diff --git a/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
index 726431f3e510716ab6d78c2abc29b099805c782b..7e536163cc056b2757190eda3a64b309fe741514 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ void signal_step_tasks(struct step_record *step_ptr, uint16_t signal)
 	}
 
 	agent_args->msg_args = kill_tasks_msg;
-	debug("Spawning signal agent");
+	debug2("Spawning signal agent");
 	if (pthread_attr_init(&attr_agent))
 		fatal("pthread_attr_init error %m");
 	if (pthread_attr_setdetachstate