diff --git a/orte/mca/oob/usock/oob_usock_connection.c b/orte/mca/oob/usock/oob_usock_connection.c
index 61ad80cfe3e..0ac2b34c09b 100644
--- a/orte/mca/oob/usock/oob_usock_connection.c
+++ b/orte/mca/oob/usock/oob_usock_connection.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2013-2015 Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2014-2016 Research Organization for Information Science
  *                         and Technology (RIST). All rights reserved.
+ *  Copyright (c) 2016      IBM Corporation.  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -759,6 +760,10 @@ void mca_oob_usock_peer_close(mca_oob_usock_peer_t *peer)
 {
     mca_oob_usock_send_t *snd;
 
+    if( NULL == peer ) {
+        return;
+    }
+
     opal_output_verbose(OOB_USOCK_DEBUG_CONNECT, orte_oob_base_framework.framework_output,
                         "%s usock_peer_close for %s sd %d state %s",
                         ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),