diff --git a/core/actions/table.ts b/core/actions/table.ts
index a21306615..52fe1c4f5 100644
--- a/core/actions/table.ts
+++ b/core/actions/table.ts
@@ -469,8 +469,8 @@ export class Table extends ActionBuilder<dataform.Table> {
     if (config.disabled) {
       this.disabled();
     }
-    if (config.protected) {
-      this.protected();
+    if (config.type === "incremental") {
+      this.protected(config.protected);
     }
     if (config.bigquery && Object.keys(config.bigquery).length > 0) {
       this.bigquery(config.bigquery);
@@ -536,8 +536,12 @@ export class Table extends ActionBuilder<dataform.Table> {
     return this;
   }
 
-  public protected() {
-    this.proto.protected = true;
+  public protected(defaultsToTrueProtected: boolean) {
+    // To prevent accidental data deletion, protected defaults to true if unspecified.
+    if (defaultsToTrueProtected === undefined || defaultsToTrueProtected === null) {
+      defaultsToTrueProtected = true;
+    }
+    this.proto.protected = defaultsToTrueProtected;
     return this;
   }
 
diff --git a/core/main_test.ts b/core/main_test.ts
index 3e1448aa3..f21d0c8c0 100644
--- a/core/main_test.ts
+++ b/core/main_test.ts
@@ -1603,8 +1603,6 @@ SELECT 1`
           },
           type: "table",
           disabled: true,
-          // TODO(ekrekr): finish fixing this in https://github.com/dataform-co/dataform/pull/1718.
-          // protected: false,
           hermeticity: "HERMETIC",
           bigquery: {
             additionalOptions: {
@@ -1697,8 +1695,6 @@ SELECT 1`
           },
           type: "view",
           disabled: true,
-          // TODO(ekrekr): finish fixing this in https://github.com/dataform-co/dataform/pull/1718.
-          // protected: false,
           hermeticity: "HERMETIC",
           bigquery: {
             additionalOptions: {
@@ -1794,8 +1790,7 @@ SELECT 1`
           },
           type: "incremental",
           disabled: true,
-          // TODO(ekrekr): finish fixing this in https://github.com/dataform-co/dataform/pull/1718.
-          // protected: false,
+          protected: false,
           hermeticity: "HERMETIC",
           bigquery: {
             additionalOptions: {
diff --git a/tests/core/core.spec.ts b/tests/core/core.spec.ts
index 20f6b5269..ac7af1f94 100644
--- a/tests/core/core.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/core/core.spec.ts
@@ -247,7 +247,8 @@ suite("@dataform/core", () => {
           disabled: false,
           fileName: path.basename(__filename),
           type: "incremental",
-          enumType: "INCREMENTAL"
+          enumType: "INCREMENTAL",
+          protected: true
         }
       ]);
     });