information sharing.

Abstract

COVID-19 deepened the interface between health and security, making information the decisive currency of collaboration. This paper foregrounds the "confidentiality-utility dilemma": how health and security communities-each premised on strict secrecy in distinct operational contexts-can share information without undermining the other side's core values. We argue that purposeful managerial design is both necessary and feasible. First, we address the structural limitations of global rule-making and the concomitant drift toward diversification of sources and strengthened capabilities to uncover hidden information that renders security-sector actors increasingly relevant. Drawing on previous assessments and cases, we reformulate the importance of three managerial levers: (1) organizational and structural interventions including two-tier arrangements; (2) tiered classification and de-identification that embed share-by-design access controls for both health and security data; and (3) joint investigations and co-analysis, exemplified by UN-SGM (United Nations Secretary-General's Mechanism)-type mechanisms, which can act as clearinghouses by enabling full sharing within the team while preserving external neutrality.

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