diff --git a/test/metric_value_benchmark/metrics_value_benchmark_test.go b/test/metric_value_benchmark/metrics_value_benchmark_test.go
index 6e97f8172..3bf82701e 100644
--- a/test/metric_value_benchmark/metrics_value_benchmark_test.go
+++ b/test/metric_value_benchmark/metrics_value_benchmark_test.go
@@ -125,7 +125,11 @@ func getEc2TestRunners(env *environment.MetaData) []*test_runner.TestRunner {
 			{TestRunner: &RenameSSMTestRunner{test_runner.BaseTestRunner{DimensionFactory: factory}}},
 			{TestRunner: &JMXTomcatJVMTestRunner{test_runner.BaseTestRunner{DimensionFactory: factory}}},
 			{TestRunner: &JMXKafkaTestRunner{test_runner.BaseTestRunner{DimensionFactory: factory}}},
-			{TestRunner: &EntityMetricsTestRunner{test_runner.BaseTestRunner{DimensionFactory: factory}}},
+		}
+
+		// Only add EntityMetricsTestRunner if in us-west-2 (we don't have access to ListEntitiesForMetric in CN/ITAR)
+		if env.Region == "us-west-2" {
+			ec2TestRunners = append(ec2TestRunners, &test_runner.TestRunner{TestRunner: &EntityMetricsTestRunner{test_runner.BaseTestRunner{DimensionFactory: factory}}})
 		}
 	}
 	return ec2TestRunners
diff --git a/util/awsservice/constant.go b/util/awsservice/constant.go
index f9a3fd015..c35caacb5 100644
--- a/util/awsservice/constant.go
+++ b/util/awsservice/constant.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package awsservice
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -59,7 +60,13 @@ var (
 func init() {
 	ctx = context.Background()
 
-	err := ConfigureAWSClients("us-west-2")
+	region := os.Getenv("AWS_REGION")
+	if region == "" {
+		// default to us-west-2
+		region = "us-west-2"
+	}
+
+	err := ConfigureAWSClients(region)
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Println("There was an error trying to configure the AWS clients: ", err)
 	}