diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flux-core/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flux-core/package.py
index 70498e94d0..138ac07565 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flux-core/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flux-core/package.py
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ class FluxCore(AutotoolsPackage):
 
     variant("docs", default=False, description="Build flux manpages and docs")
     variant("cuda", default=False, description="Build dependencies with support for CUDA")
+    variant("security", default=False, description="Build with flux-security")
 
     # Restrict flux to Linux based platforms where builds are possible.
     conflicts("platform=darwin", msg="flux-core does not support MacOS based platforms.")
@@ -150,6 +151,12 @@ class FluxCore(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("asciidoc", type="build", when="+docs")
     depends_on("py-docutils", type="build", when="@0.32.0: +docs")
 
+    # Flux security variant
+    # Note that if you install with this variant, it is
+    # recommended to create a view and then a broker.toml that
+    # has the path to flux-imp generated by flux-security
+    depends_on("flux-security", type="build", when="+security")
+
     # Need autotools when building on master:
     depends_on("autoconf", type="build", when="@master")
     depends_on("automake", type="build", when="@master")
@@ -243,6 +250,8 @@ def configure_args(self):
         args = ["--enable-pylint=no"]
         if "+docs" not in self.spec:
             args.append("--disable-docs")
+        if "+security" in self.spec:
+            args.append("--with-flux-security")
         return args
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):