diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go
index 0f8aa3b6fff..aeabd106d32 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned/clientcmd"
 	clientcmdapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned/clientcmd/api"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/flag"
 )
 
 type createAuthInfoOptions struct {
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ type createAuthInfoOptions struct {
 	token             util.StringFlag
 	username          util.StringFlag
 	password          util.StringFlag
-	embedCertData     util.BoolFlag
+	embedCertData     flag.Tristate
 }
 
 var create_authinfo_long = fmt.Sprintf(`Sets a user entry in kubeconfig
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_cluster.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_cluster.go
index 79edfd0cf37..b3e08414e30 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_cluster.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/create_cluster.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned/clientcmd"
 	clientcmdapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned/clientcmd/api"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/flag"
 )
 
 type createClusterOptions struct {
@@ -35,9 +36,9 @@ type createClusterOptions struct {
 	name                  string
 	server                util.StringFlag
 	apiVersion            util.StringFlag
-	insecureSkipTLSVerify util.BoolFlag
+	insecureSkipTLSVerify flag.Tristate
 	certificateAuthority  util.StringFlag
-	embedCAData           util.BoolFlag
+	embedCAData           flag.Tristate
 }
 
 const (
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/view.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/view.go
index 5d253a118fa..bcdf91788f4 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/view.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/config/view.go
@@ -28,12 +28,12 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned/clientcmd/api/latest"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl"
 	cmdutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/flag"
 )
 
 type ViewOptions struct {
 	ConfigAccess ConfigAccess
-	Merge        util.BoolFlag
+	Merge        flag.Tristate
 	Flatten      bool
 	Minify       bool
 	RawByteData  bool
diff --git a/pkg/util/bool_flag.go b/pkg/util/bool_flag.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 768fc30350b..00000000000
--- a/pkg/util/bool_flag.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package util
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"strconv"
-)
-
-// BoolFlag is a boolean flag compatible with flags and pflags that keeps track of whether it had a value supplied or not.
-// Getting this flag to act like a normal bool, where true/false are not required needs a little bit of extra code, example:
-//    f := cmd.Flags().VarPF(&BoolFlagVar, "flagname", "", "help about the flag")
-//    f.NoOptDefVal = "true"
-type BoolFlag struct {
-	// If Set has been invoked this value is true
-	provided bool
-	// The exact value provided on the flag
-	value bool
-}
-
-func (f *BoolFlag) Default(value bool) {
-	f.value = value
-}
-
-func (f BoolFlag) String() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%t", f.value)
-}
-
-func (f BoolFlag) Value() bool {
-	return f.value
-}
-
-func (f *BoolFlag) Set(value string) error {
-	boolVal, err := strconv.ParseBool(value)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	f.value = boolVal
-	f.provided = true
-
-	return nil
-}
-
-func (f BoolFlag) Provided() bool {
-	return f.provided
-}
-
-func (f *BoolFlag) Type() string {
-	return "bool"
-}
diff --git a/pkg/util/flag/tristate.go b/pkg/util/flag/tristate.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a9359695f5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/util/flag/tristate.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package flag
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strconv"
+)
+
+// Tristate is a flag compatible with flags and pflags that
+// keeps track of whether it had a value supplied or not.
+type Tristate int
+
+const (
+	Unset Tristate = iota // 0
+	True
+	False
+)
+
+func (f *Tristate) Default(value bool) {
+	*f = triFromBool(value)
+}
+
+func (f Tristate) String() string {
+	b := boolFromTri(f)
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%t", b)
+}
+
+func (f Tristate) Value() bool {
+	b := boolFromTri(f)
+	return b
+}
+
+func (f *Tristate) Set(value string) error {
+	boolVal, err := strconv.ParseBool(value)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	*f = triFromBool(boolVal)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (f Tristate) Provided() bool {
+	if f != Unset {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func (f *Tristate) Type() string {
+	return "tristate"
+}
+
+func boolFromTri(t Tristate) bool {
+	if t == True {
+		return true
+	} else {
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
+func triFromBool(b bool) Tristate {
+	if b {
+		return True
+	} else {
+		return False
+	}
+}