diff --git a/cluster/log-dump/log-dump.sh b/cluster/log-dump/log-dump.sh
index 2c8a33f1f27..69cff81550e 100755
--- a/cluster/log-dump/log-dump.sh
+++ b/cluster/log-dump/log-dump.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ set -o nounset
 set -o pipefail
 
 readonly report_dir="${1:-_artifacts}"
+readonly gcs_artifacts_dir="${2:-}"
 
 # In order to more trivially extend log-dump for custom deployments,
 # check for a function named log_dump_custom_get_instances. If it's
@@ -271,7 +272,6 @@ function dump_nodes_with_logexporter() {
   # Obtain parameters required by logexporter.
   local -r service_account_credentials="$(cat ${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS} | base64)"
   local -r cloud_provider="${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}"
-  local -r gcs_artifacts_dir="${GCS_ARTIFACTS_DIR}"
   local -r enable_hollow_node_logs="${ENABLE_HOLLOW_NODE_LOGS:-false}"
   local -r logexport_timeout_seconds="$(( 30 + NUM_NODES / 10 ))"
 
@@ -347,12 +347,8 @@ function main() {
   fi
 
   # Copy logs from nodes to GCS directly or to artifacts dir locally (through SSH).
-  if [[ "${ENABLE_LOGEXPORTER:-}" == "true" ]]; then
-    if [[ -z "${GCS_ARTIFACTS_DIR:-}" ]]; then
-      echo "Env var GCS_ARTIFACTS_DIR is empty. Failed to dump node logs to GCS."
-      exit 1
-    fi
-    echo "Dumping logs from nodes to GCS directly at '${GCS_ARTIFACTS_DIR}'"
+  if [[ -n "${gcs_artifacts_dir}" ]]; then
+    echo "Dumping logs from nodes to GCS directly at '${gcs_artifacts_dir}' using logexporter"
     dump_nodes_with_logexporter
   else
     echo "Dumping logs from nodes locally to '${report_dir}'"
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
index 33d02fdd602..19ca34aec23 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
@@ -448,6 +448,7 @@ load-balancer-ip
 lock-file
 log-flush-frequency
 log-lines-total
+logexporter-gcs-path
 long-running-request-regexp
 low-diskspace-threshold-mb
 make-iptables-util-chains
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go b/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
index 9da61182737..49bf0e2b6ff 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ type TestContextType struct {
 	DumpLogsOnFailure bool
 	// Disables dumping cluster log from master and nodes after all tests.
 	DisableLogDump bool
+	// Path to the GCS artifacts directory to dump logs from nodes. Logexporter gets enabled if this is non-empty.
+	LogexporterGCSPath string
 	// If the garbage collector is enabled in the kube-apiserver and kube-controller-manager.
 	GarbageCollectorEnabled bool
 	// FeatureGates is a set of key=value pairs that describe feature gates for alpha/experimental features.
@@ -174,6 +176,7 @@ func RegisterCommonFlags() {
 	flag.StringVar(&TestContext.OutputPrintType, "output-print-type", "json", "Format in which summaries should be printed: 'hr' for human readable, 'json' for JSON ones.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&TestContext.DumpLogsOnFailure, "dump-logs-on-failure", true, "If set to true test will dump data about the namespace in which test was running.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&TestContext.DisableLogDump, "disable-log-dump", false, "If set to true, logs from master and nodes won't be gathered after test run.")
+	flag.StringVar(&TestContext.LogexporterGCSPath, "logexporter-gcs-path", "", "Path to the GCS artifacts directory to dump logs from nodes. Logexporter gets enabled if this is non-empty.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&TestContext.DeleteNamespace, "delete-namespace", true, "If true tests will delete namespace after completion. It is only designed to make debugging easier, DO NOT turn it off by default.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&TestContext.DeleteNamespaceOnFailure, "delete-namespace-on-failure", true, "If true, framework will delete test namespace on failure. Used only during test debugging.")
 	flag.IntVar(&TestContext.AllowedNotReadyNodes, "allowed-not-ready-nodes", 0, "If non-zero, framework will allow for that many non-ready nodes when checking for all ready nodes.")
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/util.go b/test/e2e/framework/util.go
index 93d788c1a9c..c5d84b83366 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/util.go
@@ -4303,7 +4303,14 @@ func CoreDump(dir string) {
 		Logf("Skipping dumping logs from cluster")
 		return
 	}
-	cmd := exec.Command(path.Join(TestContext.RepoRoot, "cluster", "log-dump", "log-dump.sh"), dir)
+	var cmd *exec.Cmd
+	if TestContext.LogexporterGCSPath != "" {
+		Logf("Dumping logs from nodes to GCS directly at path: %s", TestContext.LogexporterGCSPath)
+		cmd = exec.Command(path.Join(TestContext.RepoRoot, "cluster", "log-dump", "log-dump.sh"), dir, TestContext.LogexporterGCSPath)
+	} else {
+		Logf("Dumping logs locally to: %s", dir)
+		cmd = exec.Command(path.Join(TestContext.RepoRoot, "cluster", "log-dump", "log-dump.sh"), dir)
+	}
 	cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
 	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
 	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil {