Moscow–Washington hotline
The Moscow–Washington hotline (formally known in the United States as the Washington–Moscow Direct Communications Link;
Origins
Background
Several people came up with the idea for a hotline, including
The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis made the hotline a priority. During the standoff, official diplomatic messages typically took six hours to deliver; unofficial channels, such as via television network correspondents, had to be used too as they were quicker.[1] The experience of the crisis convinced both sides of the need for better communications.[5]
During the crisis, the United States took nearly twelve hours to receive and decode Nikita Khrushchev's 3,000-word-initial settlement message – a dangerously long time. By the time Washington had drafted a reply, a tougher message from Moscow had been received, demanding that U.S. missiles be removed from Turkey.[citation needed] White House advisers thought faster communications could have averted the crisis, and resolved it quickly. The two countries signed the Hot Line Agreement on June 20, 1963[6] – the first time they formally took action to cut the risk of starting a nuclear war unintentionally.[7] It was used for the first time by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on August 30, 1963.[8]
Agreement
The "hotline", as it would come to be known, was established after the signing of a "Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Line" on June 20, 1963, in Geneva, Switzerland, by representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States.[3]
Political criticism
The
Technology and procedure
The Moscow–Washington hotline was intended for text only; speech might be misinterpreted. Leaders wrote in their native language and messages were translated at the receiving end.[10]
Teletype
The first generation of the hotline used two full-time
In July 1963 the United States sent four sets of teleprinters with the
Encryption
A Japanese-built device called Electronic Teleprinter Cryptographic Regenerative Repeater Mixer II (ETCRRM II) encrypted the teletype messages using a shared one-time pad.[13] Each country delivered keying tapes used to encode its messages via its embassy abroad. An advantage of the one-time pad was that neither country had to reveal more sensitive encryption methods to the other.[14][15]
Satellite
In September 1971, Moscow and Washington decided to upgrade the system. The countries also agreed for the first time when the line should be used. Specifically, they agreed to notify each other immediately in the event of an accidental, unauthorized or unexplained incident involving a nuclear weapon that could increase the risk of nuclear war.[16][17][18] Two new satellite communication lines supplemented the terrestrial circuits using two U.S. Intelsat satellites, and two Soviet Molniya II satellites. This arrangement lasted from 1971 to 1978; it made the radio link via Tangier redundant.[citation needed]
Facsimile
In May 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed to upgrade the hotline by the addition of high-speed facsimile capability. The Soviet Union and the United States agreed formally to do this on July 17, 1984.
According to the agreement, upgrades were to take place through use of
In 1988, the US side of the hotline system was located at the
Upon receipt of the message at the NMCC, the message was translated into English, and both the original Russian and the translated English texts are transmitted to the
In 2007, the Moscow–Washington hotline was upgraded; a dedicated computer network links Moscow and Washington. The new system started operations on January 1, 2008.[4] It continues to use the two satellite links but a fiber optic cable replaced the old back-up cable. Commercial software is used for both chat and email: chat to coordinate operations, and email for actual messages. Transmission is nearly instantaneous.
Usage
The first message transmitted over the hotline was on August 30, 1963. Washington sent Moscow the text: "THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG'S BACK 1234567890". The message was sent in all capital letters, since the equipment did not support lowercase.[21]
The primary link was accidentally cut several times, for example near Copenhagen by a Danish bulldozer operator, and by a Finnish farmer who ploughed it up once. Regular testing of both the primary and backup links took place daily.[22] During the even hours, the US sent test messages to the Soviet Union. In the odd hours, the Soviet Union sent test messages to the US.[citation needed]
The line was used during:[21]
- 1963: Assassination of President Kennedy
- 1967: Six Day War
- 1971: War between India and Pakistan
- 1973: Yom Kippur War
- 1974: Turkish Invasion of Cyprus
- 1979: Soviet–Afghan War
- 1981: Threat of Soviet Invasion of Poland
- 1982: Israeli Invasion of Lebanon
- 1991: Gulf War
- 2001: The 9/11attacks
- 2003: Aftermath of Iraq War
On October 31, 2016, the Moscow–Washington hotline was used to reinforce Barack Obama's September warning that the U.S. would consider any interference on Election Day a grave matter.[23]
Other hotlines with Moscow
Another hotline for record communications between Washington and Moscow is part of the American
In 2012, it was announced that a proposal was being negotiated with Moscow to add cyber warfare to the topics to be discussed on the hotline.[24]
Since 2007 there has been a hotline between
At the beginning of the
In popular culture
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014) |
In numerous books, movies, video games, etc., the hotline between Washington and Moscow is represented by a red phone, although the real hotline has never been a telephone line.
A hotline telephone was depicted in the film Fail-Safe as the "Red 1 / Ultimate 1 Touch phone", and also in Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove, both from 1964 and both loosely based on Peter George's Cold War thriller novel Red Alert from 1958.
In the 1979 film Meteor a direct telephone link is used as the hot line.
A more realistic depiction of the Hotline was Tom Clancy's novel The Sum of All Fears from 1991 and its 2002 film adaptation, in which a text-based computer communications system was depicted, resembling the actual Hotline equipment from the 1980s and 1990s.
In the 1990
A telephone is used in the intro cinematic of the video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. The call is placed by the US president to the Kremlin in the wake of a global Soviet invasion.[30]
In
Political advertising
The "red phone" was the centerpiece of
The red phone was also featured prominently in an advertisement from that year targeting President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. In the second ad, the ringing phone goes unanswered while the narrator says, "there will be no time to wake a president – computers will take control."[34][35][36] Roy Spence revived the "red phone" idea in 2008 in an advertisement for candidate Hillary Clinton.[37][38]
See also
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stone, Webster (September 18, 1988). "Moscow's Still Holding". New York Times. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
- ^ Clavin, Tom (19 Jun 2013). "There Never Was Such a Thing as a Red Phone in the White House". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
- ^ ISBN 978-0295801414.
- ^ a b Craig, Bell; Richardson, Paul E. (September–October 2009). "The Hot Line {Is a Hollywood Myth}". Russian Life. Vol. 52, no. 5. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30.[dead link]
- ^ U.S. State Department. "Hot Line Agreement (1963)". Atomic Archive. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ISBN 978-0899417707. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
TIAS 5362
- ^ Encyclopedia of Russian History [ISBN missing][page needed]
- ^ "This Day in History – August 30, 1963: Hotline established between Washington and Moscow". History.com. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ Republican Party Platform, Section Two, "Weakness Before Communism" (adopted July 13, 1964). See http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25840
- ^ Kennedy, Bruce (1998). "CNN Cold War – Spotlight: The birth of the hot line". Archived from the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- ^ Council on Foreign Relations (1990). International Affairs Fellowship program 1967–1990 directory. Council on Foreign Relations Press. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-0618002702. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
- ^ Graff, Garrett M. (2017). Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die. Simon & Schuster.[ISBN missing][page needed]
- ^ David Kahn, The Codebreakers, pp. 715–716 [ISBN missing]
- ^ "Norges ukjente rolle i den «hete linjen» – DN.no". www.dn.no. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08.
- ISBN 0761940162.
- ISBN 0804712115.
- ISBN 0521226988.
- ISBN 978-0810850606.
moscow hotline teleprinter fax machine.
- ^ Stephen L. Thacher, Crisis Communications between Superpowers, US Army War College, Carusle Barracks, 1990, p. 10.
- ^ a b "Washington Moscow Hotline". www.cryptomuseum.com. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
- ^ "Electrospaces.net: The Washington-Moscow Hotline". electrospaces.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
- ^ "What Obama said to Putin on the Red Phone about the election hacks". NBC News. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
- ^ a b "US, Russia plan hotline to prevent cyber war". Total Telecom. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ "Hotline Agreements". Arms Control Association.
- ^ Mitchell, Ellen (3 March 2022). "US, Russia set up military communication line to prevent accidental clash". thehill.com. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Stewart, Phil (29 November 2022). "Exclusive: U.S., Russia have used their military hotline once so far during Ukraine war". reuters.com. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ The red phone that was NOT on the Hotline, August 30, 2013
- ISBN 9781906924508.
...the Americans receive a teletype from their counterparts in the Soviet Union stating that they have now determined that the first missile was not launched by NATO.
- ^ YouTube – Red Alert 2 intro
- ^ "The Doctor Who Transcripts - World War Three". www.chakoteya.net. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
- ^ YouTube – US Democrats – Walter Mondale 1984 Video 10
- ^ Kurtz, Howard (March 1, 2008), "Clinton Plays the Fear Card", Washington Post, pp. A08
- ^ YouTube – Mondale/Ferraro Commercial 1984
- ISBN 0-275-94071-3.
- ^ Beckel, Bob (March 19, 2008). "Superdelegates: Whiners or Deciders?". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ YouTube – Hillary Clinton Ad – 3 AM White House Ringing Phone
- Kornblut, Anne E.; Murray, Shailagh (March 1, 2008), "Clinton Ad Hints Obama Is Unprepared for Crisis", Washington Post, pp. A01
External links
- "DCL: The Direct Communications Link", Cryptolog, December 1983, declassified internal newsletter of the National Security Agency; five-page illustrated article detailing the political and technical history of the hotline up to the Reagan administration.
- Top Level Telecommunications: The Washington-Moscow Hot Line
- Crypto Machines: The Washington-Moscow Hot Line
- The original Hotline Agreement Texts of 1963, 1971 and 1984