diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index a0c9eb5bbf81295046fe235d3d37e77efe929476..3eca0aa52f7fbdfe90c472be5c71ecc889251c7a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and admins.
  -- Lock the /cgroup/freezer subsystem when creating files for tracking processes.
  -- Fix preempt/partition_prio to avoid preempting jobs in partitions with
     PreemptMode=OFF
+ -- launch/poe - Implicitly set --network in job step create request as needed.
 
 * Changes in Slurm 2.6.7
 ========================
diff --git a/src/plugins/switch/nrt/libpermapi/shr_64.c b/src/plugins/switch/nrt/libpermapi/shr_64.c
index c848187788ddf182eddd78d4f4cc6f4d6a51e1a6..511f6d599d4a1bc6d197e04a43af869682a90d0b 100644
--- a/src/plugins/switch/nrt/libpermapi/shr_64.c
+++ b/src/plugins/switch/nrt/libpermapi/shr_64.c
@@ -1870,6 +1870,12 @@ int pe_rm_submit_job(rmhandle_t resource_mgr, job_command_t job_cmd,
 	debug2("usage_mode\t= %d", pe_job_req->node_usage);
 	debug2("network_usage protocols\t= %s",
 	       pe_job_req->network_usage.protocols);
+	if (!opt.network)
+		xstrcat(opt.network, pe_job_req->network_usage.protocols);
+	else if (!strstr(opt.network, pe_job_req->network_usage.protocols)) {
+		xstrcat(opt.network, ",");
+		xstrcat(opt.network, pe_job_req->network_usage.protocols);
+	}
 	debug2("network_usage adapter_usage\t= %s",
 	       pe_job_req->network_usage.adapter_usage);
 	debug2("network_usage adapter_type\t= %s",