diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/resourcemanagement/ThreadAllocation.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/resourcemanagement/ThreadAllocation.java
index f958c9db8..c86f06c25 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/resourcemanagement/ThreadAllocation.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/resourcemanagement/ThreadAllocation.java
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public class ThreadAllocation {
      * @return the sum of all thread allocations in this object
      */
     public int getTotalNumThreads() {
-        return getNumDataThreads() + getNumCPUThreadsPerDataThread() + getNumIOThreads();
+        return getNumDataThreads() * getNumCPUThreadsPerDataThread() + getNumIOThreads();
     }
 
     /**