Optical switch control circuit for optical network protection. In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes a latching optical switch that routes signals in an optical network. The apparatus also includes a switch control circuit coupled to the latching optical switch. The switch control circuit controls the latching optical switch to selectively operate in a latching mode or in a non-latching mode based on a received command and a network power state. A method is disclosed that includes receiving a command that indicates how optical signals are to be routed by a latching optical switch, and determining a resulting routing state based on a current routing state, the command, and a power state. The method also includes controlling the latching optical switch to operates in the resulting routing state such that the latching optical switch selectively operates in a latching mode or in a non-latching mode.