Ahotline is apoint-to-pointcommunicationslink in which acall is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by theuser when theend instrument goesoff-hook.[2] An example would be a phone that automatically connects to emergency services on picking up the receiver. Therefore, dedicated hotline phones do not need a rotary dial or keypad. A hotline can also be called an automaticsignaling,ringdown, or off-hook service.
True hotlines cannot be used to originate calls other than to preselected destinations. However, in common or colloquial usage, a "hotline" often refers to acall center reachable by dialing a standard telephone number, or sometimes the phone numbers themselves.
This is especially the case with 24-hour, noncommercial numbers, such as police tip hotlines or suicidecrisis hotlines, which are staffed around the clock and thereby give the appearance of real hotlines. Increasingly, however, the term is found being applied to any customer service telephone number.
The most famous hotline between states is theMoscow–Washington hotline, also known as the "red telephone", although telephones have never been used in this capacity. This direct communications link was established on June 20, 1963, in the wake of theCuban Missile Crisis, which convinced both sides of the need for better communications.[3] It was used for the first time by U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy on August 30, 1963[4] and utilized teletypewriter technology, later replaced by telecopier and then by electronic mail.[citation needed]
DuringWorld War II—two decades before the Washington–Moscow hotline was established—there was a hotline betweenNo. 10 Downing Street, theCabinet War Room bunker under the Treasury, Whitehall, and theWhite House in Washington, D.C. From 1943 to 1946, this link was made secure by using the first voice encryption machine, calledSIGSALY.
A hotline connection betweenBeijing andMoscow was used during the 1969 frontier confrontation between the two countries. The Chinese refused the Russian peace attempts and ended the communications link. After a reconciliation between the two countries, the hotline between China and Russia was revived in 1996.[5]
On his visit to the Soviet Union in 1966, French PresidentCharles de Gaulle announced that a hotline would be established between Paris and Moscow. The line was upgraded from a telex to a high-speed fax machine in 1989.[5]
A London–Moscow hotline was not formally established until a treaty of friendship between the two countries in 1992. An upgrade was announced when Foreign SecretaryWilliam Hague visited Moscow in 2011.[5]
On 20 June 2004, bothIndia andPakistan agreed to extend a nuclear testing ban and to set up anIslamabad–New Delhi hotline between their foreign secretaries aimed at preventing misunderstandings that might lead to nuclear war.[6]
The United States andChina set up a defense hotline in 2008, but it has rarely been used in crises.[7]
India and China announced a hotline for the foreign ministers of both countries while reiterating their commitment to strengthening ties and building "mutual political trust".[8] As of August 2015 the hotline was yet to be made operational.[9]
In February 2013, theSenkaku Islands dispute gave renewed impetus to a China–Japan hotline, which had been agreed to but due to rising tensions had not been established.[10]
Between North and South Korea there are over 40direct phone lines, the first of which was opened in September 1971. Most of these hotlines run through thePanmunjeomJoint Security Area (JSA) and are maintained by theRed Cross. Since 1971, North Korea has deactivated the hotlines seven times, the last time in February 2016. AfterKim Jong-un's New Years address, the border hotline was reopened on January 3, 2018.[11]
In August 2015 the hotline between theWhite House and New Delhi became operational. The decision of establishing this hotline was taken during PresidentBarack Obama's visit to India in January 2015. This is the first hotline connecting an Indian Prime Minister to a head of state.[12]