DISA History Minute: DCA’s first major innovation: Automatic Voice Communications (AUTOVON)

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel The Defense Communications Agency was founded in 1960 and given the mission to manage the Defense Communications System. The first major project consisted of building and maintaining audio and data communications system similar to commercial telephone lines. A global program, Automatic Voice Communications or AUTOVON became a discrete and unique telephonic system used throughout the military. AUTOVON made military operational command and control as easy as picking up a phone and making a local call from any compatible system. AUTOVON was in use from the mid-1960s through the early 1990s when it was replaced by the Defense Switching Network.