diff --git a/src/gov/nist/core/ParserCore.java b/src/gov/nist/core/ParserCore.java
index 3f67e6e9c..cb71acf76 100755
--- a/src/gov/nist/core/ParserCore.java
+++ b/src/gov/nist/core/ParserCore.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 public abstract class ParserCore {
     public static final boolean debug = Debug.parserDebug;
 
-    static AtomicInteger nesting_level;
+    static AtomicInteger nesting_level =new AtomicInteger();
 
     protected LexerCore lexer;