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(Updated: December 25, 2016) In a previous article we discussed the Washington-Moscow Hotline , being the most famous bilateral hotline. It was soon followed by direct communication links between a number of other countries with nuclear capabilities. In general these hotlines started as a teletype connection, being upgraded with facsimile units in the eighties and were eventually turned into dedicated secure computer networks. An exception is the hotline between Washington and London, which was a phone line already since 1943. Overview of the top level bilateral hotlines worldwide (Click to enlarge) The hotlines between the heads of governments, are meant to prevent (nuclear) war in times of severe crisis. For preventing misunderstandings and miscommunications in less critical situations, countries have also set up lower level telephone hotlines between their defense or foreign ministers. For example, the United States has so called Defense Telephone Links with at least 23 other states...

(Updated: October 8, 2016) In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended and the world was saved from falling into a nuclear war. In order to prevent this risk in the future, the United States and the Sovjet Union established a direct communication line between their two capitals in August 1963. This Washington-Moscow Hotline became one of the most famous top level communications systems in modern history. In popular culture, the Washington-Moscow Hotline is often called the Red Phone , and therefore many people think it's a telephone line, with a red phone set on the president's desk. However, this is false: the Hotline was never a phone line, but instead set up as a teletype connection, which in 1988 was replaced by facsimile units. Since 2008 the Hotline is a highly secure computer link over which messages are exchanged by e-mail . Contents - Origins - Installation - The Hotline terminals - 1963: Teletype equipment - 1978: Satellite link - 1988: Facsimile equipment - ...