The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for reducing delay while providing secure communications between nodes. An exemplary method embodiment includes a first node performing the steps of: identifying packets corresponding to a first communications session, the first communications session corresponding to a first application type; segmenting at least a first packet corresponding to the first communications session into at least a first packet portion and a second packet portion, the first packet including a first packet header and a first packet payload, the first packet portion including at least a portion of the first packet header, the second packet portion including at least a portion of the first packet payload; communicating, in encrypted form, the first packet portion from the first node to a security function node; and communicating, in unencrypted form, the second packet portion from the first node to the security function node.