diff --git a/tests/check_gpg_available.py b/tests/check_gpg_available.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..325b4d39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/check_gpg_available.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+"""
+<Program Name>
+  check_gpg_available.py
+
+<Author>
+  Zack Newman <zjn@chainguard.dev>
+
+<Started>
+  September 30, 2022.
+
+<Copyright>
+  See LICENSE for licensing information.
+
+<Purpose>
+  The test suite passes even if GPG is not available, because GPG-dependent
+  tests are skipped if GPG is not present.
+
+  This file asserts the availability of GPG, so CI environments that expect GPG
+  will notice if it goes away unexpectedly rather than silently skipping the GPG
+  tests.
+
+  NOTE: the filename is purposefully check_ rather than test_ so that test
+  discovery doesn't find this unittest and the tests within are only run
+  when explicitly invoked.
+"""
+
+import unittest
+
+import securesystemslib.gpg.constants
+
+
+class TestGpgAvailable(unittest.TestCase):
+  """Test that securesystemslib finds some GPG executable in the environment."""
+
+  def test_gpg_available(self):
+    """Test that GPG is available."""
+    self.assertTrue(securesystemslib.gpg.constants.HAVE_GPG)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  unittest.main(verbosity=1, buffer=True)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index ac2e6e24..97606e91 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ deps =
     -r{toxinidir}/requirements-test.txt
 
 commands =
+    python -m tests.check_gpg_available
     coverage run tests/aggregate_tests.py
     coverage report -m --fail-under 97
 
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ commands =
 deps = 
 
 commands =
+    python -m tests.check_gpg_available
     python -m tests.check_public_interfaces
 
 [testenv:py38-no-gpg]