Update to RFC 3777 to Clarify Nominating Committee Eligibility of IETF Leadership
draft-leiba-3777upd-eligibility-02

Abstract

RFC 3777 specifies that "sitting members" of the IAB and IESG "may not volunteer to serve on the nominating commitee". Since that document was written the IAOC was formed, and that body is not covered by RFC 3777. There is also uncertainty about whether ex-officio members and liaisons are included as "sitting members". This document clarifies those situations.

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Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Addition of the IAOC to the Text of RFC 3777
• 3. Security Considerations
• 4. IANA Considerations
• 5. References
• 5.1. Normative References
• 5.2. Informative References
• Authors' Addresses

1. Introduction

The "Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees" document [RFC3777] defines the nominating committee (NomCom) process. One of the key points in the process and in the selection of the NomCom is that the IETF wants to avoid having its top leadership be self-selecting: the leaders should not be the ones who choose the leaders. The selection of the NomCom, therefore, excludes those individuals who are in top leadership positions currently.

That said, it would be bad to eliminate people who have the experience necessary to understand of the IETF process: those individuals can bring a broader perspective to the NomCom and will help ensure that the people it selects for the leadership positions are better prepared to fulfill the roles.

RFC 3777 specifies that "sitting members" of the IAB and IESG "may not volunteer to serve on the nominating committee". Since that document was written the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) was formed, and that body is not covered by RFC 3777. There is also uncertainty about whether ex-officio members liaisons, and such are included as "sitting members". This document clarifies those situations, with the understanding that the intent of RFC 3777 was to exclude those currently in IETF leadership positions, or who would otherwise have a conflict of interest, from voting on the selection of the new leadership.

This document also excludes certain individuals who are directly paid for their work with the IETF, and who, therefore, have a direct personal financial incentive in the selection of the leadership boards. We limit this exclusion to a few people who are paid for long-term full-time work. In practice, they are unlikely to volunteer for the NomCom anyway, so this addition makes little practical change.

In order to allow the largest reasonable list of potential NomCom members, we do not want to exclude those at lower levels of IETF leadership. In particular, this document does *not* exclude participation from working group chairs, IRTF research group chairs, members of directorates and special review teams, and members of other advisory bodies.

2. Addition of the IAOC to the Text of RFC 3777

RFC 3777 specifies processes involving the IAB and the IESG in a number of places. For some of those situations, the "IAOC Member Selection Guidelines and Process" document [RFC4333] covers what's needed for the IAOC. This document makes the following updates to add the IAOC to certain of the processes that are not covered there.

Note that the change below to Section 4, bullet 15 also puts additional restrictions on who may volunteer as a voting member of the NomCom.

Section 2 ("Definitions") is updated as follows:

• Paragraphs 5 and 6 are replaced by this:

  nominee:

  A person who is being or has been considered for one or more open positions of the IESG, the IAB, or the IAOC.

  sitting member:

  A person who is currently serving a term of membership in, and having a standing to participate in the decisions of, the IESG, the IAB, the IAOC, or the ISOC Board of Trustees. Liaisons from other bodies are not sitting members by this definition. (For example, an IESG liaison to the IAB is not a sitting member of the IAB, though that person may be a sitting member of the IESG.)

Section 3 ("General") is updated as follows:

• Bullet 7, sub-bullet 1 is replaced by this:
  • The IETF Executive Director informs the nominating committee of the IESG, IAB, and IAOC positions to be reviewed.
    
    The IESG, the IAB, and the IAOC are responsible for providing summary of the expertise desired of the candidates selected for their respective open positions to the Executive Director. The summaries are provided to the nominating committee for its consideration.

• In bullet 7, sub-bullet 3, the following is inserted between paragraphs 3 and 4:
  • The sitting IESG members review the IAOC candidate.

Section 4 ("Nominating Committee Selection") is updated as follows:

• Bullet 3, paragraph 1 is replaced by this:
  • The nominating committee comprises a Chair, ten voting volunteers, the immediate past nominating committee Chair (or alternate; see below) as an advisor, plus liaisons and possible additional advisor(s) as described herein.

• Bullet 3, paragraph 6 is replaced by this:
  • The IESG, IAB, and IAOC liaisons are selected according to rules stated elsewhere in this document.

• Bullet 7, paragraph 3 is replaced by this:
  • Liaisons from the IESG, the IAB, and the IAOC are expected to provide information to the nominating committee regarding the operation, responsibility, and composition of their respective bodies.

• Bullet 7, paragraph 5 is replaced by this:
  • Liaisons from the IESG, the IAB, the IAOC, and the Internet Society Board of Trustees (if one was appointed) are expected to review the operation and executing process of the nominating committee and to report any concerns or issues to the Chair of the nominating committee immediately. If they can not resolve the issue between themselves, liaisons must report it according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this document.

• Bullet 8, only paragraph is replaced by this:
  • For each of the IAB, the IESG, and the IAOC, the sitting members appoint a liaison from their current membership, someone who is not sitting in an open position, to serve on the nominating committee.

• Bullet 13, paragraph 1 is replaced by this:
  • The Chair obtains the list of IESG, IAB, and IAOC positions to be reviewed and announces it along with a solicitation for names of volunteers from the IETF community willing to serve on the nominating committee.

• Bullet 15 is replaced by these two bullets:

  15.1.

  Members of the Internet Society Board of Trustees and sitting members of the IAB, the IESG, and the IAOC, including members in ex-officio positions, may not volunteer to serve as voting members of the nominating committee.

  15.2.

  People serving in the IETF Secretariat and the RFC Editor may not volunteer to serve as voting members of the nominating committee.

• In bullet 16, to correct an erratum, the last paragraph is replaced by this:
  • One possible selection method is described in RFC 3797 [1].

Section 5 ("Nominating Committee Operation") is updated as follows:

• In bullet 11, the last paragraph is replaced by this:
  • Members of the IETF community who were recalled from any nominating-committee-appointed leadership position during the previous two years are not eligible to be considered for filling any open position.

3. Security Considerations

This is a procedural document, and is entirely unrelated to security.

4. IANA Considerations

No IANA actions are requested by this document, and the RFC Editor is asked to remove this section before publication.

5. References

5.1. Normative References

5.2. Informative References

Authors' Addresses