Author: Toon Segers, Director of National Security, Roseman Labs.
Over the past few years, I have often had conversations with program managers, heads of units and policymakers who shared the same challenge: we know we need to collaborate more, but the risks around data sharing keep holding us back.
Whether dealing with fast‑moving cyber threats, fragmented healthcare data, emerging financial crime patterns, or questions of national resilience, agencies recognize that isolated analysis simply isn’t enough. At the convergence of progress and privacy lies the chance to build a stronger, more trusted foundation for cooperation.
Despite the apprehension, I am optimistic. Conversations around Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) are clearly shifting.
A few years ago conversations started with: ‘How is this possible?’.
Today, customers ask: ‘How do I implement this properly?’.
To expand the mainstream adoption of PETs, I’m sharing some recommendations and quick wins for industry leaders and policy makers, based on our track record of helping government agencies and private companies.
Turning PETs Into Policy: What Leaders Need to Do Next
1. See PETs as a critical capability
Governments and multilateral institutions should adopt PETs as part of their core toolkits for their most strategic partnerships. These technologies enable secure cooperation and reduce the structural tension between cooperation and data privacy. PETs not only address privacy concerns, but they can also address other legal constraints related to control and sovereignty.
Policymakers in the national security domain should promote encrypted computing for its utility as a foundational building block in intelligence collaboration, risk analysis, and integrated command and control.
2. Prioritize domains where data is scarce and cooperation is mature
Policy makers should prioritize implementing PETs where data availability can amplify impact, and where trusted networks exist - such as cyber intelligence, sanctions enforcement or financial crime detection. When planning a data collaboration, work with experts such as Roseman Labs to clarify legal and operational implications. Even in contexts where trust is low, PETs can help establish the initial trust basis as the technology enforces purpose binding and minimization of what is revealed.
3. Quick-win: Embed PETs into public-private partnerships
We witness that private-sector data can accelerate agencies’ intelligence position significantly. Hence, there is an opportunity for governments to incorporate PETs into existing public-private partnerships.
As PETs mitigate risks related to data exposure and reducing competitive advantage due to loss of sensitive IP, they lower the barrier for industry participation. Public agencies who want to work with private partners need to keep in mind that reciprocity is key: improved situational awareness should be beneficial to the private sector partners, making it a powerful incentive.
4. Align regulatory frameworks to the reality of PETs
Existing data protection, national security, and procurement frameworks are often built around assumptions of data access and disclosure. Policy makers should assess whether these frameworks unintentionally discourage privacy-preserving approaches, and update guidance to explicitly recognize encrypted computing as a compliant form of cooperation.
… Benefitting responsible AI
As the scalability of PETs improve and AI becomes more deeply embedded in national security and resilience planning, PETs can reduce downstream risks. Privacy-by-design approaches with inherent data minimization and purpose binding help mitigate privacy risks, mission creep, and data repurposing, while still enabling advanced analytics.
5. Support standards and interoperability for privacy-enhancing technologies
To avoid fragmentation and vendor lock-in, international organizations and standards bodies should prioritize interoperability, quality criteria and shared technical benchmarks for PETs. This allows allied governments and institutions to collaborate securely across systems and jurisdictions, even in the absence of full political alignment.
Adoption will depend not only on technology but on understanding. Governments, regulators, and international organizations should invest in technical literacy for policymakers, legal teams, and security professionals to ensure informed oversight, realistic expectations, and effective governance of PET-enabled systems.
6. Integrate PETs into broader trust-building strategies
Used appropriately, PETs help stabilize cooperation in contested environments by reducing the need for unconditional trust, while preserving accountability and control. Policymakers should ensure that the use of such technologies is accompanied by clear accountability structures(governance), auditability, and legal mandates, reinforcing legitimate collaboration while reducing reliance on trust between actors.
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