diff --git a/salt/elasticfleet/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elastic-fleet-outputs-update b/salt/elasticfleet/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elastic-fleet-outputs-update
index 5e2990af5..43eef6ee9 100644
--- a/salt/elasticfleet/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elastic-fleet-outputs-update
+++ b/salt/elasticfleet/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elastic-fleet-outputs-update
@@ -25,12 +25,20 @@ function update_kafka_outputs() {
   # Make sure SSL configuration is included in policy updates for Kafka output. SSL is configured in so-elastic-fleet-setup
   if kafka_policy=$(curl -K /opt/so/conf/elasticsearch/curl.config -L "http://localhost:5601/api/fleet/outputs/so-manager_kafka" --fail 2>/dev/null); then
     SSL_CONFIG=$(echo "$kafka_policy" | jq -r '.item.ssl')
-    SECRETS=$(echo "$kafka_policy" | jq -r '.item.secrets')
-    JSON_STRING=$(jq -n \
-      --arg UPDATEDLIST "$NEW_LIST_JSON" \
-      --argjson SSL_CONFIG "$SSL_CONFIG" \
-      --argjson SECRETS "$SECRETS" \
-      '{"name": "grid-kafka","type": "kafka","hosts": $UPDATEDLIST,"is_default": true,"is_default_monitoring": true,"config_yaml": "","ssl": $SSL_CONFIG,"secrets": $SECRETS}')
+    if SECRETS=$(echo "$kafka_policy" | jq -er '.item.secrets' 2>/dev/null); then
+      # Update policy when fleet has secrets enabled
+      JSON_STRING=$(jq -n \
+        --arg UPDATEDLIST "$NEW_LIST_JSON" \
+        --argjson SSL_CONFIG "$SSL_CONFIG" \
+        --argjson SECRETS "$SECRETS" \
+        '{"name": "grid-kafka","type": "kafka","hosts": $UPDATEDLIST,"is_default": true,"is_default_monitoring": true,"config_yaml": "","ssl": $SSL_CONFIG,"secrets": $SECRETS}')
+    else
+      # Update policy when fleet has secrets disabled or policy hasn't been force updated
+      JSON_STRING=$(jq -n \
+        --arg UPDATEDLIST "$NEW_LIST_JSON" \
+        --argjson SSL_CONFIG "$SSL_CONFIG" \
+        '{"name": "grid-kafka","type": "kafka","hosts": $UPDATEDLIST,"is_default": true,"is_default_monitoring": true,"config_yaml": "","ssl": $SSL_CONFIG}')
+    fi
     # Update Kafka outputs
     curl -K /opt/so/conf/elasticsearch/curl.config -L -X PUT "localhost:5601/api/fleet/outputs/so-manager_kafka" -H 'kbn-xsrf: true' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d "$JSON_STRING" | jq
   else