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

Network Working Group                                           B. Leiba
Internet-Draft                                       Huawei Technologies
Updates: 3777 (if approved)                                 S. Moonesamy
Intended status: BCP                                     August 18, 2012
Expires: February 19, 2013

 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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Table of Contents

   1.    Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

   2.    Addition of the IAOC to the Text of RFC 3777  . . . . . . . . 4

   3.    Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

   4.    IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

   5.    References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   5.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   5.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

         Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

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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.
   [[anchor1: Some had suggested eliminating the RFC Series Oversight
   Committee (RSOC) members, for example; we do not think that is a good
   idea.]]

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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:

   o  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:

   o  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.

   o  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:

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   o  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.

   o  Bullet 3, paragraph 6 is replaced by this:

         The IESG, IAB, and IAOC liaisons are selected according to
         rules stated elsewhere in this document.

   o  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.

   o  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.

   o  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.

   o  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.

   o  Bullet 15 is replaced by these two bullets:

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      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.

   o  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:

   o  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

   [RFC3777]  Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and
              Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall
              Committees", BCP 10, RFC 3777, June 2004.

5.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4333]  Huston, G. and B. Wijnen, "The IETF Administrative
              Oversight Committee (IAOC) Member Selection Guidelines and
              Process", BCP 113, RFC 4333, December 2005.

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Authors' Addresses

   Barry Leiba
   Huawei Technologies

   Phone: +1 646 827 0648
   Email: barryleiba@computer.org
   URI:   http://internetmessagingtechnology.org/

   S. Moonesamy
   76, Ylang Ylang Avenue
   Quatres Bornes
   Mauritius

   Email: sm+ietf@elandsys.com

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