Who approves the FCPON Level program?

• A. Secretary of Defense
• B. The President
• C. Secretary of the Navy
• D. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Answer: (D)

The key idea is who sets and approves a DoD-wide protection policy that all services follow: the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This role serves as the senior military advisor and steward of joint policy, ensuring that force protection measures like the FPCON levels are standardized and consistently applied across all branches. While the President and the Secretary of Defense oversee overall defense policy and direction, the practical approval and issuance of the DoD-wide FPCON Level program—so that every service, and every installation, uses the same thresholds and actions—comes from the Chairman. The Secretary of the Navy would handle service-specific matters, but not the approval of a joint, DoD-wide program.