diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 45da6232db..98a0cdb97d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
 
 
 1.2.7
- * add cassandra.unsafetruncate property (CASSANDRA-5704)
+ * add cassandra.unsafesystem property (CASSANDRA-5704)
  * (Hadoop) quote identifiers in CqlPagingRecordReader (CASSANDRA-5763)
  * Add replace_node functionality for vnodes (CASSANDRA-5337)
  * Add timeout events to query traces (CASSANDRA-5520)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/DefsTables.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/DefsTables.java
index 6f35ed8937..22a74c6dfa 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/DefsTables.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/DefsTables.java
@@ -27,16 +27,18 @@ import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import org.apache.cassandra.config.*;
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.CFMetaData;
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.KSMetaData;
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.Schema;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.CompactionManager;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.filter.QueryFilter;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.AsciiType;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.UTF8Type;
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ConfigurationException;
-import org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService;
 import org.apache.cassandra.service.MigrationManager;
+import org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService;
 import org.apache.cassandra.utils.ByteBufferUtil;
-import org.apache.cassandra.utils.FBUtilities;
 
 /**
  * SCHEMA_{KEYSPACES, COLUMNFAMILIES, COLUMNS}_CF are used to store Keyspace/ColumnFamily attributes to make schema
@@ -458,13 +460,9 @@ public class DefsTables
 
     private static void flushSchemaCFs()
     {
-        flushSchemaCF(SystemKeyspace.SCHEMA_KEYSPACES_CF);
-        flushSchemaCF(SystemKeyspace.SCHEMA_COLUMNFAMILIES_CF);
-        flushSchemaCF(SystemKeyspace.SCHEMA_COLUMNS_CF);
-    }
-
-    private static void flushSchemaCF(String cfName)
-    {
-        FBUtilities.waitOnFuture(SystemKeyspace.schemaCFS(cfName).forceFlush());
+        SystemKeyspace.forceBlockingFlush(SystemKeyspace.SCHEMA_KEYSPACES_CF);
+        SystemKeyspace.forceBlockingFlush(SystemKeyspace.SCHEMA_COLUMNFAMILIES_CF);
+        SystemKeyspace.forceBlockingFlush(SystemKeyspace.SCHEMA_COLUMNS_CF);
     }
 }
+
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/SystemKeyspace.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/SystemKeyspace.java
index 135df26162..2c232b1733 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/SystemKeyspace.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/SystemKeyspace.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.collect.HashMultimap;
@@ -192,8 +193,7 @@ public class SystemKeyspace
     {
         String req = "UPDATE system.%s SET truncated_at = truncated_at + %s WHERE key = '%s'";
         processInternal(String.format(req, LOCAL_CF, truncationAsMapEntry(cfs, truncatedAt, position), LOCAL_KEY));
-        if (!Boolean.getBoolean("cassandra.unsafetruncate"))
-            forceBlockingFlush(LOCAL_CF);
+        forceBlockingFlush(LOCAL_CF);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -361,9 +361,10 @@ public class SystemKeyspace
         return tokens;
     }
 
-    private static void forceBlockingFlush(String cfname)
+    public static void forceBlockingFlush(String cfname)
     {
-        Keyspace.open(Keyspace.SYSTEM_KS).getColumnFamilyStore(cfname).forceBlockingFlush();
+        if (!Boolean.getBoolean("cassandra.unsafesystem"))
+            FBUtilities.waitOnFuture(Keyspace.open(Keyspace.SYSTEM_KS).getColumnFamilyStore(cfname).forceFlush());
     }
 
     /**