The 1963 Hotline Agreement
The 1963 “Hotline Agreement” was the first bilateral agreement of
the Cold War era between the United States and the Soviet Union, and became
the first of a series of growing “confidence building measures” designed
to decrease tensions and eliminate the kinds of misunderstandings and miscalculations
that could lead to an accidental nuclear war. It was symbolically important,
because for the first time, both sides acknowledged that with the advent of
nuclear weapons and intercontinental delivery systems, they needed better communication
and cooperation to address an entirely new world of different and unprecedented
diplomacy and military strategies. Nuclear weapons had changed both disciplines
forever in new and unforeseen ways.
In 1954, Moscow proposed specific safeguards against surprise attack to prevent
accidental war. In 1958, the Soviet Union accepted a Western proposal to take
part in a Conference of Experts on Surprise Attack in Geneva, but no concrete
progress was achieved. In 1961, in his address to the U.N. General Assembly,
President John F. Kennedy outlined his “Program for General and Complete
Disarmament in a Peaceful World,” and his proposed measures included:
* advanced notification of military movements and maneuvers
* observation posts at major transportation centers and air bases, and
* creating an international commission to study “failure of communication.”
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, which brought both sides to the brink
of nuclear war, underscored the need for crisis communication capabilities linking
the leaders of the two countries, so they could quickly and communicate directly
to resolve crises before miscalculation led to war.
On December 12, 1962, a U.S. working paper presented to a U.N. working group
a proposal for direct communications links between major capitals – to
include Moscow-Washington, D.C. links – to ensure rapid communication in
times of crisis. In June, 1963, at Geneva, U.S, and Soviet representatives completed
their negotiations and signed the “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding
the Establishment of a Direct Communication Link.”
The agreement specified two terminal points with teletypes, a full-time duplex
telegraph circuit and a full-time duplex radiotelegraph circuit between the
two capitals. In 1971, 1984 and again in 1988 the agreement was modified to
take into account more modern and advanced communication technologies.
The Hotline Agreement has proved its worth on several occasions: for example,
during the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, the White House used it to prevent possible
misunderstanding when the U.S. Sixth Fleet conducted operations in the Mediterranean,
and again to avoid miscalculations when both sides were involved behind the
scenes during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.