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

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.