diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index 855c1f7b1f6..97eb02c46a1 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -236,6 +236,10 @@ TEST_CLUSTER_RESYNC_PERIOD=${TEST_CLUSTER_RESYNC_PERIOD:---min-resync-period=3m}
 # ContentType used by all components to communicate with apiserver.
 TEST_CLUSTER_API_CONTENT_TYPE=${TEST_CLUSTER_API_CONTENT_TYPE:-}
 
+# Enable debug handlers (port forwarding, exec, container logs, etc.).
+KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS=${KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS:-true}
+MASTER_KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS=${MASTER_KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS:-${KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS}}
+
 KUBELET_TEST_ARGS="${KUBELET_TEST_ARGS:-} --serialize-image-pulls=false ${TEST_CLUSTER_API_CONTENT_TYPE}"
 if [[ "${NODE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" = 'gci' ]] || [[ "${NODE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" = 'ubuntu' ]] || [[ "${NODE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" = 'custom' ]]; then
   NODE_KUBELET_TEST_ARGS="${NODE_KUBELET_TEST_ARGS:-} --kernel-memcg-notification=true"
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index 4e2e48cda2f..3da39b90ee5 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -1025,7 +1025,7 @@ EOF
 # cat the Kubelet config yaml for masters
 function print-master-kubelet-config {
   cat <<EOF
-enableDebuggingHandlers: false
+enableDebuggingHandlers: ${MASTER_KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS:-false}
 hairpinMode: none
 staticPodPath: /etc/kubernetes/manifests
 authentication:
@@ -1049,7 +1049,7 @@ EOF
 # cat the Kubelet config yaml in common between linux nodes and windows nodes
 function print-common-node-kubelet-config {
   cat <<EOF
-enableDebuggingHandlers: true
+enableDebuggingHandlers: ${KUBELET_ENABLE_DEBUGGING_HANDLERS:-true}
 EOF
   if [[ "${HAIRPIN_MODE:-}" == "promiscuous-bridge" ]] || \
      [[ "${HAIRPIN_MODE:-}" == "hairpin-veth" ]] || \