333. Editorial Note
On March 29, Charles C. Stelle, the Acting U.S. Representative to the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee, proposed the establishment of a special communication link between Washington and Moscow. For text of this proposal, see U.N. doc. ENDC/PV.115, pages 13-20, or Documents on Disarmament, 1963, pages 127-133. In response, on April 5, Semen K. Tsarapkin, the Acting Soviet Representative, stated that the Soviet Union was prepared to consider the establishment of a direct communications link. For text of this statement, see U.N. doc. ENDC/PV.118, pages 48-53, or Documents on Disarmament, 1963, pages 156-160. The same day the Department of State Press Spokesman welcomed this statement and stated that the direct communications link would reduce the risk of war and be available for immediate use during crises. (American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1963, page 522)
In the following days the United States and the Soviet Union agreed that discussion of the question should begin in Geneva on May 6. At the first meeting Stelle and Tsarapkin exchanged papers outlining the technical details of the communication link. Negotiation of the agreement and its technical annexes continued until June 20 when the two Acting Representatives signed the “Hot Line” agreement. For its text, see Documents on Disarmament, 1963, pages 236-238; documentation on the negotiations is in Department of State, Central Files, CR 12-3 US-USSR.
On July 30 the Presidentʼs Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, McGeorge Bundy, sent NSAM No. 255 to the Secretaries of State and Defense detailing the instructions governing the use of the “Hot Line.” After stating that the major terminal for the line would be in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, NSAM No. 255 outlined the procedures for sending and receiving messages, and charged the Secretary of Defense with installing, staffing, and maintaining the necessary equipment for it. ( Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAMs, or Department of State, S/S-NSC Files, NSAMs: Lot 72 D 316)