diff --git a/scripts/base/init-bare.bro b/scripts/base/init-bare.bro
index 9f4e0355f0..77f90cae5f 100644
--- a/scripts/base/init-bare.bro
+++ b/scripts/base/init-bare.bro
@@ -1484,6 +1484,14 @@ export {
 	};
 } # end export
 
+module Threading;
+
+export {
+	## The heart beat interval used by the threading framework.
+	## Changing this should usually not be neccessary and will break several tests.
+	const heart_beat_interval = 1.0 &redef;
+}
+
 module GLOBAL;
 
 ## An NTP message.
diff --git a/src/const.bif b/src/const.bif
index bc960caeb6..aadb1e1ab7 100644
--- a/src/const.bif
+++ b/src/const.bif
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ const NFS3::return_data: bool;
 const NFS3::return_data_max: count;
 const NFS3::return_data_first_only: bool;
 
+const Threading::heart_beat_interval: double;
diff --git a/src/threading/Manager.cc b/src/threading/Manager.cc
index d008d2e5e8..8546ca3948 100644
--- a/src/threading/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/threading/Manager.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 
 #include "Manager.h"
+#include "NetVar.h"
 
 using namespace threading;
 
@@ -11,6 +12,9 @@ Manager::Manager()
 	next_beat = 0;
 	terminating = false;
 	idle = false;
+
+	heart_beat_interval = double(BifConst::Threading::heart_beat_interval);
+	DBG_LOG(DBG_THREADING, "Heart beat interval set to %f", heart_beat_interval);
 	}
 
 Manager::~Manager()
@@ -73,7 +77,7 @@ void Manager::GetFds(int* read, int* write, int* except)
 double Manager::NextTimestamp(double* network_time)
 	{
 	if ( ::network_time && ! next_beat )
-		next_beat = ::network_time + HEART_BEAT_INTERVAL;
+		next_beat = ::network_time + heart_beat_interval;
 
 //	fprintf(stderr, "N %.6f %.6f did_process=%d next_next=%.6f\n", ::network_time, timer_mgr->Time(), (int)did_process, next_beat);
 
diff --git a/src/threading/Manager.h b/src/threading/Manager.h
index 7d9ba766d4..29729f6a7a 100644
--- a/src/threading/Manager.h
+++ b/src/threading/Manager.h
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ protected:
 	virtual const char* Tag()	{ return "threading::Manager"; }
 
 private:
-	static const int HEART_BEAT_INTERVAL = 1;
+	int heart_beat_interval;
 
 	typedef std::list<BasicThread*> all_thread_list;
 	all_thread_list all_threads;